Transcript
Okay, good morning everyone. Want to thank our sponsors this morning, Michael Kleinman. Ah, in honor of Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg, that's so nice. And grandmother's 89th birthday. Privileged to share the honor with grandmother. And Morris and Eve Kaufman in commemoration of the יארצייט yahrzeit of their beloved father, Rabbi Max בעניש בן חיים דב Benish ben Chaim Dov. Thank you for your sponsorship. If you'd like to sponsor in the future, you can coordinate with our שול shul office.Appreciate everybody's flexibility to meet in here today. We're hosting a YU Alumni ירחי כלה Yarchei Kallah. 60 rabbis from across North America. For most of you who are snowbirds, the likelihood is your rabbi is in the other room. So feel free to try to find him after the after the class.As always, we'll do an overview of the פרשה Parsha, some of the major themes that run through our פרשה תרומה Parsha Terumah, and then we will delve into specific פסוקים psukim together. And with the beginning of פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah, we transition to the second half of the book of שמות Shemos. As we've discussed numerous times, בראשית Bereishis is about the birth of our family. All the family dynamics, trying to go from a dysfunctional family to a functional family, something we are continuing to struggle with עד היום הזה ad hayom hazeh until this very day. And by the close of ויחי Vayechi at the end of בראשית Bereishis, we are a family. The family is reunited, the family has reconciled. We finally have a generation, אפרים Ephraim and מנשה Menashe, of siblings without rivalry who get along. We're ready to be born as a people. First half of שמות Shemos is the story of our birth as a people. And now we transition from a family to a people to being a people with a sacred mission. And that sacred mission was given to us at הר סיני Har Sinai. We read two weeks ago and last week, יתרו Yisro and משפטים Mishpatim, the story of נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma. That now we have found the ability to be a cohesive family, a functional family. We have emerged as a people. We're not just some secular political entity, we're not a random people, culture, ethnicity, or nation. We are a people with a mission, with a mandate. And that mission is the תורה הקדושה Torah HaKedosha. We stood at סיני Sinai, and God said, this is my blueprint for the world. I want you to live it. I want you to attract other people to it. I want you to transform the world through the values that are contained therein. But then we walked away from הר סיני Har Sinai. We had reached the mountain. משה Moshe was on top, but we were כאילו k'ilu on top of the mountain. It doesn't get better. There's no greater revelation than God speaking directly to us at סיני Sinai. How do you leave that? How do you walk away? Where do you find the encouragement, the power to go live that mission and that mandate? That's the second half of ספר שמות Sefer Shemos. תרומה Terumah. God says, I want you to build a tabernacle, a home where we can continue the הר סיני Har Sinai conversation, where that rendezvous, that intimacy, that connection, that meeting was not a one-time event in history, expired, forgotten, moved on from, but it's something that continues and it continues forever. It continued in the משכן Mishkan as it wandered through the desert. It continued with the משכן Mishkan when it first came into Israel. It then was housed in the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash and after the destruction of the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, the גמרא Gemara in מגילה Megillah tells us God is now found in the מקדשי מעט Mikdashei me'at, in the miniature temples, otherwise known as שול shuls around the world. You're here, we are in this building because that conversation and that experience of הר סיני Har Sinai continues. ושכנתי בתוכם V'shachanti b'socham. פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah is, don't think that revelation is only at הר סיני Har Sinai. We spoke, I think we spoke about, did we speak about in this group? No, it was another group. But why don't we visit הר סיני Har Sinai? No one knows where הר סיני Har Sinai is accurately. We don't go visit, there are no tours, there's no mission, there's no old woman selling red בענדעלס bendels at הר סיני Har Sinai. הר סיני Har Sinai does not play a role in our lives. We've all been to the כותל Kosel, some of us have been on top of הר הבית Har HaBayis, on top of the Temple Mount. And Rabbi Soloveitchik explained why. Because הר סיני Har Sinai was God direct down towards us, whereas הר הבית Har HaBayis, הר המוריה Har HaMoriah is us exerting effort and initiative, a relationship towards השם Hashem. קדושה Kedusha, sanctity that endures is not when the divine temporarily visits. That's not a sanctity that endures, it's temporary, it's temporal. The sanctity that is permanent that endures is when the human being initiates the rendezvous, the connection. And that's הר המוריה Har HaMoriah, that's הר הבית Har HaBayis, that's the מקדשי מעט Mikdashei me'at, it's the miniature temples of שול shuls today where we initiate through תפילה tefillah, through דאווענען davening, through learning, and so on and so forth.רב חיים כהן Rav Chaim Cohen, the great חלבן Chelban, who I've introduced you to, the milkman of ירושלים Yerushalayim. I've shared before this until recently anonymous individual who was a simple clean-shaven milkman, whom it was discovered was an incredible mystic and תלמיד חכם talmid chacham, and since has been revealed and his תורה Torahs have been published in his wonderful ספר sefer טל לחיים Tal LeChaim. He says the tradition from the של\"ה הקדוש Shlah HaKadosh. The של\"ה Shlah says the פרשיות parshios that we read always correspond with the time of year in which we're reading them. There's a rhythm that is in sync, a coordinated rhythm of the פרשה parsha with the month and time of year in which we're reading. תרומה Terumah, we always read at the beginning of what month? What ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh did we just celebrate? אדר Adar. What do תרומה Terumah and אדר Adar have in common, wonders the חלבן Chelban? And he says the name אדר Adar stands for אלף דר Aleph dar. אלף אלוקים Aleph Elokim, the