Transcript
Okay, good morning. This this week we have the privilege of reading פרשת תרומה Parshas Truma. This morning we have the privilege of studying it. And we really transition now from, uh, last week at שבס Shabbos at מנחה Mincha when we started reading תרומה Truma, I thought to myself, oh boy, here we go, because now we start from the incredible narratives of ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis, which are easy to דרשן darshan. The great אבות Avos and אמהות imahos and the stories and storylines and clear messages, the beginning of שמות Shemos and the Exodus, and now, well next week we get a little reprieve again, but תרומה Truma, תצוה Tetzaveh, and ויקהל Vayakhel, פקודי Pekudei, and then ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra, we're into the nitty gritty, really into the details, which is what we spoke about last week. The פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim itself represents the transition from the, uh, spiritual pursuits from the ambitions to the details, that for Judaism it's contained not in the elevated experiences, not in the heights, but it's experienced in the everyday and the mundane and in the details. And if you didn't believe that with פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim, then תרומה Truma takes us really needy deep in the, uh, in the details. So again, just to summarize the פרשה parsha and then we'll, we'll go into it in depth, the the beginning of פרשת תרומה Parshas Truma kind of jumps somewhat abruptly right into the משכן Mishkan. Because kind of out of nowhere, last week's פרשה parsha ended, remember with we studied the end of last week's פרשה parsha, the peculiar narrative that the מפרשים mepharshim, the commentators debate, did it come before מתן תורה Matan Torah, after מתן תורה Matan Torah, before קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, after קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, we spoke about that at the end of last week. And then kind of abruptly, the beginning of this week with no introduction and with no sense of context, Hashem just says ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li truma, take for me a, uh, a תרומה truma portion from every person who is a generous heart, and this is the תרומה truma, and then it, you know, starts to collect and tell us what it's for, and go fashion all of these כלים keilim, go fashion all of these utensils, all of these pieces of furniture which will serve in the temple, which will serve in the משכן Mishkan, without really giving us a background to what the משכן Mishkan is about and what precipitated the משכן Mishkan. Why do we need a משכן Mishkan? Was a משכן Mishkan part of the divine plan? Was it not? So, you know, we'll get to that with next week's פרשה parsha, not next week, but two weeks, I'm sorry, with כי תשא Kisisa, and ויקהל פקודי Vayakhel Pekudei. It's it's kind of peculiar that the עגל eigel, the חטא העגל Cheit Ha'eigel, the sin of the golden calf, um, which according to many or most really is what precipitated the משכן Mishkan, only comes afterwards. Why does it come afterwards? We'll talk about that in the future. So anyway, we have this week, though, the beginning of the the, uh, the commandments of building a tabernacle, of a משכן Mishkan, and all of the furniture, all of the כלים keilim that will go there in. And of course, there's all these different interpretations. Why is it ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li truma? It should be ויתנו לי תרומה v'yitnu li truma. We should give a gift, give the charity. Why ויקחו לי v'yikchu li? Why does God use the term to take as opposed to to give? But, uh, a lot of comments on this. ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם Va'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'socham, the famous verse that God says, make for me a sanctuary and I will dwell in them. It's grammatically incongruent. It should say, make for me a sanctuary and I'll dwell in it. What do you mean dwell them? To which, of course, all the commentaries talk about that the real sanctuary is not in a building, not bricks and mortar, but it takes place in our hearts. Takes place in our hearts. It's not external to us, but it's something which is internal. The great Kabbalist a few centuries ago wrote the song בלבבי משכן אבנה bilvavi Mishkan evneh. In my heart, I will build a sanctuary. And uh, and that's really what God wants of us. And therefore that introduction, that sentence itself helps us appreciate an answer to a very puzzling question. We don't have a בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash today. We don't have a a tabernacle today. So we're going to wait, not waste. We're going to take up four פרשיות parshios, תרומה, תצוה, ויקהל, פקודי Truma, Tetzaveh, Vayakhel, Pekudei. Four פרשיות parshios with all the details, the measurements, the length, the width, the heights, all the detailed measurements of all these pieces of furniture for something which is arcane, archaic and irrelevant to us? So if you understand this verse, you realize that it's not irrelevant to us at all, but the message is very contemporary, that there's tremendous symbolism within each of the utensils of the tabernacle, within each of the כלים keilim. And there is expression of it within our lives. Because ultimately ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם Va'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'socham, the notion of having a מקדש Mikdash, first of all is in our hearts. ושכנתי בתוכם V'shachanti b'socham, I would add something else, which I won't develop now, maybe another time, is really in our homes. It's our homes, the מקדש מעט Mikdash Me'at. Our home is is a a tabernacle in miniature. Our dining room table is the שלחן shulchan. And so on and so forth. Our attitude towards our home and what we do in our home and what we speak in our home and so on, really reflects whether we've turned it and transformed it into a a tabernacle. But the פסוק pasuk is important to understand to this introduction to give a context to why, why do we have four פרשיות parshios of something that seems to be irrelevant, um, and non-applicable to us? And then we start to go through the the, um, the כלים keilim, the utensils themselves. So we have the ark, the cover, the table, the menorah, cover of the tabernacle, the walls of the tabernacle, the exact dimensions, the partition within the tabernacle that creates a Holy of Holies, we have the altar, which the sacrifices are offered, you have the courtyard, and that is this week's פרשה parsha. Okay? So that's an overview. Again, it's, if you came for some uplifting narrative, you chose the wrong week. This is details. These are dimensions. This is architecture. This is design. This is great spirituality and great inspiration when you delve into the deeper meaning and purpose, but there's the the details that uh, that take place here. Okay? So that's the overview. But I want to spend time on is beginning with the כלי keli of the ארון Aron, which is chapter 25, פרק כ\"ה perek kaf hei, פסוק י' pasuk yud. Top of page 446, 447. 446, 447. The ארון Aron. Okay, so you see that סמך samech again represents סתומה stumah and פתוחות psuchos. Right? The תורה Torah is designed, chapter 25 verse 10. Verse 10. Chapter 25 verse 10, פרק כ\"ה פסוק י' perek kaf hei, pasuk yud. The תורה Torah is designed, the the פרקים prakim, the breakdown of the chapters as we have them are not of our tradition. They're not of our tradition. They were instituted later and actually not by Jews. We understand the significant breakdown of the פרשה parsha by the margins, by the way that it's laid out, by the layout itself. So when you see a סמך samech, if you're looking in the מקראות גדולות Mikraos Gedolos, what that means is סתומות stumos, that means there's a break in the line. It's not the end of a line, new paragraph, but there's a break in the line. So if you look in the art scroll, if you're looking in a מקראות גדולות Mikraos Gedolos, look at someone near you with an art scroll, and you'll see indeed that there's a break. That the the art scroll did us a great, the Stone חומש Chumash, I should say, did us a great service by laying out lays out the text according to the way it's laid out in a ספר תורה Sefer Torah itself. So you see that there's a break there on page 446. That's because it's a סתומה stumah. It's a סתום sossom. If it was פתוחה psuchah, if it was one of the פתוחות psuchos, then it would after וכן תעשו