This week’s Torah portion is Ki Tissa, which means.” when you take.” It begins with the taking of a census, goes on to appoint two people to oversee the work of the Tabernacle and holy vestments, and reiterates that Shabbat observance supersedes work on the tabernacle for God. Later in the portion, while Moses is gone, the people make and worship a golden calf. Moses wins forgiveness for them and has an intimate encounter with God, in which he hears a description of God’s attributes: that God is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, forgiving, and great in kindness and truth.
Tonight I’d like to address a recurring theme in the Torah. While the people are worshipping the golden calf, it says, “God said to Moses, I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people, and now desist from me. Let my anger flare up against them and I shall annihilate them and I shall make you a great nation.” This is very similar to a section in the book of Numbers, in which the people have heard the report of the scouts, whose opinion it is that the land cannot be conquered. The people become demoralized and decide to return to Egypt. At that time, the Torah says, “God said to Moses, how long will this people provoke me and how long will they not have faith in me, despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst. I will smite them with the plague and annihilate them and I shall make you a greater and more powerful nation than they.” What are we supposed to think about these two passages? Is God vengeful and punitive or is there something else going on below the surface of the text? My understanding stems from a comment about another incomprehensible passage, the Akedah, the binding of Isaac. In reference to Abraham the sages say that no one is given a test that they cannot pass. These two episodes about Moses are truly just that: they are about Moses and not about the people. In both instances, Moses is given a choice: to continue as the leader of the Jewish people, with all the problems, frustrations, and difficulties that may arise, or to have the problems taken off his hands. In both cases, Moses argues with God and convinces God to save the people. But there is another way to look at this interaction. We say that God is omniscient: all knowing. We also say in Judaism that the past, present, and future are all One, as God and existence are One. So God already knows the outcome of Moses’ choice. God knows what Moses will choose. But – and this is a very important point – God allows Moses free choice. Our free will is never taken away. And by allowing Moses to choose freely, God arranges it so that Moses has to take responsibility for his choice and for signing onto the next leg of the trip, when the going will definitely get tough. Had Moses chosen to kill the Israelites, he would have had to live with the knowledge that he caused all their deaths. So the decision was somewhat of a foregone conclusion. By choosing to intercede for them, it became a win-win situation: Moses passed the tests and he also got to take credit for saving his people. And this helped him to become an even greater leader than he was before, but also helped him spiritually: to grow as a person. What God also caused was that Moses, having agreed to the next leg of the journey, could not complain about how hard the task was, or walk away from it. Taking responsibility means you can’t whine or complain about your choice. This theme of taking responsibility in the Torah, is actually stated for the first time, in B’reisheet, with the story of Adam and Eve. God arranges it so that the fruit was prominently displayed and told the humans not to eat it. But God also planted the suggestion in Eve’s mind, via the serpent, that eating the fruit would be a positive thing, and that it would not cause her death. Eve freely chose to eat the fruit, which made her a conscious human being, knowing right from wrong; but she did not have this knowledge of right and wrong before she ate it, before she chose. God so arranged it that she would grow spiritually and that she would take responsibility for her choice. After the humans became conscious, having exchanged the animal state for the conscious state, they have to work for a living; and fear, the knowledge of the possible future, comes into the world. Having chosen consciousness, they cannot complain or whine about their choice. This is how the world works. We get to choose and then take responsibility for our choices by not complaining about them or blaming anyone for what we have chosen. But we should also be aware of what this portion teaches us: that God is, through suggestion and circumstance, arranging for our spiritual growth. God is not a punitive or angry God. God is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, forgiving, and great in kindness and truth. God is the One who leads us to tests, in which we can test ourselves against our own sense of rightness and goodness, and morality, which come from our Godly souls and God-given natures. God’s guidance and wisdom arranges win-win situations for us: a path for us along which our blessings lie. Our growth and our blessings are dependent on our willingness to partner with God in the planned forward motion. May we realize that our circumstances are helping us to grow, and choose with faith the positive direction that is being arranged for us.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Being Our Own Priest
This week’s Torah portion is Tetzaveh, which means, Command. It contains the instructions for the Eternal light, the New Tamid, to be continually kindled at night. God describes the design of the eight priestly garments and tells Moses to dress the priests, the Kohanim, in them and to inaugurate the priests during a seven day consecration ceremony. The specifications for an incense altar are given, as is the commandment not to offer any alien incense.