אלף aleph, the singular one God, דר dar, dwells. Where does he dwell? Well פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah tells us how to give God דירה בתחתונים dirah b'tachtonim, how to give God a place to live here on earth. תרומה Terumah and אדר Adar go together. אלף דר Aleph dar. How is אדר Adar the month in which we give God a place to dwell? Because אדר Adar, משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה mishenichnas Adar marbim b'simcha, this is the month where we promote and increase and dwell and expand our joy and our fulfillment and our satisfaction and our happiness. Where does that come from? Shopping sprees at Town Center Mall? Overindulgence at lunch today? Where does that joy and satisfaction come from? It comes from אדר Adar, אלף דר Aleph dar. When you feel השם Hashem in your life, when you feel your life is not the result of randomness and chance and happenstance, that you're not a piece of data, but that there is an omnipotent, infinite creator of the universe who providentially, who is divinely looking over and looking after our lives. Even when we go through hard times, we can feel the שמחה simcha of knowing that there's a deeper meaning, that there's a reason, that somehow this is for good even when I don't understand. And that's our mission in the month of אדר Adar, and that's the mission of פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah, is to find God even when he's hidden. Is ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'socham, right, the core פסוק pasuk of our פרשה parsha, ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם v'asu li Mikdash v'shachanti b'socham, I will dwell not in it, I will dwell in them. And we've all heard בליבי משכן אבנה b'libi Mishkan evneh. The whole notion we've all heard is that we give God a dwelling place not in a particular building, it's not an address, it's not a campus, it's in every single Jew, it's in every human being. When we promote and nourish the צלם אלוקים tzelem Elokim in us, God finds expression in this world, we've given him a place to dwell. We've taken him from the realm of being hidden to being revealed when we are his angels and people say that's what it means to believe in, that's what it means to be committed or loyal to God.אדר Adar is the story of פורים Purim. You don't see השם's Hashem's name in the מגילה Megillah, we all know that. השם's Hashem's name never appears, it's explicitly, it's the one book in the 24 books of תנ\"ך Tanach where God's name does not appear. And if you choose to read the מגילה Megillah absent God, if you want to see the story as a series of coincidences and happenstances, you can. You are entitled. The atheist or agnostic or disbeliever has every easy ability to read the story and say, it's just a series of coincidences. But what's our mission? It's called מגילת אסתר Megillas Esther. You know why? Because the mission of פורים Purim is to be מגלה ונסתר megaleh v'nistar. מגילת אסתר Megillas Esther, מגילה megillah means to reveal, אסתר Esther, נסתר nistar means that which is hidden. Our job in reading מגילת אסתר Megillas Esther is not to read it superficially, not to read it on the surface where there is no name of God, but our job is to read between the lines and between the words and to be מגילת אסתר Megillas Esther, to be מגלה ונסתר megaleh v'nistar, to reveal that which is hidden. And when we reveal that which is hidden, when we see God between the lines, behind the curtain, pulling the strings, whatever metaphor you want to use, when you see God in the picture, אדר Adar. You've given the אלף Aleph a דר dar, you've given him a dwelling place here in this world. And משנכנס אדר mishenichnas Adar, when you אלף דר Aleph dar, when you give God a dwelling place in this world, when you see him in your life, when you understand that everything that happens to you and all that surrounds you is not chance or coincidence, but rather it is the will of the Almighty, there is no שמחה simcha greater than that. There's no satisfaction, there's no joy, there's no relief, there's no confidence, there is nothing greater than that. So the של\"ה הקדוש Shlah Kadosh says, that's why we read פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah at the beginning of אדר Adar. It's not a coincidence, it's not chance, they always go together because the message, the theme of תרומה Terumah is the theme of אדר Adar. It's to give God a dwelling place down here on earth. That's what this פרשה parsha is really all about. And you'll read the פרשה parsha and you'll say, all the dimensions, and all the materials, and all of these details of a משכן Mishkan that hasn't existed in thousands of years. And though we long for the rebuilding of the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, who knows? What's the relevance to me? Why am I reading this? And so we have to know in our core that its messages are timeless. That if we believe ושכנתי בתוכם v'shachanti b'socham is the prescription for how to give God expression in this world through us, then the themes and the values and the messages within the כלים keilim, within the utensils of the משכן Mishkan and the משכן Mishkan itself are not reserved only for that time, but they are timeless. They continue to endure and they continue to be able to touch us עד היום הזה ad hayom hazeh until this very day. I'll share with you words of the רב Rav. Rabbi Soloveitchik at the very end of our פרשה parsha in the wonderful Rav חומש Chumash, when the פרשה parsha ends, לכל כלי המשכן בכל עבודתו l'chol k'lei haMishkan b'chol avodaso, all the implements of the משכן Mishkan for all of its labor. And the רב Rav comments as follows, how must a religious couple furnish their home? How do you furnish your home? You go to IKEA or Macy's or I don't even know where you go to shop for furniture. Rooms to Go, the flea market, איך ווייס ich veis, whatever you go. Carls, you might as well plug everybody. So the רב Rav wonders, how does a religious couple furnish their home? And he says the משכן Mishkan that the children of Israel made in the desert is a house for God, should serve as an example. In פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah, God commands to make the vessels, the ark, the table, the מנורה menorah. God also commanded to make the incense altar, but