v'chein ta'asu it would end till the end of the line and ועשו ארון v'asu Aron would be the next line. So there's different ways of showing a break, either a complete break with a new paragraph or a pause, a pregnant pause representing a break until the next section but not a complete chapter break. Okay? So this is one of the סתומות stumos. ועשו ארון עצי שטים V'asu Aron atzei shittim, אמתים וחצי ארכו, ואמה וחצי רחבו, ואמה וחצי קומתו amosayim v'chetzi arko, v'amah v'chetzi rachbo, v'amah v'chetzi komaso. The next thing Moshe is to instruct the Jewish people to construct is an ark, is an ark, is an ארון Aron. And it's made of acacia wood. שטים shittim is acacia wood, and its dimensions are two and a half אמות amos, and אמה amah is a foot and a half, approximately. So two and a half אמות amos in length, and an אמה amah and a half in width, and an אמה amah and a half in height. Okay. So if an אמה amah and a half is a foot and a half, you can figure out the dimensions on your own. So that's the ארון Aron. Yeah, there's a miracle actually how everything fit in the ארון Aron. The גמרא Gemorah records that there was a miracle that everything fit in the ארון Aron itself. It's one of the many miracles. So you build this ark out of acacia wood, but it's not like a normal piece of furniture. A normal piece of furniture is if it's made out of wood, it's made out of wood. What you see is what you get. This is וצפית אתו זהב טהור, מבית ומחוץ תצפנו v'tzipisa oso zahav tahor, mibayis umichutz t'tzapenu. ועשית עליו זר זהב סביב V'asisa alav zer zahav saviv. It's made out of wood, its core is acacia wood, but it is lined both internally and externally with gold. And not only that, you then embellish it by placing a golden crown, זר זהב סביב zer zahav saviv. There's a golden crown that goes around the top, golden molding, I would say, that goes around the top. ויצקת לו ארבע טבעת זהב, ונתתה על ארבע פעמתיו V'yatzakta lo arba taba'os zahav, v'nasata al arba pa'amosav, and you make four golden rings and place them on the four corners of this ark, and ונתתה על ארבע פעמתיו v'nasata al arba pa'amosav and ושתי טבעת על צלעו האחת, ושתי טבעת על צלעו השנית u'shtei taba'os al tzalo ha'echas, u'shtei taba'os al tzalo ha'shenis. And then you place two of the golden rings on either side. Why do you have two golden rings on either side, two loops, two two ועשית בדי עצי שטים וצפית אתם זהב v'asisa badei atzei shittim v'tzipisa osam zahav. Because you're also going to make two poles. And you're going to have made, they're going to be made of acacia wood, and you're going to also cover them in gold. והבאת את הבדים בטבעת על צלעת הארן V'heveisa es habadim bataba'os al tzalos ha'Aron, you take these poles and you slip them through the two rings on either side of the ark, לשאת את הארן בהם laseis es ha'Aron bahem because it becomes the means by which you carry it. You don't carry it with your hands underneath the ark, but there are poles going through each side of the ark, a pole on each side, and it would rest on the shoulders of those who carried it. בטבעת הארן יהיו הבדים, לא יסרו ממנו B'taba'os ha'Aron yihyu habadim, lo yasuru mimenu. In the rings of the ark shall the poles, the staves rest, you're not allowed to remove them. ונתת אל הארן את העדות אשר אתן אליך V'nasata el ha'Aron es ha'eidus asher etein eilecha. And you will place in the ארון Aron the עדות eidus, the testimony. What's the testimony? The לוחות luchos, the tablets that I give you, that I will give you. Okay? So that's the ark itself, and then we'll get into the cover of the ark. ועשית כפרת זהב טהור V'asisa kapores zahav tahor. And now you need to make a cover for the ark. It should be made of pure gold. אמתים וחצי ארכה, ואמה וחצי רחבה amosayim v'chetzi arko, v'amah v'chetzi rachbo. And it will make sense that its dimensions are the same as the ark, because if it's a covered, you got to fit it entirely right on top. ועשית שנים כרבים זהב V'asisa shnayim kruvim zahav. What is the top of this cover look like? You make two כרובים kruvim out of gold on top. What are כרובים kruvim? Cherubs. Thank you. What are cherubs? Okay, we'll talk about. מקשה miksha. מקשה תעשה אתם משני קצות הכפרת miksha ta'aseh osam mishnei ktzos hakapores. They're hammered out on both ends of the cover. In other words hammered out of the gold. ועשה כרוב אחד מקצה מזה, וכרוב אחד מקצה מזה V'asei kruv echad mikatzeh mizeh, u'kruv echad mikatzeh mizeh. They're made on either side of the cover. מן הכפרת תעשו את הכרבים על שני קצותיו Min hakapores ta'asu es hakruvim al shnei ktzosav. On the cover shall you make the two, um, כרובים kruvim, on the two ends. It's a continuation of the gold? Yes. והיו הכרבים פרשי כנפים למעלה V'hayu hakruvim porsei chenafayim l'ma'alah. And what is their these angelic figurines when you're crafting them, when you're when you're molding them, what's their image? What should they look like? So they should spread their wings upward, סככים בכנפיהם על הכפרת, ופניהם איש אל אחיו soch'chim b'chanfeihem al hakapores, u'pneihem ish el achiv. So first of all, their wings spread upward, they cover the cover with their wings, the ark is covered by their wings, and they're facing one another. אל הכפרת יהיו פני הכרבים el hakapores yihyu pnei hakruvim. Towards the covering shall the faces of the כרובים kruvim face. ונתת את הכפרת על הארן מלמעלה V'nasata es hakapores al ha'aron milma'alah. You place the cover on top of the ארון Aron. ואל הארן תתן את העדות אשר אתן אליך v'el ha'aron titein es ha'eidus asher etein eilecha. But in the ארון Aron, within it, you place the tablets that I will give you. ונועדתי לך שם ודברתי אתך מעל הכפרת, מבין שני הכרבים אשר על ארן העדת V'no'aditi l'cha sham v'dibarti itcha mei'al hakapores, mibein shnei hakruvim asher al aron ha'eidus. You'll know I am there. It's a testimony that I am that to the fact that I am there. And that's where we'll meet. ועד Va'ad, that's where we'll have our ועד va'ad, our rendezvous. And I will speak to you from on top of the cover between the two כרובים kruvim. In other words, God doesn't mean he's physically present there. God is not physically represented or limited anywhere, but he means if you are to try to create some imagery when you're hearing my voice Moshe, and you want to have imagery of where it's emanating from, picture it coming from right between these two figurines sitting on top of the ark. את כל אשר אצוה אותך אל בני ישראל Es kol asher atzaveh oscha el Bnei Yisrael. And that's where I will communicate everything that I will teach you to command to the Jewish people. Okay? So that's the section that I want to look at today is the forming of the ארון Aron. If you want to see a picture of this, by the way, the Stone חומש Chumash has on page 447 a nice picture. You see the gold plain box with its dimensions, and then you see the rings on each corner, there are rings for the golden staves to be put through the the poles. And then along the time, you have the זר זהב סביב zer zahav saviv along the top, you have the golden, um, molding. And on top you have the כרובים kruvim, these figurines whose wings spread upward towards heaven. They face each other, and together it represents the cover. Okay? There you have the picture. Yes. Why did they put the cover back on top and then put in the tablets underneath it? Yeah, okay, we'll get to that. It's a good question. How high is the cover? Yes. I know that the כרובים kruvim were created in the six days which they were created. I'm not sure. I don't know. Okay. So let's see פסוק י' pasuk yud. So ועשו ארון עצי שטים v'asu Aron atzei shittim. So um, if you look at the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim of יעקב בן אשר Yaakov ben Asher, בכל הכלים כתיב ועשית, חוץ מבארן דכתיב ועשו b'chol hakeilim k'siv v'asisa, chutz miba'aron d'chsiv v'asu. All of the other utensils it says ועשית v'asisa in the singular, one person was to make it, and here the ארון Aron is in the plural, ועשו v'asu. And everyone's bothered by it. The בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim mentions it, שכל הכלים עשה שלמה כיוצא בהן חוץ מארון shekol hakeilim asah Shlomo keyotzei bahem chutz mei'aron. Because all of the utensils were replicated except for the ארון Aron. Forget, it's the question that that they're all made, with all of them it says ועשית v'asisa the singular to command to made, except here it's ועשו v'asu. The ארון Aron says the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim, אותיות אורן osios Oran. Why is it called an ארון Aron? Why is it called an ark? So