Early in the portion, the Torah says, “Now you, bring near to yourself Aaron your Brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel…to minister to me. (28:1)” This is the creation of the Priesthood in Judaism. Moses, Aaron his brother, and his sons, were of the Tribe of Levi. A very few of the Levites, just Aaron and his four sons and their male children were to become priests. At this time, the priests were to carry out the service of sacrifice. This necessitated coming into daily contact with the holy objects within the Tabernacle: the altar of sacrifice and the big bowl, called the laver, which was filled with water for washing; and in the Tent of Meeting: the ark, the menorah, the table for show bread, and the incense altar. Because these objects were in close proximity to God’s presence, manifested as a cloud shaped like a pillar, over the Tabernacle, It was important for the priests to purify themselves and to be as holy as possible; because it could be physically dangerous to them to be in an impure state while offering sacrifice or being near the holy objects. The priests protected the people from dangerous contact with a level of purity they could not match. The Priesthood was abolished during Roman times, at the time of the destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE. But this is not quite the end of the story.
Before the giving of the Ten Commandments, in Exodus, God says to Moses, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation,” This was to be a new system for human kind, which could only be fully realized after the abolition of a formal priesthood. Clearly, the original desire was that each of us be our own priest; and that is the system we have right now. It is the direction in which we are moving and being led. What does being a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, mean today? When we say in our prayers, Baruch atah Adonai, we address God as atah, YOU, before we address God as Melech haOlam, Ruler of the Universe. This YOU, is the God who is as close to us as breathing, as close as our own hearts and feelings. The commandment, “Bring near to yourself,” reinforces this desire for intimacy. The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out that the Hebrew word, Command, is related to the root for the word “connect.” And the Koznitzer Rebbe says that it’s also related to the root meaning “befriend.” So the intent of the priesthood was the creation of a group of people who were not supposed to be higher than everyone else, necessarily, but to be more connected to God, in more of an intimate, familiar relationship with the aspect of God we address as YOU: the loving God who is always our friend, always there for us. How did the priests achieve this? The priests prepared themselves for their office in a seven day inauguration ceremony that required them to be separated from the community, dwelling in the Tabernacle boundaries and not leaving them for any reason. They maintained their purity by drawing near to God through the elaborate and precisely defined rituals of sacrificial service; in short, through dedicating their actions to a holy purpose and being scrupulous in following directions exactly, a form of subjugating their will to God’s will. Anyone who could not follow directions was bound to come to grief.
We, as modern priests, have a slightly different path to the same end. In the book, Living Mussar Every Day, by Rabbi Zvi Miller, he quotes a teaching by the Alter Rebbe of Kelm who said: “The Divine service we are charged with is preparation to receive spiritual treasures. All that is required of us is to prepare and purify ourselves through Torah and Mitzvot. If we strengthen ourselves in this, God, in great love, will bless and help us in the most wondrous of ways.” Our task is to find that inner fineness and purity that will allow us to experience our connection to God and to be able to recognize and accept Divine friendship. Like the ancient priests, we do this through service. The Zohar says, “Blessed are the Israelites, who entered and came out and comprehended the mystery of the ways of the Torah, to walk in the way of truth. .. because only from there is unity possible, for the children of Israel stand here below as emissaries of the Most High, to open the gates, to shed light upon the ways, to kindle the radiance of the heavenly fire, to draw all things that are below near to them that are above, in order that all may become a unity Zohar II:181b.” The purpose of our service is healing and harmonizing in the world: kindling inner radiance and bringing truer values to our lives; helping to create a society that is more connected to its spiritual source. By identifying and aligning ourselves with that which is most God-like in us, and by service: being of use and of help in the universe, we bring ourselves near to the source of goodness, the source of love, friendship and intimacy that nurtures and supports us and our well being. The Zohar says, ‘The Place which You have made for Your dwelling place, God, for the Sanctuary, God, which You prepared.’ “This implies the necessity of building a sanctuary below, corresponding to the Sanctuary above, wherein the Holy One is daily served and worshipped. Zohar Raya Mehemna: 59b.” This describes our task as modern priests: to heal, to help, and to teach ourselves, others, and ultimately give back to the world by our commitment to purification and closeness to our Divine connection: to make a dwelling place in this world for the part of God that can be rooted here. May we take upon ourselves this sacred mission, and experience the harmonizing power of holiness in our lives.