this item is not mentioned until פרשת תצוה Parshas Tetzaveh. In פרשת ויקהל Parshas Vayakhel, all four vessels are mentioned together. However, the fact that the incense altar is not mentioned in תרומה Terumah suggests that the character of this vessel is different from the other three. I'm already giving you a דבר תורה dvar Torah for next week's פרשה Parsha, תצוה Tetzaveh. Why is the מזבח הקטורת mizbeach ha'ketores not listed among the other utensils in our פרשה parsha? Why is it listed among the priestly garments where it doesn't belong in next week's פרשה parsha? Says the רב Rav, it appears the purpose of the building of the משכן Mishkan was not merely to offer sacrifices. For this purpose, a simple altar would be sufficient. The beautiful building and the vessels within this building would be unnecessary. The main purpose behind the building of the משכן Mishkan was to create a house for God. אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra explains that only the three vessels mentioned in תרומה Terumah, the ark, the ארון aron, the שולחן shulchan, the מנורה menorah were necessary to create such a house. Even without the incense altar, the sanctuary would have fulfilled the function of a house. So our פרשה parsha is not focused on a list of which כלים keilim, which utensils would be utilized in the house. Instead, it's trying to give us a sense, a paradigm of what that house should look like and the values represented through the utensils contained therein. Precisely how to furnish a house for a guest can be derived from the incident of the Shunammite woman who told her husband in מלכים ב Melachim Beis, let's make a little room on the roof and set up for him a bed, a table, a chair, a lamp. So whenever he comes, he will have a place to stay. It's the הפטרה haftorah of פרשת וירא Parshas Vayeira. So הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu is called in the book of the prophets, the Lord who dwells on the כרובים keruvim. And the מדרש תנחומא Midrash Tanchuma states that the divine throne was opposite the two כרובים keruvim. Therefore, one should look upon the ארון aron covering with the two cherubs as a chair and a bed, the מנורה menorah as the lamp, the table for the showbread as a table, four items of furniture needed to welcome guests. Now God himself had no need for the furniture, right, we know that. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't sit, doesn't stand, doesn't eat, doesn't recline. השם Hashem doesn't need the furniture. From the language of the מדרש Midrash it seems that the command to build the temple was really a compromise, an accommodation on God's behalf. The Holy One is incorporeal. How is it possible there's a מצוה mitzvah to build him a house? But humans have emotional needs, and among them is the need to feel God's immediacy. For this reason, God commands man to do what you need. God commanded to build him a house to satisfy our need to feel as if he dwells within our close proximity. But I want to read you at the end, I'm skipping. If according to אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, the משכן Mishkan can transform into a house, the private house of a Jew can transform into a משכן Mishkan. We welcome God into our homes through establishing what the Shunammite woman mentioned, the bed, the table, the chair, the lamp. Homiletically, the bed represents family purity, the table represents keeping כשר kosher, as well as the מצוה mitzvah of welcoming guests. The מנורה menorah represents the study of תורה Torah. And in such a spiritually furnished home, one can hear the voice of God as in the tabernacle, I will arrange my meeting with you there and I will speak to you from atop the cover of the ark. In such a sanctuary, the שכינה Shechinah indeed finds a place to dwell. So the רב Rav is describing that פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah is not archaic and out of date and irrelevant. The utensils that are described are giving us a blueprint, the diagram for the utensils to be in our home. Not necessarily the literal dimensions or materials of the ארון aron, the שולחן shulchan, the מנורה menorah of the משכן Mishkan, but what those utensils represented, the values that they sought to promote and to advance are the furnishings of our home. If השם Hashem could make a משכן Mishkan and have it resemble a home, then our home should resemble a משכן Mishkan.A few more words of introduction, and then we'll delve into our פסוקים psukim that we're going to look at today. The פרשה parsha begins, page 444, bless you, page 444 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. The פרשה Parsha begins, וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר Vaydaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו לי תרומה daber el Bnei Yisrael v'yikchu li terumah. Go collect for me a portion. מאת כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו תקחו את תרומתי me'eis kol ish asher yidvenu libo tikchu es trumasi. This is the first appeal in Jewish history. God tells משה Moshe, I want you to stand in front of the כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, give out little cards with tabs, and ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li terumah, I want you to do an appeal, I want you to do a campaign for the משכן Mishkan. It's a very, very uncomfortable transition from last week. Anyone remember how משפטים Mishpatim ends? The iconic words at the end of פרשת משפטים Parshas Mishpatim that every schoolchild knows remind us about the experience of receiving the תורה Torah at הר סיני Har Sinai. What two words are the iconic words that describe? נעשה ונשמע Naaseh v'nishma. Last week we were just standing at הר סיני Har Sinai, and God said, can you do something for me? And we said, God, whatever it is we'll do it, and then tell us about it. But we're all in. Wow, how romantic, how loving, how devoted. And what's the very next thing we read? Listen, I'm going to need some cash. Do you have your checkbook on you? Listen, I need a donation. It's a campaign, there's an appeal. You talk about going from the height of spirituality to the mundane, נעשה ונשמע Naaseh v'nishma, הר סיני Har Sinai, מתן תורה Matan Torah to please turn down a tab and give it to one of the ushers when they walk through the aisle. It's a bit