he says the ארון Aron, an ark, why is an ark called an ארון Aron, I should ask. Because ארון Aron, the root of the word ארון Aron is אור or, is light, שיש בו אורן של ישראל sheyeish bo oran shel Yisrael, because there is a light that emanates, the light of the Jewish people. In other words, the לוחות luchos, the Torah that's contained within the ark, illuminates the Jewish people. אותיות נורא Osios Nora, it's wondrous. כי הוא אש אכלה ki hu eish ochlah. ארון בגימטריא נזר Aron b'gematria nezer. שכתר תורה עולה על גביהן ועל כל הכתרים, לכך כתיב ועשית עליו זר זהב Shekeser Torah olah al gabeihen v'al kol haktzarim, l'chach k'siv v'asisa alav zer zahav. ובשלחן כתיב ועשית לו u'vshulchan k'siv v'asisa lo, לומר שכתר תורה עולה על שאר הכתרים lomar shekeser Torah olah al sh'ar haktzarim. So the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim says that the ארון Aron is the same numerical value as נזר nezer. The crown of תורה Torah, we know the משנה בפרקי אבות Mishnah b'Pirkei Avos that there are three crowns: כתר keser, כתר כהונה keser kehunah, and כתר מלכות keser malchus, and כתר תורה keser Torah. כתר שם טוב keser shem tov is עולה על גביהם olah al gabeihem. But among those כתרים ksarim, those crowns, it's the כתר תורה keser Torah which is the highest, the ארון Aron represents in the משכן Mishkan, in its formulation, it represents Torah and uh, and therefore, the Hebrew word for it is ארון Aron, אור or, it illuminates, it provides light, it provides warmth, it provides instruction, it provides guidance for all who tap into it. Yes. Why they call it and why they shall make it? Oh, hold on, hold on. The casket is also called an ארון Aron. Oh, that's a good question. Why is a casket for a human being, you're saying, called an ארון Aron? Yeah. So I think the answer is very simple, that just like the ארון Aron held the Torah, a human being we are to treat as a living Torah. Why is it you have to bury a Torah, you have to bury a human being? Because the human being is no less of a ספר תורה Sefer Torah. There's a גמרא Gemorah, the גמרא Gemorah describes the conversation between two great rabbis, they stand up when a תלמיד חכם Talmid chacham walks by and he says, if I stand for Torah which is written on parchment and with ink, shouldn't I stand for a living Torah? And that's the attitude that we are to have is the human being is the living Torah. The human being has the Torah imprinted on their soul. They have lived Torah. They've transformed themselves into a Torah scroll. So that's the uh, the ארון Aron. That's that's why we bury a person in an ארון Aron because they too, it too houses the living Torah. But not only that, moreover, it has light that illuminates from it, that just like the ארון Aron, even though it was closed and the tablets were contained therein, but it provided illumination, so too when we lose our loved one and it's closed, it's a casket which is closed, nevertheless, it continues to provide illumination by our, by our remembering and recalling and tapping into their their positive spirits. Yes. You talk about Noah and the ארון Aron in helping the seed of creation. Well, that's a תיבה teiva. We don't call that, right. That's not. We call it the ark in English. In English more. In Hebrew that's really what's called a תיבה teiva. Yeah, I don't understand what the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim is saying. First of all, the פסוק pasuk before it says ועשו לי מקדש va'asu li Mikdash. It doesn't say ועשית v'asisa. And if they did this, that Shlomo could not replicate, then everybody did it except for Shlomo, it should say ועשית ארון v'asisa Aron, and all the others should say ועשו v'asu. It seems backward. Okay, we'll see, we'll see the other מפרשים mepharshim in a second deal with it. Rudy had a comment. It's written here that it's in the plural for the nation and they, everyone should have a merit. Oh, okay good. So let's see, let's see that comment. So look at the רמב\"ן Ramban. The רמב\"ן Ramban also is bothered by the same thing ועשו ארון v'asu Aron. ויחזור בבני ישראל ונסכר במעלה, ואחרי כן וצפית אתו V'yachzor b'Bnei Yisrael v'neeskar b'ma'alah, v'acharei chen v'tzipisa oso. In other words, ועשו ארון v'asu Aron is in the plural because now we're going back to the Jewish people and giving them collectively this instruction. But then if you notice it says even within the ארון Aron, וצפית אתו v'tzipisa oso. It should be וצפיתם v'tzipisem. וצפית v'tzipisa is singular. So ועשו v'asu is back in the plural, you collectively make the ארון Aron, fashion the ark. Um, but the רמב\"ן Ramban notices, and then it returns to the singular that we were used to, וצפית v'tzipisa, ויצקת v'yatzakta, וכולן בלשון יחיד כי משה כנגד כל ישראל v'kulam b'lashon yachid ki Moshe k'neged kol Yisrael. And why is the rest in the singular? Because Moshe corresponds with the totality of the Jewish people. Moshe is כנגד k'neged everybody. ויתכן שירמוז שכל ישראל משתתפים בעשיית הארון V'yitachen sheyirmoz shekol Yisrael mishtatfim b'asias ha'Aron, בעבור שהוא קדוש משכני עליון, בש-יזכו כלם לתורה ba'avur shehu kadosh mishknei elyon, b'sheyisku kulam laTorah. And the רמב\"ן Ramban says what's the reason that this is unique that the other כלים keilim at least George, maybe the משכן Mishkan as a whole was ועשו למשכן v'asu l'Mishkan. But the other כלים keilim is ועשית v'asisa. Why is the ארון Aron unique? Says the רמב\"ן Ramban, because everyone should have access to Torah. See, when it comes to the altar, מזבח Mizbeach, when it comes to the menorah, so there were limitations on who could interface. It was the כהנים Kohanim, it was the priests who brought sacrifices. And it was the priests who were the ones who lit the menorah. There were limitations on who could do what. But when it comes to Torah, equal access. Everybody has a right. Everyone is entitled to the legacy, to the tradition, to the teaching of Torah. And that's what the רמב\"ן Ramban is suggesting. That's why he's ועשו v'asu. Everything else is ועשית v'asisa. But when it comes to Torah, which is what the ארון Aron represents, that's ועשו v'asu. And he continues, וכן אמרו במדרש רבה, למה דבר בכל הכלים כתב ועשית וארון כתיב ועשו v'chein amru b'Medrash Rabbah, l'ma daber b'chol hakeilim k'sav v'asisa v'aron k'siv v'asu. אמר רבי יהודה בר שלום אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא, יבואו הכל ויעסקו בארון, שיזכו לתורה Amar Rabbi Yehuda bar Shalom Amar Hakadosh Baruch Hu, yavo'u hakol v'yisasku ba'aron, sheyisku laTorah. Because when it comes to the other כלים keilim, it's limited. When it comes to the ארון Aron, then everybody come. I want everyone to have a piece of it. וראו אותו שיתנדב כל אחד כלי זהב אחד לארון, או שיעזרו לבצלאל איזה מעט, או שיכוונו לדבר v'ru'eh oso sheyisnadvev kol echad kli zahav echad la'aron, o sheya'azru l'Betzalel eizeh me'at, o sheyachavnu l'davar. What does it mean in a practical sense? So one of three things, says the רמב\"ן Ramban. Either everyone should donate a piece of the gold, the fraction of the gold, so that when the ארון Aron is constructed that will house the Torah, everyone is participating in its construction. Everyone is represented in upholding that Torah. That's number one. Or number two is maybe, we know the architect of the משכן Mishkan, the real builder is בצלאל Betzalel, which we'll get to, which is also unusual that here we give all the instructions without ever having yet hired our contractor, בצלאל Betzalel. But anyway, בצלאל Betzalel. So the second possibility when it means ועשו v'asu everyone should participate means everyone should assist בצלאל Betzalel in some manner. And the third possibility is או שיכוונו לדבר o sheyachavnu l'davar is at least everyone should have intent, pay attention, have כוונה kavanah in the construction of the ארון Aron as if everyone was participating. But for the רמב\"ן Ramban, the reason it changes from ועשית v'asisa to ועשו v'asu, the singular to the plural, is to say because the ארון Aron represents Torah, everyone should have access, everyone should participate, everyone should be part of what the ארון Aron symbolizes. Somebody had a question. Saw a hand. Okay, never mind. The uh כלי יקר Kli Yakar also picks up on the ועשית v'asisa and ועשו v'asu. פסוק י' pasuk yud, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, רב שלמה אפרים לונטשיץ Rav Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz. ועשו ארון עצי שטים V'asu Aron atzei shittim. במעשה המשכן וכל כליו, ודיני עשייתם, כבר נמצאו ופרטי דיניהם בתלמוד, עליהם אין להוסיף וממנו אין לגרוע