Early in the portion, the Torah says, “Now you, bring near to yourself Aaron your Brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel…to minister to me. (28:1)” This is the creation of the Priesthood in Judaism. Moses, Aaron his brother, and his sons, were of the Tribe of Levi. A very few of the Levites, just Aaron and his four sons and their male children were to become priests. At this time, the priests were to carry out the service of sacrifice. This necessitated coming into daily contact with the holy objects within the Tabernacle: the altar of sacrifice and the big bowl, called the laver, which was filled with water for washing; and in the Tent of Meeting: the ark, the menorah, the table for show bread, and the incense altar. Because these objects were in close proximity to God’s presence, manifested as a cloud shaped like a pillar, over the Tabernacle, It was important for the priests to purify themselves and to be as holy as possible; because it could be physically dangerous to them to be in an impure state while offering sacrifice or being near the holy objects. The priests protected the people from dangerous contact with a level of purity they could not match. The Priesthood was abolished during Roman times, at the time of the destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE. But this is not quite the end of the story.
Before the giving of the Ten Commandments, in Exodus, God says to Moses, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation,” This was to be a new system for human kind, which could only be fully realized after the abolition of a formal priesthood. Clearly, the original desire was that each of us be our own priest; and that is the system we have right now. It is the direction in which we are moving and being led. What does being a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, mean today? When we say in our prayers, Baruch atah Adonai, we address God as atah, YOU, before we address God as Melech haOlam, Ruler of the Universe. This YOU, is the God who is as close to us as breathing, as close as our own hearts and feelings. The commandment, “Bring near to yourself,” reinforces this desire for intimacy. The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out that the Hebrew word, Command, is related to the root for the word “connect.” And the Koznitzer Rebbe says that it’s also related to the root meaning “befriend.” So the intent of the priesthood was the creation of a group of people who were not supposed to be higher than everyone else, necessarily, but to be more connected to God, in more of an intimate, familiar relationship with the aspect of God we address as YOU: the loving God who is always our friend, always there for us. How did the priests achieve this? The priests prepared themselves for their office in a seven day inauguration ceremony that required them to be separated from the community, dwelling in the Tabernacle boundaries and not leaving them for any reason. They maintained their purity by drawing near to God through the elaborate and precisely defined rituals of sacrificial service; in short, through dedicating their actions to a holy purpose and being scrupulous in following directions exactly, a form of subjugating their will to God’s will. Anyone who could not follow directions was bound to come to grief.