anticlimactic to go from one to the other. So the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov says that not only is it not strange, and not only is it not anticlimactic, it's absolutely necessary. Not necessary to have the funds to build a משכן Mishkan, but necessary to concretize and capture what was being felt at that moment. Listen to the insight of the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov. He says when a person is spiritually awakened, when we have a moment that our נשמה neshama is alive, is aroused, we have to concretize the inspiration in a practical action or deed. You can't allow the feeling to be fleeting, to dissipate, to disappear. It has to turn into something tangible that will capture it in perpetuity. A physical manifestation of that experience. You ever went on a trip and it was incredible, it was amazing, and you bought some טשאַטשקע tchotchke, and the טשאַטשקע tchotchke is worthless, but the טשאַטשקע tchotchke sits somewhere in your home because every time you look at it, it brings you back to the incredible family time, fun, experience, memory. When you are spiritually awakened, you can't let that go. You have to do something concrete and physical and tangible and real to capture it so that it has a continued existence in perpetuity. And says the בעל שם Baal Shem, that's what's going on. It wasn't just strategic. You know, the best time to do fundraising is when people are excited about something. Oh, thank you so much. Appreciate that. Thank you. ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol niyeh bidvaro. אמן Amen. Thank you משה Moshe. It's not just strategic, the best time to fundraise is when everyone's on fire. It's because when everyone's on fire, you got to find a way to capture it. So we read it backwards. Was God just tapping into the fact that we were on fire? It's the opposite. God saw we were on fire and said, 'Quick, I need to find a way to concretize this, to capture it. I know, ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li terumah, have them capture it by making a donation.' Being moved and inspired at מתן תורה Matan Torah by נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma is nice, it's impressive, but it's only meaningful and lasting when it's followed by a ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li terumah. There's a professor, the great Nobel Prize-winning economist and professor, my father studied under him at University of Chicago, Milton Friedman. Anyone ever hear study with Milton Friedman? So he had a simple suggestion. If you want to know what someone's priorities are, a person or an institution, if you want to know what drives them, what are their priorities, you know, many people eloquently describe their beliefs and their values and their principles and what they care about, they talk about what's most important to them. But said Friedman, forget what they say. You want to know what someone's priorities are? It's simple. Look at their budget. Look at how they spend their money. And when you see how someone spends their money, you know everything about them. How they prioritize their budget, their allocation, their money, whether it's an institution or whether it's an individual, you know everything about them. So השם Hashem heard our priorities, נעשה ונשמע naaseh v'nishma, but it was just lip service until he said, ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li terumah. Let's see if in your budget you will allocate. The בית הלוי Beis HaLevi, Rabbi Yoshe Ber Soloveitchik, for whom the רב Rav was named, the בית הלוי Beis HaLevi asks, why does the פרשה parsha begin ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li terumah? What should it say? ויתנו לי תרומה V'yitnu li terumah. ויתנו V'yitnu means to give, ויקחו v'yikchu means to take. So the בית הלוי Beis HaLevi says, when you buy something material, when you make a purchase, you may appreciate what you bought or it may have been a complete waste. Sometimes the money we expend adds value and sometimes we don't get anything in return for it, it's gone. You know, I I unsubscribed my wife from all those deal-a-day emails because she couldn't help it. What do you mean, I could get 40 pair of swim goggles for a dollar fifty? I got to get that. And then the kids, before they can even get the goggles on their head, they snapped in half, they broke, they're garbage, they're nothing. So I had to unsubscribe her. You got to stop getting these deals. So you buy something and you don't know till you have it, is it going to transform your life? Is it going to be great? Is it going to add value? Or is it a worthless nothing and the money you spent on it is gone forever? So the בית הלוי Beis HaLevi says, what's true when we spend money on ourselves is completely the opposite when we spend money on others. When we spend money on ourselves, we don't know whether it's money well spent or not until later. But when you spend money on another, by definition it's money well spent. By definition you're getting something good for it. It's adding value to their life and to your life. A פסוק Pasuk in תהלים Tehillim, we say מ\"ט Mem-Tes in a שבעה shiva home, כי לא במותו יקח הכל ki lo b'moso yikach hakol. In death, you can't take it all. כי לא במותו יקח הכל Ki lo b'moso yikach hakol. Very fitting and appropriate for a שבעה shiva home. As has been said, you'll never see a U-Haul attached to a hearse. You can't take it all. So the מלבי\"ם Malbim, you're all laughing at the image of the hearse with the U-Haul behind. The מלבי\"ם Malbim asks, what do you mean לא במותו יקח הכל lo b'moso yikach hakol, that you can't take it all with you in death? Can't take it all, but what, you could take some? תכריכים Tachrichim don't have pockets. The קיטל kittel, which is what we wear at our wedding, and at the סדר Seder, and at the, and we will be buried in, doesn't have pockets. יום כיפור Yom Kippur doesn't have pockets, to tell us it's not that you can't take it all, it's that you can't take anything. So says the מלבי\"ם Malbim, why does it say לא במותו יקח הכל lo b'moso yikach hakol? And says the מלבי\"ם Malbim, because the answer is, there is something you take with you. What can you take with you? The צדקה tzedakah, the money you used to help others, that you take with you. So the money you spent for the house, the car, the vacation, the clothing, the, it's all gone, you can't take it with you. All those material items, you can't take with you. But the money you spent to help others, that in fact you can't, you can take with you. And there's a lot more to say about this, but I want to get on in our, in our פרשה parsha. I will I will just add this because we're in the month of אדר Adar, this notion, this notion that when you give to another, you gain more in return. And that's why the בית הלוי Beis HaLevi says it doesn't say ויתנו לי תרומה v'yitnu li terumah, give to me, allocate for me, it says ויקחו v'yikchu, because it's paradoxical. ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li terumah, when you give, you're getting. I do a lot of fundraising, this is part of the, you know. When you give, you're getting in return. When you give, you're getting in return much more. One of our members who's extremely generous, who's in the real estate business, always says the campuses, the institutions he's given to and transformed are the greatest in his portfolio of real estate. They mean much more to him than any profit-generating piece of real estate there is. Ah, it's not in your name, you don't own it, you can't get it back. Doesn't matter. That investment is the greatest return you know, that you know. So this notion has been now confirmed by science. There's a book called Happy Money, Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton. They summarized the research of the science of spending. And they show how spending money on other people actually increases your own happiness. I'm not going to tell you now the details of the study, it's fascinating. Some people were given money to go spend on themselves and others were given money and said, 'Go buy something for someone else.' So you will intuitively say, give me a debit card, give me an open credit card, go to Town Center Mall, I'll show you what happiness looks like. But in fact, the research found the opposite. That the people who were given money and said, 'Go buy whatever you want for yourself,' were less happy with the purchases, the result of the shopping experience than the people who were given money and told, 'Go buy something for someone else.' ויקחו לי V'yikchu li, when you spend on someone else, you get something in return, which brings us to הלכות מגילה Hilchos Megillah פרק ב perek beis, הלכה י\"ז halacha yud zayin. The רמב\"ם Rambam makes an incredible comment. The רמב\"ם Rambam says, let's say I have limited funds, and I can either buy more expensive wine for my פורים Purim table, I could buy a greater cut of meat, a better delicacy for my, for my, did I say סדר Seder, my סעודת פורים Purim seudah table, or I have more money to give to מתנות לאביונים matanos l'evyonim. What should I do? I could sink the money on my limited budget allocated for פורים Purim into a more elaborate סעודת פורים Purim seudah, or into more generous allocation for מתנות לאביונים matanos l'evyonim. What should I do? What the רמב\"ם Rambam answers won't surprise you, but what why he answers it will shock you. The רמב\"ם Rambam says, where should you put the money? מתנות לאביונים Matanos l'evyonim. That doesn't surprise you. Of course, a rabbi is going to say that. Give the money to the poor, it's a priority over the covenant wine or the whatever the more expensive, the petite Castel, the more delicious wine. Give it to the poor person, that doesn't surprise you. But the רמב\"ם Rambam says why? Why should you give the money to מתנות לאביונים matanos l'evyonim over to your own סעודת פורים Purim seudah? And this part of the רמב\"ם Rambam is shocking. He says what's פורים Purim all about? It's all about שמחה simcha, it's all about joy. It's all about your happiness. You know what's going to make you more happy, tap more into the theme of פורים Purim? Not a better bottle of wine or a nicer cut of meat, but knowing that you gave to someone else so that they could have a סעודת פורים Purim seudah too. That will give you more שמחה simcha. Don't do it for altruistic reasons. Don't do it because you're going to take care of the poor. Take care of yourself. And you know how to take care of yourself to have more שמחה simcha on פורים Purim is by helping other people rather than investing it in yourself. So the רמב\"ם Rambam actually codifies this הלכה למעשה halacha l'maaseh when given the choice. The וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon famously comments that the word ונתנו v'nasnu is a palindrome, spelled the same forward and backwards, because you get what you gave. ויקחו לי תרומה V'yikchu li terumah, you're getting in return.Okay, let's get into the פסוקים psukim. Overview of the פרשה parsha, build for me a sanctuary, put these vessels inside it, here are the details of them and the dimensions. That's the overview of the פרשה parsha. Okay. פסוקים Psukim that we're going to look at. Begin, we're going to start, we're going to study the שולחן shulchan. I think that's what we're up to. Page 448, the שולחן shulchan in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash, we're פרק כ\"ה perek kaf-hei, פסוק כ\"ג pasuk kaf-gimmel. Chapter 25, verse 23. ועשית שולחן עצי שיטים אמתים ארכו ואמה רחבו ואמה וחצי קומתו V'asisa shulchan atzei shittim amatayim arko v'amah rachbo v'amah v'chetzi komaso. Make a table out of עצי שיטים atzei shittim, שיטים shittim wood. What is שיטים shittim wood? Acacia wood. What is acacia wood? Fine. It's actually a debate, the מדרש Midrash has different traditions. The likelihood is that acacia is a form, it's from the family of cedar, a type of cedar. cedar species. Take, make a table from that wood. It should be two cubits in length, a cubit in its width, a cubit and a half in its height. וציפיתו אותו זהב טהור V'tzipiso oso zahav tahor, cover it, the core is wood, I want you to layer it with pure gold. ועשית לו זר זהב סביב V'asisa lo zer zahav saviv. Make a golden crown around the base of the table. So if you look at the picture that the Artscroll conveniently has for us there, you'll see that the real table, the platform of the table is below. There's a crown around the circumference of the platform of the table, and what is above the table, we continue reading, ועשית לו מסגרת טפח סביב, ועשית זר זהב למסגרתו סביב V'asisa