B'ma'aseh Mishkan v'chol keilav, v'dinei asiyasam, kvar nimtzu u'pratei dineihem b'Talmud, aleihem ein l'hosif u'mimeinu ein l'groa. So the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is giving a little introduction here. He says, I don't really need to write an extensive commentary. That's his introduction to his extensive commentary. I don't really need to write an extensive commentary because all the detailed laws of how to build these utensils and how the tabernacle should function, that's all contained within the Talmud. You don't really need me for that. I don't have anything to add, and I certainly don't want to take away. כן במעשה הסכימו עליו כל המפרשים, לעשות בהם רמזים וענינים שתרמים נגלים, כי לא יתכן לומר שכל פרטי אלו היו בלא כוונה kein b'ma'aseh skimo alav kol hamefarshim, la'asos bahem remazim v'inyanim shetarmim niglim, ki lo yitachen lomar shekol pratei eilu hayu b'lo kavanah. The only thing I'll add is insight into what was the real intent, what's the mysticism? What's the higher purpose, higher meaning to some of the subtle nuances within the text and within the utensils themselves? Because it's not just random, and it's not just coincidence, and everything has a deeper meaning. And everything has, I would add, a symbolism. This symbolism is as relevant for us today as it was for those who were building and benefiting from the משכן Mishkan itself. ועל דרך זה החרו רוב המפרשים לעשות בהם רמזים, איש כפי שכלו, זה אומר בכה, וזה אומר בכה v'al derech zeh hacharu rova hamechabrim la'asos bahem remazim, ish k'fi sichlo, zeh omer b'choh, v'zeh omer b'choh. And each of the commentary struggles to say, well, this is unusual, what's this nuance coming to teach? What's the message, what's the meaning in this? ואפילו רש\"י שכל דבריו פשוטים, במקום שמצא לדרוש קר ופשוטו, לא הניח מלבאר v'afilu Rashi shekol davarav pshutim, makom shematza l'drosh kar v'pshuto, lo hiniach m'l'vaer. Even the great רש\"י Rashi, who the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is familiar, as we should be after our years of studying, that רש\"י Rashi only comes as רש\"י Rashi says in a number of places, אין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו ein mikra yotzei midei pshuto. רש\"י Rashi says, I only come to teach the פשט pshat. What's פשט pshat? The simple meaning of the text. In other words, every text is subject to four layers of interpretation, at least four. They are פרד\"ס Pardes. פשט pshat, רמז remez, דרש drash, and סוד sod, which are the simple meaning of the text, and the hints, the allusions in the text, and the homiletical interpretations of the of the text, and the Kabbalistic interpretations of the text. There are at least four layers of interpretation to each and every verse to every text. In fact, one could argue there are 70 layers of interpretation, שבעים פנים לתורה shiv'im panim laTorah. It's not four, it's 70. One could argue it's not 70, but we know that there are 600,000 letters in the Torah, which is not true, but the גמרא Gemorah says there's 600,000 letters in the Torah corresponding to each person. Every Jew has a right to interpret the text. So there's an infinite number of interpretations. So forget the number, the point is there are many interpretations. But the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is pointing out what we know that רש\"י Rashi comes, is very simple, just the meaning of the text. He's not looking to provide any homiletical interpretations, he's not giving a big speech, a דרשה drasha. He just wants the simple meaning. And yet even he, כן בפרשת יתרו פירש מזבח נחושת לכפר על מצח נחושה ken b'parshas yisro peresh mizbeach n'choshes l'chaper al matzach n'chusha. וכן י\"ב עינות מים ושבעים תמרים, פירש כנגד י\"ב שבטים ושבעים זקנים v'chein yud beis einos mayim v'shiv'im t'marim, peireish k'neged yud beis shvatim v'shiv'im z'keinim. Corresponds with the 12 tribes and the 70 elders. על כן לא אחשוך גם אני מלומר מה שתעלה במצודת שכלי, להוסיף קצת על אותם רמזים שדיברו בהם המפרשים בשני פרשיות אלו תרומה ותצוה Al kein lo achshoch gam ani m'lomar ma sheta'alah b'mitzudas sichli, l'hosif k'tzas al osem remazim she'dibru bahem hamefarshim b'shnei parshios eilu Truma v'Tetzaveh. So he says if רש\"י Rashi, this is all again, the purpose of our class for those who are here and for those listening at home is not, although I'm thinking about changing this, but for now the purpose of our class is to be text-based. We're studying the commentaries, how they dissected the text. So the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is giving his introduction, he says, look, I know that the purpose of our commentaries is to dissect text. But this text kind of, if we dissect it, the laws are in the גמרא Gemorah. You don't need me just to repeat and compile all the laws in the גמרא Gemorah that dissect this text. I want to dissect it by offering homiletical interpretations even though it violates my general thesis. If it was good enough for רש\"י Rashi, it's good enough for me. ותחלה בואי לדבר בהם אומר בדרך כלל על שלושה ראשי כלים אשר עליהם נעשה זר זהב, והם ארון, שלחן, ומזבח V't'chila boi l'daber bahem omer b'derech klal al shlosha roshei keilim asher aleihem na'aseh zer zahav, v'heim Aron, Shulchan u'Mizbeach. And so the first thing I want to do, says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is, talk about the three utensils that all had in common the golden molding, the golden crown above it. And they were the ארון Aron, they were the שלחן Shulchan, and they were the מזבח Mizbeach. The ארון Aron, the שלחן Shulchan, the table, and the מזבח Mizbeach, the altar. ורז\"ל אמרו, שהם כנגד ג' כתרים, כתר תורה, כתר כהונה, וכתר מלכות V'Razal amru, sheheim k'neged gimel ksarim, keser Torah, keser Kehunah, v'keser Malchus. What does it mean a crown, that literally we want the fanfare, the honor? No, it doesn't mean pursue honor, but it means pursue in reputation, that we want to be identified, associated with these pursuits, the pursuit of Torah, and of priesthood, however you'll define that, and of royalty. והבד ימינו ראי כי שלושה כלים אלו היו חלוקים במידות האמות V'haved yameinu re'ei ki shlosha keilim eilu hayu ch'lukim b'midos ha'amos. And if you look, you'll notice that these three utensils, the ark, the table, and the altar, were all distinguished in their measurements. כי הארון היו כל אמותיו שבורות ki ha'Aron hayu kol amosav sh'vuros. We'll get into it in a moment. It's not a coincidence. And here's again, the beautiful symbolism. When you study the text and you're offering interpretation, you'll notice that when it comes to the מזבח Mizbeach, the altar, all of the measurements are whole numbers. One אמה amah, two אמה amah, three אמה amah, five אמה amah, it's all whole numbers. When it came to the ארון Aron we just read, the ark, all of the numbers were What are those called integers? Halves, fractions? They were not complete numbers. One and a half by two and a half by, it was all half numbers. And the שלחן Shulchan, the table had some whole numbers and some fractions. והלא דבר הוא V'ha'lo davar hu. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting, says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. Just a coincidence, that's a perfect example the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is trying to show you, you could read the text and say, okay, that's random. For whatever reason, God gave these random measurements, that when it came to the ark, they were all fractions. And when it came to the altar, they were all whole. And when it came to the table, there was some whole and some half. Is that coincidence or is there more? So listen to what the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, beautiful כלי יקר Kli Yakar. הכוונה לומר בזה, כפי שאמרו חכמינו במאמרות, הוה למעלה ממך Hakavanah l'lomar b'zeh, kfi she'amru chachameinu b'ma'amaros, ha'vei l'ma'alah mimcha. Our rabbi said that we should see what's above us. כי על ידי זה ידמה בנפשו כי הוא חסר מן השלימות ולא הגיע למדרגת חבירו ויבוא להתקנות בו ויוסיף על שלימות חכמתו כי קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה ki al yedei zeh yidmeh b'nafsho ki hu chaser min hashleimos v'lo higia l'madregas chaveiro v'yavo l'hiskanos bo v'yosif al שלימות חכמתו כי קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה. Our rabbis taught us this is a very important יסוד yesod. Speak about this in פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Ba'aloscha, opening רמב\"ן Ramban there. Competitiveness. Does Judaism endorse competition, competitiveness? It's a very interesting subject. In fact, I once gave a a talk about this and Allen Vangrad, who was a Super Bowl winner and now is a observant Jew was there and he appreciated we had a whole discussion afterwards because, you know, when you've when you've wear a Super Bowl ring on your finger, you can appreciate the discussion about the value, the value and the downfalls of of uh competition. So does Judaism endorse competition? Doesn't endorse competition? So I say, as somebody with a very competitive spirit, that absolutely it does. Unconditioned, qualified however, that the competition is driving you to be better for the right reasons. So for example, One that I gave this דרשה drasha, when when אהרן Aaron, משה Moshe's brother, אהרן Aaron, the great leader of the Jewish people, sees all of the princes bringing their sacrifices. When this משכן Mishkan that we're reading all about is finally completed and it's inaugurated and it's celebrated and they have a חנוכת המשכן Chanukas HaMishkan, אהרן Aaron is jealous, and he says to God, \"It's not fair to me. Not fair to me. I want to participate. Why can't I be among the princes, the נשיאים Nesi'im, offering these sacrifices?