We, as modern priests, have a slightly different path to the same end. In the book, Living Mussar Every Day, by Rabbi Zvi Miller, he quotes a teaching by the Alter Rebbe of Kelm who said: “The Divine service we are charged with is preparation to receive spiritual treasures. All that is required of us is to prepare and purify ourselves through Torah and Mitzvot. If we strengthen ourselves in this, God, in great love, will bless and help us in the most wondrous of ways.” Our task is to find that inner fineness and purity that will allow us to experience our connection to God and to be able to recognize and accept Divine friendship. Like the ancient priests, we do this through service. The Zohar says, “Blessed are the Israelites, who entered and came out and comprehended the mystery of the ways of the Torah, to walk in the way of truth. .. because only from there is unity possible, for the children of Israel stand here below as emissaries of the Most High, to open the gates, to shed light upon the ways, to kindle the radiance of the heavenly fire, to draw all things that are below near to them that are above, in order that all may become a unity Zohar II:181b.” The purpose of our service is healing and harmonizing in the world: kindling inner radiance and bringing truer values to our lives; helping to create a society that is more connected to its spiritual source. By identifying and aligning ourselves with that which is most God-like in us, and by service: being of use and of help in the universe, we bring ourselves near to the source of goodness, the source of love, friendship and intimacy that nurtures and supports us and our well being. The Zohar says, ‘The Place which You have made for Your dwelling place, God, for the Sanctuary, God, which You prepared.’ “This implies the necessity of building a sanctuary below, corresponding to the Sanctuary above, wherein the Holy One is daily served and worshipped. Zohar Raya Mehemna: 59b.” This describes our task as modern priests: to heal, to help, and to teach ourselves, others, and ultimately give back to the world by our commitment to purification and closeness to our Divine connection: to make a dwelling place in this world for the part of God that can be rooted here. May we take upon ourselves this sacred mission, and experience the harmonizing power of holiness in our lives.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Taking and Giving
This week’s Torah portion is Terumah, which means a portion or an offering. God asks Moses to inform the people that they can bring freewill offerings of precious metals, precious stones, colored fabric, wood, and animal skins for the grand project: the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, that will allow God’s Presence to dwell among them. The portion also gives precise instructions about how the Tabernacle should be constructed. The Israelites were to build a tent of meeting and an outer courtyard for the service of worship and sacrifice. They were also to make the holy furniture: a golden ark to house the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a golden menorah as tall as a person, a tall golden table that looked like a baker’s rack, to hold 12 special loaves of bread; and a copper altar for sacrifice.
The portion begins, “God spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the Children of Israel and let them take for me a portion from every individual whose heart is willing, shall you take my portion.” As in the Torah portion, Bo, also from Exodus, which begins, “Come to Pharaoh,” not Go to Pharaoh, we have a linguistic mystery. Why does the Torah say, Take, a form of the Hebrew word, Kach, and not, Give, Tein, as in Natan and Notein? You might say, well Moses is taking the offering; but that’s not what the Torah says. The words indicate that the Israelites will be dong the taking. What is the Torah trying to tell us? In Rabbi Elimelech’s Torah commentary, in a note at the end of this week’s portion, it says, ”My Father said at a gathering, God created the Universe and all physical objects – something from nothing. Jews must transform the something into Nothing. They must transform the material into the spiritual.” Rabbi Elimelech refers to Job, who said, “Wisdom comes from ayin, from Nothing.” This mystery of taking, not giving, is a window into one of the great secrets of the Torah. The Zohar expresses it like this: (II: 127a) “in this Foundation is the fabrication of the whole, of all the world, of souls and spirits; this is the hidden force behind the creation of the heaven and earth, and this is also the hidden force behind the building of the Tabernacle, which was erected in the likeness both of the world above and of the world below. This is the significance of the words: “that they take me an offering”: two grades become united as one in the Tabernacle which is the emblem of that union.” Something is being united. The Zohar speaks about the Tabernacle uniting earth and heaven, however, this also occurs for the individual who gives. In Kedoshim, from Leviticus, it says, “You shall not indulge in sorcery and you shall not believe in lucky times (19: )” This verse delineates the relationship between us and the Divine. By hearing the words of a fortune teller, we create a blockage or an impediment between us and God, who is sending us information and experiences, based on our free choices The choice to give initiates an intimate relationship between the material and the spiritual, allowing this circle between us and God, or this opening of a channel between us, to be a pathway for the flow of blessings, which then can reach us. Such a thing happens in the material plane in the same way as a loving or caring interaction with another person equips the first person to receive love back from the second. In the Midrash it says, (Ex Rabba 33:6) “Ordinarily, when one buys an article in the market-place, is he then able to acquire its owner, too? But the Holy One, blessed be God,, gave the Torah to Israel and said to them: ' You are taking Me, as it were! ' Hence, THAT THEY TAKE ME AS AN OFFERING.” What we are receiving is Divinity: more Divine blessings. Since everything is God, what we receive is a quality of God. The Leadership and Management consultant and author Ken Blanchard has spoken about receiving blessings as a result of his giving. He writes, “I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I've had in my life is that the more I give away, the more that comes back. That is the way life works, and that is the way energy works.” I, in my own life, have witnessed that my giving initiates blessings being able to flow to me. I never worry about giving to charity anymore. I know, because I have seen it: that whatever I give will mysteriously be replaced. Giving is the way to unite earth and heaven – to initiate, maintain, and deepen our relationship to God. It is one way to become a little more holy. And giving does not have to be money. As the V’ahavta tells us, giving can be love in our hearts. Giving can be actions, giving with all our hearts, souls, and might. The Apter Rebbe speaks about the Tabernacle being a representation of God’s giving and sharing with the Jewish people, of sharing God’s Kingdom with us In Terumah we are being asked to give – if, and only if, the giving comes from our hearts with free will – in order to allow us to take: to take the blessings we are being sent, through our own giving. The secret of taking is giving. God commands us to give so that, in God’s love, God may give to us. May each of us be among those that nurture the world through our giving: and in this way, to unite earth and heaven.