lo misgeres tofach saviv, v'asisa zer zahav l'misgarto saviv. You make a molding of the handbreadth around, a gold crown on the molding. Is there one crown or are they two? We'll see in a moment. ועשית לו ארבע טבעות זהב V'asisa lo arba tabaos zahav, make four rings on the sides, ונתת את הטבעות על ארבע הפאות אשר לארבע רגליו v'nasata es hatabaos al arba hapeios asher l'arba raglav. Four rings of gold placed them on the four corners on the four legs. לעמת המסגרת תהיינה הטבעות L'umas hamisgeres tiheyena hatabaos. The rings are opposite the molding to hold the poles that will go in order to enable you to carry the שולחן shulchan. לבתים לבדים לשאת את השולחן l'vatim l'vadim laseis es hashulchan. ועשית את הבדים עצי שיטים V'asisa es habadim atzei shittim, the poles, the staves are also made out of שיטים shittim, acacia wood. וציפית אותם זהב v'tzipisa osam zahav, they too are layered with gold, ונישא בם את השולחן v'nisa bam es hashulchan, and they give you the leverage, they rest on the shoulder in order to be able to carry the שולחן shulchan. ועשית קערותיו וכפותיו וקשותיו ומנקיותיו אשר יוסך בהן V'asisa kearosav v'chaposav u'kesosav u'menakiyosav asher yusach bahen, and now make their dishes. What does it mean the dishes? There were twelve utensils that were the shape that the dough was put in, the bread would take the shape of those twelve utensils and spoons and the tubes that if you go back and look at the picture you see above the platform of the table was this tubing. Right if you're in the catering business you know these as sheet racks. Right? You have all the food plated, sits on sheets and then you have the racks so that you could wheel that whole cart and serve. So the שולחן shulchan in the משכן Mishkan להבדיל l'havdil was a שולחן shulchan. It had the legs and the platform on top, and above it was the tubing, was the shelving where the twelve loaves of the showbread would sit in the utensils within there. These were these tubings. The pillars, they're covered, they're also made of pure gold. ונתת על השולחן לחם פנים לפני תמיד V'nasata al hashulchan lechem panim lefanai tamid. There was always לחם הפנים lechem hapanim on there. לחם הפנים Lechem hapanim, the twelve loaves were baked every Friday, replaced every שבת Shabbos. The גמרא Gemara describes the mechanism through which the loaves were withdrawn while the new ones were placed on in order to fulfill this mission of תמיד tamid. They had to be on there continuously, contiguously, they were always on there.So that's the section of the שולחן shulchan, tells us the dimensions, it tells us the material, and it describes exactly the way it's made. It also tells us its purpose. Its purpose was to hold the twelve לחם הפנים lechem hapanim תמיד tamid to be able to hold and to house these showbreads permanently.Acacia wood. These the עצי שיטים atzei shittim. The מדרש Midrash in שמות רבה ל\"ג Shemos Rabbah Lamed Gimmel says something very interesting. The מדרש Midrash says the world was not worthy of using cedar trees. They were created only for the משכן Mishkan and the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. Says the מדרש Midrash, really the world would have been better without cedar trees. The only reason they were created was for the משכן Mishkan and the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. So what does that mean? It is used throughout the משכן Mishkan. This acacia wood according to the מדרש תנחומא Midrash Tanchuma, שיטים shittim tree is one of the twenty-four species of cedar. So really these שיטים shittim trees we would have been better off, the world didn't need them, but they were created just for the משכן Mishkan and for the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. Why did the world not need them, and why did God make an exception for the משכן Mishkan and the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash? What's going on here? So the ספר מנחם ציון Sefer Menachem Tzion, I'm very fond of quoting lately, Rav Menachem Bentzion Zaks, the son-in-law of the Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, he was a רב rav in Chicago. In his ספר מנחם ציון על חומש Sefer Menachem Tzion al Chumash, quotes the גמרא Gemara in תענית Taanis. גמרא Gemara in תענית דף כ' Taanis Daf Kaf says a person should always be soft as a reed and not rigid like a cedar. The גמרא Gemara is employing the symbol of a cedar tree as the symbol of inflexibility, of rigidity, of obstinacy, of stubbornness. The cedar is rigid, it's not flexible. You should be like a reed. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem we haven't had a hurricane in a long time. We flirted with one recently, but בלי עין הרע bli ayin hara, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, we haven't had one in a long time. But those who were living here after hurricanes remember that when you go for that walk which everyone goes for after they've been confined in their home for several days and there's no electricity so you're trying to get some fresh air, when you go for that walk, what do you notice right away? The palm trees are all still standing. And the ficus trees are all on their side. Why? There's two lessons, powerful lessons. One is, palm tree has very deep roots and the palm tree is very flexible. So when the winds come, the palm tree is flexible, can withstand them. Whereas the other trees have very shallow roots. When you see those other trees on their side, you also see the whole network of the roots. They were very shallow, they never went deep. They don't have deep roots, and they're very, very rigid. And the lesson is this גמרא Gemara in תענית Taanis. Be like a palm tree, like a reed. Be flexible. Don't be so rigid in life. Rigid people in life have broken relationships, have struggles to find happiness. Be a little flexible, don't be so rigid. And make sure your roots run deep, have deep roots that can nourish your tree. So the גמרא Gemara in תענית Taanis says when it tries to draw a symbol of rigidity, what is an inflexible tree? It's the cedar tree. And says the מנחם ציון Menachem Tzion, that's what the מדרש Midrash means. God was saying the world was not worthy of cedar trees means that this quality of unyielding stubbornness should in theory never have been brought to the world. For us to get along and to work peacefully, to make