\"And I was always troubled by that question. It's not fair to me. What is אהרן Aaron, two years old? I mean, my kids, I have that conversation with. It's not fair to me, I didn't get an extra chicken nugget, I didn't get to go to the mall, I didn't get ice cream. It's not fair to me. אהרן Aaron? אהרן Aaron? Second only to his brother משה Moshe, great leader of the Jewish people, is complaining to God, \"It's not fair to me?\" And how does God respond? He doesn't give a פּאַטש אין פּנים patch in punim. He doesn't tell אהרן Aaron, \"What's the matter with you? What are you, two years old? It's not fair to me?\" Relax, everyone gets what they get, and they don't get upset. What I tell my kids. No, he doesn't say that. God says, \"Don't worry. You'll get yours. You get to light the מנורה menorah. You get to light the candelabra. You get to light the מנורה menorah. Don't be upset. You get to do something special, too.\"If I would say that to my kids, it would reinforce their jealousy. So what's going on? Why did God tell אהרן Aaron, \"What's the matter with you?\" And I think the answer is that a healthy competition is valuable, it's productive. אהרן Aaron wasn't jealous. It's not fair to me. I want to bring sacrifices. I want my 15 minutes of fame. I want to be on TV. I want to be at the head of the nation. I want the honor, I want the glory. אהרן Aaron was driven by their opportunity to say to God, \"I wish I had an opportunity to come close to you through the offering of these sacrifices.\" To which God responds, \"You'll have your chance to come close to me in your way. Don't worry. Don't worry.\"And the same thing is true here, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is quoting. קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה Kinas sofrim tarbeh chachmah. The גמרא Gemara has a principle, גמרא בבא בתרא Gemara Bava Basra I believe it is. קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה Kinas sofrim tarbeh chachmah. That means jealousy among scholars promotes wisdom. Right? Think about it. If every professor could go to a university and achieve tenure, and he never had pressure to publish, it would it would stifle achievement, it would stifle our intellectual growth. It's the pressure to publish and it's the competition among scholars that leads to increased wisdom.So, אבל aval, continuing the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, בעניני עולם הזה דהיינו כל הצלחות הגופניות כעושר וכבוד יסתכל במי שהוא למטה ממנו b'inyanei olam hazeh d'hainu kol hatzlachos hagufniyos, k'osher v'kavod, yistakel b'mi shehu lemata mimenu. So when it comes to, so here's what the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is saying. When it comes to spiritual pursuits, always look at the people above you. Always look at the people above you. Someone else knows more Torah, aspire, be driven, want to be like them. Somebody else has greater character, more patience, slower to anger, look at them as a model, try to be like them. Someone else volunteers more hours, gives more charity, look to them, be jealous of them, want to be like them. But when it comes to worldly pursuits, you're seeking wealth and honor, look at who's below you. ובסיבה זו ישמח בחלקו בראותו כי יש לו רב יותר מהרבה אנשים U'v'sibah zu yismach b'chelko b'ro'so ki yesh lo rav yoser mei'harei anashim. Because if you see the person below you who has less money and has less children or נחת nachas from them or has less prestige or prominence or honor, then you'll say, \"You know what? I'm pretty happy with what I have.\" כמו שאמרו מתפלל יתן עיניו למטה ולבו למעלה K'mo she'amru mispalel, yitein einav l'mata v'libo l'ma'ala. The גמרא Gemara in יבמות Yevamos says when a person's דאַווענען davening, they should place their eyes below and their heart above. So it means, לצרכי הנפש והגוף יתן לבו להרבה חכמה ודעת ממי שהוא למעלה ממנו l'tzorchei hanefesh v'haguf, yitein libo l'harbeh chachmah v'daas mi'shehu l'ma'ala mimenu. When you're דאַווענען davening for wisdom, when you're דאַווענען davening for spirituality, when you're דאַווענען davening for virtue, look around the שול shul at the people who who you want to be like, who I wish I could have that. I wish I could, I aspire, I am ambitious to be as as knowledgeable. I wish I knew as much Torah or concentrated as much in דאַווענען davening. להצליח לבבו בחכמה שיגיע למעלת השלימות l'hatzliach l'vavo b'chachmah sheyiga l'ma'alat hashleimus. שכן שלמה אמר השם כן שיתן לו לב לשמוע She'kain Shlomo lomar mei'Hashem k'mo she'yitein lo leiv l'shome'a. ועיניו וראיותיו במחמדות הגוף המוחשות יתן למי שהוא למטה ממנו במדרגה V'einav v'ra'ayosav b'machmadus haguf hamuchshashos yitein l'mi she'hu l'mata mimenu b'madreigah. But when you're דאַווענען davening for money, when you're דאַווענען davening for a house, when you're דאַווענען davening for your job, when you're דאַווענען davening for a car, look around the שול shul and find somebody who you know has less. And say to yourself, \"השם Hashem, you know what? With what I have, it's plenty.\" The אז ישמח בחלקו az yismach b'chelko, you'll be happy with your lot. ולא יבקש על ריבוי עושר שכן שלמה אמר ראש ועושר אל תתן לי V'lo yevakesh al ribui osher, she'kain Shlomo amar rosh v'osher al titein li. ועל כן היו כל אמות הארון שברים V'al kein hayu kol amos ha'aron shvurim. So now the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is going to get to his point. So when it came to the ark, all of the dimensions were fractions. להורות שכל אדם ידין בנפשו כאילו הוא חסר מן שלימות החכמה וצריך למדוד עדיין למעלת חסרונו L'horos she'kol adam yedein b'nafsho k'ilu hu chaser min hashleimus ha'chachmah v'tzarich limdod adayin l'ma'alas chesrono. Because our attitude to Torah should be, I am incomplete. I've never arrived. I've never achieved. I never have everything. I need to work, I need to struggle, I want more. I'm a fraction. I'm not a whole. כי כל אמה חסירה מורה על דבר חסר וצריך שימלא חסרונו Ki kol amah chaseirah moreh al davar chaser v'tzarich she'yimalei chesrono. When you think of a fraction, what do you think immediately? It needs its corresponding fraction to be whole. כך עיקר החכמה Kach ikar hachochmah מאין תמצא mei'ayin timatzei. So too with wisdom. Wow, this is a long כלי יקר Kli Yakar. So too with חכמה chochmah, ממי שחושב את עצמו לאין וחסר m'mi she'chosheiv es atzmo l'ayin v'chaser. אבל לא במי שהוא חכם בעיניו וטועה בעצמו לומר שכבר הגיע אל תכליתו Aval lo b'mi she'hu chacham b'einav v'to'eh b'atzmo lomar she'kvar higia el tachliso. You know why a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham is called a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham? I remember learning this when I was a kid. It's one of those few things that stuck with me because it had a very big impression on me. The greatest title we have for the person who knows the most is that they're a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. A great ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva, a great ראש כולל Rosh Kollel, a great רב Rav, a great man or a great woman, תלמידה חכמה talmida chachama. The greatest title, appellation that we can ascribe to somebody who has achieved incredible knowledge is תלמיד חכם Talmid Chacham. What does `talmid` mean? A student of wisdom. So think about it. The person who knows the most, we describe as incomplete, a student, needing to study, needing to learn. They're a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. They're not a חכם chacham. I'm not knocking the ספרדים Sefardim who call their רב Rav חכם chacham. But uh, but even the ספרדים Sefardim would refer to the חכם chacham as a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. חכם Chacham for them replaces רב Rav. It's a replacement for the term rabbi. But they would still describe in terms of an adjective as a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. And the reason we describe is because the wisest people are the ones who realize that they have so much more to learn. The biggest danger is when a person feels, \"I'm done. I'm complete. I've arrived. I know all there is to know.