The portion begins, “God spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the Children of Israel and let them take for me a portion from every individual whose heart is willing, shall you take my portion.” As in the Torah portion, Bo, also from Exodus, which begins, “Come to Pharaoh,” not Go to Pharaoh, we have a linguistic mystery. Why does the Torah say, Take, a form of the Hebrew word, Kach, and not, Give, Tein, as in Natan and Notein? You might say, well Moses is taking the offering; but that’s not what the Torah says. The words indicate that the Israelites will be dong the taking. What is the Torah trying to tell us? In Rabbi Elimelech’s Torah commentary, in a note at the end of this week’s portion, it says, ”My Father said at a gathering, God created the Universe and all physical objects – something from nothing. Jews must transform the something into Nothing. They must transform the material into the spiritual.” Rabbi Elimelech refers to Job, who said, “Wisdom comes from ayin, from Nothing.” This mystery of taking, not giving, is a window into one of the great secrets of the Torah. The Zohar expresses it like this: (II: 127a) “in this Foundation is the fabrication of the whole, of all the world, of souls and spirits; this is the hidden force behind the creation of the heaven and earth, and this is also the hidden force behind the building of the Tabernacle, which was erected in the likeness both of the world above and of the world below. This is the significance of the words: “that they take me an offering”: two grades become united as one in the Tabernacle which is the emblem of that union.” Something is being united. The Zohar speaks about the Tabernacle uniting earth and heaven, however, this also occurs for the individual who gives. In Kedoshim, from Leviticus, it says, “You shall not indulge in sorcery and you shall not believe in lucky times (19: )” This verse delineates the relationship between us and the Divine. By hearing the words of a fortune teller, we create a blockage or an impediment between us and God, who is sending us information and experiences, based on our free choices The choice to give initiates an intimate relationship between the material and the spiritual, allowing this circle between us and God, or this opening of a channel between us, to be a pathway for the flow of blessings, which then can reach us. Such a thing happens in the material plane in the same way as a loving or caring interaction with another person equips the first person to receive love back from the second. In the Midrash it says, (Ex Rabba 33:6) “Ordinarily, when one buys an article in the market-place, is he then able to acquire its owner, too? But the Holy One, blessed be God,, gave the Torah to Israel and said to them: ' You are taking Me, as it were! ' Hence, THAT THEY TAKE ME AS AN OFFERING.” What we are receiving is Divinity: more Divine blessings. Since everything is God, what we receive is a quality of God. The Leadership and Management consultant and author Ken Blanchard has spoken about receiving blessings as a result of his giving. He writes, “I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I've had in my life is that the more I give away, the more that comes back. That is the way life works, and that is the way energy works.” I, in my own life, have witnessed that my giving initiates blessings being able to flow to me. I never worry about giving to charity anymore. I know, because I have seen it: that whatever I give will mysteriously be replaced. Giving is the way to unite earth and heaven – to initiate, maintain, and deepen our relationship to God. It is one way to become a little more holy. And giving does not have to be money. As the V’ahavta tells us, giving can be love in our hearts. Giving can be actions, giving with all our hearts, souls, and might. The Apter Rebbe speaks about the Tabernacle being a representation of God’s giving and sharing with the Jewish people, of sharing God’s Kingdom with us In Terumah we are being asked to give – if, and only if, the giving comes from our hearts with free will – in order to allow us to take: to take the blessings we are being sent, through our own giving. The secret of taking is giving. God commands us to give so that, in God’s love, God may give to us. May each of us be among those that nurture the world through our giving: and in this way, to unite earth and heaven.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
When the Parts Work Together