room for one another, to yield to one another, to allow for the imperfections of one another, we need to be flexible, and the world would be much better off if there were no cedar trees. We don't need that rigidity. It's hard to operate and live in a world of rigid people and rigid trees. If every person consistently insists on achieving their goals and conducting the affairs as they see fit, they have no interest in accommodating other people, the world can't advance. The world would have been better off without the cedar tree and what it represents. But there's one exception. God did enable a world with a cedar tree for what purpose only? The משכן Mishkan and the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. And says Rav Menachem Bentzion Zaks, when it comes to the area of religious principles, then unyielding obstinacy is a virtue. A person has to be prepared to yield to others. I'm not saying we should be religiously intolerant or judgmental, that's not what I or he are saying at all. But I'm saying in our own personal life when we're feeling that peer pressure to be accommodating and flexible, to negotiate with our religious values and beliefs, to accommodate and conform to the ways of the times, that's when it's important to be a cedar tree. The מדרש Midrash says the world would have been better off without rigidity, except השם Hashem needed it for the משכן Mishkan and the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. When the world is saying conform, be flexible, bend, be like us, that's when you have to be strong and obstinate and stubborn and inflexible when it advances the world of the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash. There's an interesting book, I didn't read it, but I did see it referenced. It's written by Richard Weisberg, it's called 'In Praise of Intransigence'. In praise of intransigence, the perils of flexibility. It's the name of the book. And to tell you what it's all about, he says, \"In our times of too much flexibility, intransigence reminds us of our duty to hold on to what's right.\" It's now in, it's vogue to be flexible. Anyone can do anything, be anything, see themselves as anything, talk anything, wear anything, do anything, go anything. It's just a world of flexibility. Whatever you want, there are no boundaries, there are no rules, it's a world of flexibility. And in a world of flexibility, we need some intransigence. We need some stubbornness. We need some עצי שיטים atzei shittim, we need some cedar wood to have principled life living, to have values based living.Okay, let's go into the מפרשים meforshim.ועשית את השולחן V'asisa es hashulchan. Says the ספורנו Sforno. Right, we described, make a table, here are the dimensions, it has a molding and on top of the molding it has a crown. And it sounds from the verses like there are two crowns. Says the ספורנו Sforno, רב עובדיה ספורנו Rav Ovadia Sforno. אחר מעשה הארון שהיה כמות כיסא השכינה Achar ma'ase ha'aron shehaya k'dmus kisei hashechinah, after we just discussed the details, the dimensions, the materials of the ארון aron which was the place from which the שכינה shechinah, the divine countenance, emanated. כאמרו ונועדתי לך שם ke'emro v'noadeti lecha sham. It was the meeting place. What did the ארון aron house? The לוחות luchos. לוחות הברית Luchos habris, the ארון הברית aron habris. It was the place that symbolized our covenant, our commitment. So after the ארון aron from which God's divine countenance emanates, ציוה על השולחן והמנורה כמנהגם לפני השרים tziva al hashulchan v'hamenorah k'minhagam lifnei hasarim. Next comes the שולחן shulchan and the מנורה menorah. כאשה השונמית K'eishah hashunamis, like the רב rav alluded to, takes us to מלכים ב' Melachim Beis, the story of the אשה השונמית Eisha Shunamis. ונשים לו שם מטה ושולחן וכיסא ומנורה V'nasim lo sham mitah v'shulchan v'kisei v'menorah. Right, she instructed, what does a proper home have? What are the furnishings? A bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. ויהיה זה השולחן מורה על כתר מלכות V'yiheyeh zeh hashulchan moreh al keser malchus. The ארון aron stands for כתר תורה keser Torah. The שולחן shulchan corresponds with כתר מלכות keser malchus, the crown of monarchy. כדבריהם, כמו שהגמרא יומא אומרת, k'divreihem, k'mo she'hagemara Yoma omres. והענין המלך בהנהגת המדינה על ב' פנים V'ha'inyan hamelech b'hanhagas hamedina al beis panim. What is the mission and mandate of a king, of the monarchy, of royalty? It's twofold. האחד בענין המשפט וזולתו מסידרי המדינה Ha'echad b'inyan hamishpat v'zulaso misidrei hamedina, והשני להגן על המדינה מכל צר ואויב V'hasheni l'hagen al hamedinah mikol tzar v'oyev. The king has two missions. Number one, to maintain law and order, to provide justice, to care for the citizens of the country from inside. And number two, להגן על המדינה מכל צר ואויב l'hagen al hamedina mikol tzar v'oyev, to protect the country from the outside. Law and order internally, security externally. It's not a, what do you call speech, not running for office. I'm telling you what the ספורנו Sforno says. The king, government's job is to preserve law and order internally and protect externally. ושפטנו מלכנו ויצא לפנינו ונלחם את מלחמותינו U'shfatanu malkeinu v'yatza lefanenu v'nilcham es milchamoseinu. So הוא סמוך בשולחן ב' כתרים hu samuch bashulchan beis ksarim. Says the ספורנו Sforno, that's why the שולחן shulchan had in fact two crowns. אחד מהם לשולחן עצמו echad mehem l'shulchan atzmo, one crown was on the table itself, המורה על פרנסת המדינה וסידור עניניה hamoreh al parnasas hamedinah v'sidur inyaneiha, והב' למסגרת המורה איה סוגר בעד המזיק להשביט אויב ומתנקם V'habeis l'misgeres hamoreh ayo soger ba'ad hamazik l'hashbis oyev u'misnakem. So one crown was on the table, and one crown was on the molding. Why? The crown on the table corresponds with the need to sustain, to nourish, to provide for the members of the country. The second crown, the מסגרת misgeres comes from the word סוגר sogair, to close off, to build a crown and to make other people pay for it, to make sure that no one comes from the outside into the utensil. So since the שולחן shulchan corresponds with כתר מלכות keser malchus, says the ספורנו Sforno, the two crowns correspond with the two missions or job obligations of the king, of the leader, internally and externally. כזה זאגט דער