\" A person knows the most when they realize how little they know. That's when you're okay. That's when you're in good shape. That's when you're in good shape. When I speak to young rabbis, I was once a young rabbi. When I speak to young... trust me. When I speak to uh... When I speak to young rabbis, I tell them like that's, you know, rabbis, there's a great, there's a very important idea. Rabbis are very tempted through their congregants to to feel that they know everything. They ask a lot of questions, the congregants, and rabbis erroneously feel a pressure to give an answer on the spot and imply that they know everything at their fingertips. And what happens is, they start to believe it. First couple times they give an answer, they know they're smudging it or they think it says it there, that thing, or they remember hearing that from someone else. And then the second time and the third time and eventually they start to think, \"You know what? I know everything.\" And when I'm giving these answers, I know I'm giving the truth. The best thing, most important thing for a rabbi to know is that they don't know a lot. And to remember that they need to look it up. צדק צדק תרדוף Tzedek tzedek tirdof, you know, when you, it's true for justice, but it's true for learning as well. The obligation to look it up, the obligation to pursue it, the obligation to to check it. So it's uh, it's very important. It's a very big danger in any area in life. I would imagine the same is true whether you're a lawyer, whether you're a doctor, whether you're an athlete. The same is true in any uh, in any area of life, when you feel you've arrived and you know everything is when you'll begin to go down. It's only when you aspire to continue to grow. So that's why the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is explaining so beautifully, the dimensions of the ark. The ark is the symbol of Torah, of wisdom, of the Jewish wisdom. So it is in given in fractions so that its students remember we are fractions. You can never conquer Torah. You could never arrive. You can never make a סיום siyum and say, \"I'm done. Now I'm going to return to physics.\" You never finish, you never complete Torah. You never complete Torah. איזהו חכם הלומד מכל אדם Eizehu chacham halomed mikol adam. That's the משנה Mishnah in אבות Avos. Who is a wise person who learns from everyone? החושב שהוא חסר מן החכמה והוא צריך עוד ללמוד Ha'chosheiv she'hu chaser min hachochmah v'hu tzarich od lismoad. Who realized that he is incomplete and continues to study. מידיעת מציאות השם יתברך אמרנו תכלית הידיעה שנדע שלא נדעך M'yidias mesias Hashem yisbarach... tachlis hayediah she'neida she'lo neidecha. The same is true with knowing השם Hashem, that one has achieved knowledge of השם Hashem when they know that they don't know השם Hashem. Sounds paradoxical, but the knowledge of השם Hashem is the knowledge that I can never know השם Hashem. ועל כן היו כל אמות הארון שברים באורך וקומה ורוחב כנגד שלושה דברים העומדים כנגד בשיגי החכמות V'al kein hayu kol amos aron shvuros b'orech v'komah v'rochav k'neged shlosha devarim ha'omdim k'neged b'sigei hachochmos. It's so beautiful. The ark had dimensions that were width, length, and depth. And all three of the dimensions were fractions corresponding with the three areas of wisdom. קוצר דעת המשיג ועומק המושג ואורך הצעות Kotzer daas hamasig, v'omek hamusag, v'orech ha'tza'os. כי הקומה היינו העומק, כי עומק הדבר מי ימצאנו, והוא עומק המושג Ki hakomah heinu ha'omek, ki omek hadavar mi yimtza'einu, v'hu omek hamusag. The depth of the ark corresponds with the depth through which we could know anything. I could never feel I've plumbed all the depths of every any given topic and I know it in terms of all of its depths. והרוחב עומד כנגד קוצר דעת המשיג V'harochav omed k'neged kotzer daas hamasig. And the width represents my mind, that my limitations, the boundaries on my capacity to understand. והאורך היינו אורך הצעות V'ha'orech heinu orech ha'tza'os. The length of acquiring the knowledge. כמו שנאמר עמוקה משאול, מה תדע, וכתיב ארוכה מארץ מדה ורחבה מני ים K'mo she'ne'emar amukah mi'sheol, ma teida, u'ksiv arukah mei'eretz midah v'rechavah mini yam. So therefore, all three of the dimensions of the ark were fractions to show that all three of our attitude towards wisdom, understanding its depths, our capacity to understand, our pursuit of understanding, all are incomplete. We've never fully arrived. אבל השולחן Aval hashulchan, so now in great contrast, when it comes to the table, הרמז לכתר מלכות ha'remez l'keser malchus. What does the table represent? The crown of royalty. Why does it represent the crown of royalty? Because our attitude towards a table shows our dignity, are we dignified? Are we aristocracy? Are we distinguished? וכל הצלחות האנושיות שהרי ישראל זכו נהיה משולחן גבוה V'kol hatzlachos ha'enoshiyos she'harei Yisrael zochna na'eh mi'shulchan gavoah. What was on what was on the שולחן shulchan? הלחם הפנים Ha'lechem hapanim, the showbread. What does it correspond with? But פרנסה parnassah, corresponds with פרנסה parnassah, with livelihood. So היו אמותיו קצוצות שלמות hayu amosav k'tzusim shleimim, כי כל משכיל ישמח בחלקו וידין בנפשו כאילו יש לו כל ואינו חסר דבר לנפשו מאומה ki kol maskil yismach b'chelko v'yedein b'nafsho k'ilu yesh lo kol v'eino chaser davar l'nafsho m'umah. So therefore, some of the dimensions of the table were whole. Why? Because our attitude towards פרנסה parnassah, for example, should be, our livelihood should be, I'm whole. I have what I need. Because what's what's joy, what's happiness? Being satisfied with your lot. כאילו יש לו כל ואינו חסר דבר לנפשו מאומה, שכן יעקב אמר יש לי כל K'ilu yesh lo kol v'eino chaser davar l'nafsho m'umah, she'kein Yaakov amar yesh li kol. יעקב Yaakov as opposed to עשו Esav. עשו Esav said יש לי רב yesh li rav, \"I have a lot.\" When they reunite, יעקב Yaakov and עשו Esav, after their conflict, when they reunite and resolve their conflict, and they ask one another, \"Knew how have you been all these years, what's doing?\" עשו Esav says, יש לי רב yesh li rav, \"I've got a lot.\" יעקב Yaakov says, יש לי כל yesh li kol, \"I have everything.\" And that's of course, another one of my favorite דברי תורה divrei Torah. In בענטשן benching when we say בכל מכל כל ba'kol, mi'kol, kol, it's because אברהם, יצחק, ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov each used the term כל kol. And one of the great things that they transmitted to us, one of the great legacies of אברהם, יצחק, ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov is the capacity to have an attitude of כל kol. That whatever I have, it's everything. What I have is everything. אברהם, יצחק, ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov shared a capacity to have an attitude of כל kol. They're not רב rav. Not, \"I have a lot and I wish I had more,\" but an attitude of כל kol that I have everything. ומקצתן היו שבורות להורות U'mik'tzasan hayu shvuros l'horos. But some of the dimensions of the שולחן shulchan are fractions. Why? שלא ישלים האדם תאוותו מכל וכל, ולא יתן לרוח חומר כל אות נפשו על צורך שיש בו תאוותו She'lo yashlim ha'adam ta'avso mi'kol v'kol, v'lo yitein l'ruach chomer kol ois nafsho al tzorech she'yesh bo ta'avso. The reason is because you shouldn't affirm and validate every temptation that man has. We shouldn't feel whole in all of our worldly desires. Some of them need to be broken. Some of them need to be shattered. So some of the dimensions of the שולחן shulchan were incomplete to show the importance of shattering some of the worldly temptations that we have. כי מטעסא נסכא ראשון שבירא איתא לחם כמו שנאמר שברו לנו מעט אוכל Ki m'ta'am zeh niskar rosheinu shvira eit ha'lechem k'mo she'ne'emar shivru lanu m'at ochel. That's why when it