This week’s Torah portion is Mishpatim, judgments or laws. These laws were given to Moses by God, after the 10 Commandments. The experience of the Revelation, being so close to God, was too frightening for the people; so they asked Moses to hear the laws from God and to tell them what God wished to say. There are over 50 laws in this portion, ranging from laws concerning murder, injury, theft, care for and destruction of property, negligence, and social justice. There are laws about the punishment fitting the crime, integrity of words and actions, and also about not oppressing a stranger, a widow, or an orphan, those weakest in society. Finally, there are laws about the 3 agricultural pilgrimage holidays and a vision of God, seen by the Moses, Aaron, his two sons, and the 70 elders. In the Zohar, the book of Splendor from the Middle Ages, in the commentary for Mishpatim it says, “when one (Section 2, Page 124a) observes the ordinances of the Torah and diligently studies it, it is as though that one diligently studied the Divine Name. For the whole Torah is an enfolding of the one Divine Name, the most exalted Name, the Name that comprehends all other names;” This poetic comment is at the opposite pole from the actual words in this portion. We can study the laws as they are here given; and either agree with them or disagree with them; and either do them or decide that they have been superseded by advances in society. In this portion we can find the best of the Torah: the striving for social justice; and also the worst of the Torah: those laws about slavery or the possibility of the death penalty for lesser offenses than premeditated murder. This portion begins with laws: with reasonable demands that we can all understand; but ends in a mystical vision: gazing at the appearance of God, God’s throne, and the purity of the sapphire brickwork under the feet of God. Between these two poles: the logical and the mystical, lies the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” which comes from the story of Cain and Abel in B’reisheet, the first Torah portion. Taking into account the reality stated in the quotation from the Zohar about the Divine Name; everything that is “named” in this portion, in the whole Torah, is God’s Name. Everything that is named, described, and taught, is God, because that’s all there is. The people in this portion: the widow, orphan, and stranger are God. The slave, the pregnant woman, the thief, and the virgin; the seducer and even the donkey crouching under its burden are all God. We are all a tiny part of God; “the name that comprehends all other names.” God is immanent in us, but transcendent over us. So what is the problem that is being set out for us? This portion is, in a sense, not only about action but also about peace. The S’fat Emet quotes the Psalm (29:11), “God will bless God’s people with peace,” and we say in the second Torah blessing, “God has implanted eternal life within us.” Then the S’fat Emet goes on to say, “this well is opened by the peace wrought by these statutes. For this reason the Midrash quotes here, you have established uprightness (Ps 99:4) because these statues lead people to love one another. The problem we must solve, then, is one of coordination: of getting all the parts to work together as a well oiled machine in which all the components are all operating harmoniously toward a productive end. If God is one, then everything is God and the challenge is to have it all working as if we are all one. That can only happen when we take care of each other, are fair to one another, and understand that the welfare of the whole is what we need to be aiming for, not just our own welfare; because our welfare is God’s welfare, is our neighbor’s welfare. When we cause pain, or create untruth, we cause a tear or a hole in the fabric of existence. We cause a breakdown in the oneness and harmony of the working parts, and we, ourselves will experience the pain we cause to another. We ourselves will fall into the hole we have dug or torn. It is all God, and that is why harmony is so important. Disharmony works against existence, against life, against us. Untruth severs the source of the electric current from the light bulb, so it can’t light up. The commandments are given to purify us and the Torah ties them all together so that we have a chance to understand it all. Torah is a reflection of the Oneness of all existence. It explains how all life should work, when it’s working properly. That understanding is so precious for us, because it gives us a chance to be part of a universe that is pulling together and not pulling apart. When we are focused on the welfare of the All, we are given glimpses of Divinity; intimations of the purity that is God and the harmonious, productive place that the world is meant to be. May each of us strive to realize these truths, so that the design of Oneness can become the reality; so that we can work happily, being at One with existence and expressing the harmony of all life.
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