comes to bread, we use the term to break bread, שבירה shivra, to break. וכתיב בשברי לחם מעט לחם, ויתבאר זה עוד בסמוך פרשת השולחן U'ksiv b'shivrei lechem mata lechem, v'yisba'er zeh od b'samuch parshas hashulchan. He'll explain it further with the שולחן shulchan, why is it called breaking bread? Because we're breaking down our... Let me think about it. Food, why did God give us food? God could have have us nourished in a way that we wouldn't need to eat food. מן Man. Like the air that we breathe. Nobody calculates how much air they're going to have. Is this healthy air, unhealthy air, fatty air? Is it going to make me thin? How will I look in this air that I breathe? Why, we breathe air, it's a natural instinct. Food, we have to eat. Why did God create a world like that? אסתכל באורייתא וברא עלמא Istakel b'Oraisa u'vara alma. God looked into his Torah, he looked into his value system, and then he created a world corresponding with it. So what was the value he wanted us to learn from food? So I think there's a number of values. One is earning it. It takes work. You have to toil. It's effort. After... not to be a glutton. But I would say if there's one word I had to associate, it would be discipline. The attitude towards food is discipline. Not to eat something that doesn't belong to me. Not to eat without saying thank you for it. Not to eat something that's unhealthy and that will compromise my physical well-being. It teaches me, it it cultivates a sense of of discipline. So when you're eating the לחם lechem, what you're doing is שבירת הלחם shviras ha'lechem. You're breaking down your temptation. You walk into that restaurant, you open the menu, you want to order all that unhealthy, delicious, fried, fatty, carb food. But the process of eating is a process of of שבירה shvira. It's a process of breaking down your temptation to recognize that my commitment to be healthy must supersede my commitment to my temptation, to my appetite. I have to put my health before my appetite. And that process is a process of breaking down, of שבירה shvira. There's a billion gazillion dollar industry of diets and and uh, Weight Watchers and all these different things because it's not easy. It requires you to break yourself down, shatter your temptation, your appetite, your desires. So that's why it's called breaking bread. You're breaking down your spirit in terms of controlling, with discipline, what you're going to eat with the bread. So that's what the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, the ארון Aron was all fractions because when it comes to spiritual pursuits, we have to realize that we are incomplete and we're constantly ambitious and aspiring to grow. When it comes to the שולחן shulchan, which represents the physical world, so part of them are whole to realize, you get what you get, you don't get upset that I should be happy with my lot. I'm complete, I'm whole with what I have. כל Kol. But part of them are a fraction, why? To teach that I need to break down my my appetite. I need to break down my temptations. I need to break my my lack of control. Yes. What about thoughts also? In terms of breaking the thoughts also. Well that's where, that's where appetite takes place. The appetite does not take place in your stomach. Takes place in your thoughts. Yeah so appetite, so the thoughts, not the the temptation doesn't only refer to the world of food. You could say the same thing when it comes to the world of, if the שולחן shulchan represents physical pleasure, it's not only the physical pleasure of food, it's the physical pleasure of all physical pleasures. The same thing is true there's temptations that we are to control our thoughts. We are to feel whole and complete and happy, and on the other hand we are to feel broken that we need to break down the temptation to shatter the desires that are unhealthy. אבל המזבח הקטרת היו כל אמותיו שלמים Aval hamizbeach ha'ktores hayu kol amosav shleimim. But when it came to the altar, all of its dimensions were whole. כי המזבח העולה Kein mizbeach ha'olah, כי ענין שניהם להשלים את האדם החסר מצד מעשיו, כי כל הבא לכפר על האדם משלים חסרונו ki iynan shneihem l'hashlim es ha'adam ha'chaser mitzad ma'asav, ki kol haba l'chaper al ha'adam mashlim chesrono. What was the purpose of the altar? What was its symbolism? Its symbolism is atonement, to achieve forgiveness. So when it comes to the pursuit of forgiveness and atonement, it symbolizes our capacity to become whole once again. Don't feel broken. Maybe you had a bad day, maybe you made a bad choice, maybe you showed bad judgment. Maybe you hurt a relationship. The מזבח mizbeach, which is the mechanism and the means through which we achieve atonement and we become whole, all of its dimensions are whole to show that תשובה teshuvah, repentance gives us the capacity, the capability to become whole yet again. You see the כלי יקר Kli Yakar goes on and on. But that's the כלי יקר Kli Yakar's basic premise. And I think it's beautiful. He's giving an introduction to these כלי keilim and the reason it's so beautiful is because again it shows why they're relevant to us. That even though we don't have them, we don't have a temple, please God we'll have it soon, we don't have these utensils, we don't have high, we don't have priests operating with sacrifices. But nevertheless the symbolism of each should also define and shape our homes. Our שולחן shulchan is the place in our home where we, where we eat. Where we eat. And um and our attitude towards the kind of conversation that we have there, our attitude towards food, are we gluttons? Do we eat with any self-control? And so on. The שולחן shulchan is able to have the same impact. The ארון Aron, do we have a bookcase with ספרים sfarim? Is there Torah illuminating our home? I think one of the biggest things for kids is to learn, you know, you go to some homes and there's there's barely a חומש Chumash in the house. Even if you're not going to open these ספרים sfarim, but the importance of a Jewish bookcase, the importance of every Jewish home to have a Jewish library, it defines a home. It has this this transformative power through osmosis, just that a person who's in that presence understands this is defined as a Jewish home. What are the books that make up a Jewish home? What if you have them on your iPad or on your Kindle, is that also contribute to a Jewish home? I don't know. But, yeah, not on שבת Shabbos, maybe during the week. But um, but the point is the ארון Aron, the Torah, is there Torah that illuminates the home? You put look on a person's night table, you learn a lot about them. What are they reading at night? Do they ever read anything that has a spiritual pursuit? Is are they ever involved in challenging themselves intellectually in terms of Torah, in terms of spiritual pursuits and so on and so forth. So that's just the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. Unfortunately we're almost at a time but that was just the the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. I thought it was important both because of his introduction where he acknowledges that even Rashi who has a fidelity to the פשט pshat, has to go off here. So it's okay for me too also, as well. And then he does that and explains a lot of the symbolism. Back to the ארון Aron. Back to the ארון Aron. So, um, look at the בעל הטורים Bal HaTurim. ו וחצי ארכו V'amasayim v'cheitzi orko, it was one and a half in length, one and a half in width, and one and a half in depth. כל מדותיו היו שברים בחצי אמה להורות שכל מי שלומד תורה צריך לשבר ולהשפיל עצמו Kol midosav hayu shvurim b'chatzei amah, l'horos she'kol mi she'lomed Torah, tzarich l'shaber u'l'hashpil atzmo. So the בעל הטורים Bal HaTurim gives another insight why all of the measurements are given as fractions. And he says because in order to learn Torah, you have to see, you have to be humble. You have to be modest. Why? We talked about this a little bit with פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro. You have to be capable of listening. If you have all the answers, you're never going to learn anything in life. If you want to learn, you have to recognize I don't have all the answers. I have what to learn. It takes humility. It takes humility. See if you come in and thinking you know everything, even when you're learning Torah, you're simply projecting your values onto Torah. You have to come in as a clean slate, tabula rasa. You have to just empty yourself, delete, purge, and then you could say, \"I want Torah to leave its impression on me.\" So the reason the measurements of the ארון Aron were incomplete, were fractions, says the בעל הטורים Bal HaTurim, a little bit like the כלי יקר Kli Yakar but different, is to communicate that to really learn Torah, you have to be a fraction, you have to be modest. You have to recognize I have what to learn, I don't have all the answers. There's something for Torah to teach me. ועשו ארון V'asu aron. י' פרשיות Yud parshiyos, I'm still going in the בעל הטורים Bal HaTurim. Ten of the פרשיות parshiyos begin ב'עשיה' כנגד 'עשרה מאמרות' שבהם נברא העולם b'asiyah k'neged asara ma'amaros she'bahem nivra ha'olam. We have ten verses that say ועשו, ועשית, ועשו, ועשית v'asu, v'asisah, v'asu, v'asisah, you shall make, you shall fashion. The בעל הטורים Bal HaTurim says it corresponds with the ten sayings through which God created the world. I think the deeper meaning there is that these ten commandments of what to build in the משכן Mishkan, the משכן Mishkan is a world in miniature. The משכן Mishkan contains the symbol of all that we are to accomplish. It is to illuminate, inform, and guide, and inspire the world. זהב טהור מבית ומחוץ Zahav tahor mibayis u'michutz. Now, the ארון aron was made of acacia wood as its core, and it was covered in gold on the inside and the outside. Why was it covered in gold on the inside and the outside? What's the symbolism? What's the meaning for us in a contemporary way? So the בעל הטורים Bal HaTurim says, פירוש ד'זהב' עם 'טהור' 'מבית ומחוץ' בגימטריא peirush d'zahav im tahor mibayis u'michutz b'gematria, הנה החכם תוכו כברו hinei ha'chacham, tocho k'varo. The גמטריא gematria, the numerical value of with gold that was covered inside and out is that a חכם chacham, a wise person, his inside is like his outside. What does that mean? It means consistent. What's integrity? The word integrity comes from the word integer. What's an integer? A whole number. Integrity is to be whole, to be complete, to be consistent. It was covered in gold on the inside and the outside, like the גמרא Gemara says תוכו כברו tocho k'varo. כל תלמיד חכם שאין תוכו כברו Kol talmid chacham she'ein tocho k'varo is not a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. If your inside and outside are not the same, that means you're not consistent. You can't on the outside look like you're all religious and virtuous and God-fearing, and then in private or behind the scenes, you're arrogant and contemptuous, you're disgusting, you're mean, you're nasty. You got to be consistent. You can't have different personas. The persona at work and the persona when you're with your family back at home. You can't have how you look when your friends are watching, how you דאַווענען daven when you're in שול shul, קרעכצן krechtzing it out, everyone watches you שאָקלען shuckle, and then if you ever miss דאַווענען davening, you're flying through it at home because it really doesn't mean anything. If you if you're if you're not consistent, תוכו כברו tocho k'varo, if your inside and your outside doesn't match, you're nothing. So the question is, if that's the case, so why not make the whole thing gold? Why have the wood on the inside? Why have the acacia wood on the inside, layered with gold on the outside and inside? Why not be covered with gold all the way through? I forgot where I saw this. I forgot where I saw the following explanation. It was very powerful to me. Wood, wood is pliable. Wood is flexible. Wood is able to bend. Gold, you can melt gold down, but a gold regularly, you can't bend a piece of gold. I'm not talking about, I understand, I understand. On the whole, wood versus metal, wood is pliable and wood is flexible and wood bends. And a metal is sturdy and firm and inflexible. And perhaps, I forgot who said this, perhaps that's the symbolism. That yeah, you have to be gold on the outside and inside because you have to be consistent. But at your core, you have to be wood, you have to be flexible. And at your core you have to be humble. Yeah, that's also another interpretation. And at your core, you have to be modest and humble, even if you're consistent having gold on the outside and inside. But more than that, you also have to be willing to be flexible. Even though you're gold, even though you have values that you're committed to, a person needs to be flexible, and that symbolism is important as well. Yes. You couldn't lift it, it would be too heavy. Okay, that's a practical reason. But it has symbolism too. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, so many more comments here I wanted to cover, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar has, he also was bothered why is in ועשו v'asu not ועשית v'asisah. What's with these poles? You make poles, you cover them in gold, you have these four rings, you put the poles in, you could never remove the poles. Why is it לא יסורו ממנו lo yasuru mimenu? You can never remove the poles. Why can't you remove the poles? But in between carrying it. says they they can't be removed. They can't be removed. לא יסורו Lo yasuru, they should not be removed. It says that the noun in that sense really is the poles, not not you. Correct. Correct. So that that's really. Correct. If you look at Rashi, לא יסורו ממנו lo yasuru mimenu, לעולם l'olam, forever. Once you insert the poles, the poles must remain. Why must the poles remain? Why are the poles part of the definition of the ark itself? So they become holy, but so what? They're their whole purpose is to trans is to uh, transfer. Always have to move the. Oh, so רב שמשון רפאל הירש Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch has a beautiful פשט pshat. רב שמשון רפאל הירש Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch says the poles must remain in the ark to teach about the mobility of Torah. That Torah is never defined by a specific location, but it's always have Torah will travel. It's not that there's the משכן Mishkan and Torah is in the משכן Mishkan and if you're outside the משכן Mishkan, you don't have Torah. It's not that I live in a beautiful Orthodox community and when I have to go on business, then I can bend the rules of כשרות kashrus or whatever else. No, Torah travels with you wherever you go. So says רב הירש Rav Hirsch, part of the very construct of the ark were poles to recognize the portability of Torah. Torah is portable. It is designed to be portable. It is designed to speak to every generation and any time in any place. Torah was not designed for a limited population in a limited geography and a limited time. It is portable and is to be carried with us always and forever wherever we go. And says רב הירש Rav Hirsch, that's why the poles have to remain. A very beautiful interpretation of of רב הירש Rav Hirsch. Excuse me a moment. You explain the one that is made with fractions and the one that is made with whole, and then the one that is made with both. What is that mean? The one that's made with both is the שולחן shulchan. The whole represents being happy with what we have. The broken represents breaking our appetite and our temptations that are bad. So they shulchan... The shulchan had both. represent both. The physical world, physical pleasures, the physical world. So it's whole to show that whatever we should be happy with what we have. And it's a fraction to show that we should try to break the bad habits, the temptations that uh, that can hurt us. Because that was the the the לוחות luchos were in the ארון aron. The ארון aron was the battery. It was the it was the it generated, it was the generator that generated the holiness of the משכן Mishkan. So it was the most sacred. It was it was the sacred generator that produced the the light of the משכן Mishkan. So it was housed in its most uh, most precious place. Indeed, the poles of the ארון aron poked through the the פרוכת paroches and specifically gave an impression of of a woman and provide nourishment from there. Just as a child is nourished from the mother, so to the poles would protrude from the curtain to give the image of Jewish people, of children being able to to receive their nourishment from the Torah, from from God. So there was a lot of a lot of symbolism. We are, we're out of time. We didn't even get to get into the כרובים kruvim at all and the and the cover, the כפורת kapores, where does that word come for? There's a lot more to talk about, but the good news is we have תצוה, ויקהל, ופקודי Tetzaveh, Vayakhel, and Pekudei where we're going to be revisiting a lot of this.