ספורנו K'zeh zogt der Sforno.Look at the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. כלי יקר Kli Yakar says the שולחן shulchan, the table is covered in gold. וצפית אותו זהב טהור V'tzipisa oso zahav tahor. רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya also רמז remez in the word זהב zahav על ברכת המזון al birkas hamazon. The table corresponds today, the גמרא Gemara says, now that we don't have כלים keilim of the משכן Mishkan, we lack a בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, how do we achieve כפרה kapparah? How do we achieve atonement? How do we draw close to the Almighty? Through what? And the גמרא Gemara says, like what the רב rav was alluding to also, through the utensils in our own home, through our שולחן shulchan. The שולחן shulchan of the מזבח mizbeach corresponds with the שולחן shulchan in our own home. רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, not this one the כלי יקר Kli Yakar is quoting, another רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya. I've shared this before, but I'll share it again, because I was at a wedding the other night, and someone told me, in an attempt to compliment me, they basically told me that over the last 17 years, there's only two things I remember you saying. Anyway, and one of them was this רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya. רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya quotes a tradition. רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya lived in Spain, medieval times. He quotes a tradition. He says, because our table, our dining room table corresponds with the שולחן shulchan of the משכן Mishkan, it's supposed to, in its use, type of conversations we have, the guests that we host, and so on. So רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya quotes a tradition that they used to take the dining room table when a person died, they would disassemble it, and they would turn the material of the table into the coffin in which the person would be buried. They would come to שמים Shamayim, writes רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya very descriptively, they would come to the heavens and they said the dining room table would accompany them and testify on their behalf. The דברי תורה divrei Torah, the זמירות zmiros, the שבת Shabbos guests, the parlor meetings, the checks that were written there, the dining room table would. So רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya quotes this, and you think it's obscure? I will tell you, as recently as the רוגצ'ובר גאון Rugatchover Gaon, the great רוגצ'ובר Rugatchover, the Rebbe of Rabbi Tights from Elizabeth, New Jersey, the רוגצ'ובר Rugatchover was buried in his dining room table. This tradition of the שולחן shulchan, that we take the material of our שולחן shulchan, and that is what we're buried in, as recently as the רוגצ'ובר גאון Rugatchover Gaon was buried in it. You should be very careful. Ask yourself, ask yourself, would you want your dining room table to be able to speak? If your dining room table could speak, what would it say? What would the rabbi hear that it said about him? What would the dining room table, what would the dining room table say? So the כלי יקר Kli Yakar quotes a different רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya here. רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says, וצפיתו אותו זהב טהור V'tzipiso oso zahav tahor, that the שולחן shulchan was layered with gold. So gold, זהב zahav is an acronym referencing ברכת המזון birkas hamazon, the benching that we say at the table. The ז' zayin, ברכת הזן birkas hazan. The ה' hei, היינו ברכת הארץ hainu birkas ha'aretz. The ב' beis, ברכת בונה ירושלים birkas boneh Yerushalayim. ועשית לו זר זהב סביב V'asisa lo zer zahav saviv, we make a crown around it. בכל מה שיזמין לו השם לאכול משולחן גבוה b'chol mah sheyazmin lo Hashem le'echol mishulchan gavoah, ידמה בנפשו כאילו הוא מלך בעטרה שעוטרים לו מדת הסתפקות yidameh b'nafsho k'ilu hu melech ba'atarah she'otrim lo midas histapkus. When you sit around your table, just like the שולחן shulchan in the משכן Mishkan had a crown, your dining room table has a crown. You say my dining room table, I inherited it from my great-grandparents, it's cracking and moldy and stained and falling apart. I barely have anything to eat on it. We're sitting on folding chairs. I'm supposed to feel like my dining room table has the זר זהב zer zahav, the crown, like the שולחן shulchan? Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, yes. The notion of הסתפקות histapkus that you have מספיק maspik, that you have enough, one should feel like a king at their table. You should feel like a king. Not in an arrogant sense, not in an ostentatious sense, you should feel like a king that you know what? I'm royalty. I have exactly what I need, I have everything that I could possibly want. ואל תתאוו לשולחנם של מלכים V'al tisaveh l'shulchanam shel melachim. Don't lust after, don't be jealous of the table of kings. כי שולחנך גדול משולחנם ki shulchancha gadol mishulchanam, וכיסאך גדול מכיסאם v'kisacha gadol m'kisram. Your table is greater than theirs, and your crown is greater than their crown. Because if your table is a place that promotes Torah and Torah values and you sing זמירות zmiros and you host guests and you spend quality time with family and so on, then your table is greater than the table of kings, then you are greater than a king, and that's why you deserve a crown at your table as well.The כלי יקר Kli Yakar continues with this theme. ועשית לו מסגרת V'asisa lo misgeres, that there's a molding. שיסגור בעד תאותיו שלא יהיה לו פתח פתוח עליהם sheyisgor ba'ad ta'avosav shelo yihiyeh lo pesach pasuach aleihem. Why does the table have a molding? A molding in Hebrew is called a מסגרת misgeres. The root of the word מסגרת misgeres is סמך גימל ריש samech gimmel reish, like לסגור lisgor. If I tell you there's a draft in here, do you mind לסגור את הדלת lisgor es hadelet? Would you mind closing the door? So why should the שולחן shulchan have a molding that's called a closing, a מסגרת misgeres, לסגור lisgor? Because you should leave your temptation outside. יסגור בעד ויתן להם קצבה yisgor ba'ad v'yiten lahem kitzva. There should be boundaries. The table should have, not be over. ועשית זר זהב למסגרתו סביב כי הסוגר בעד תאותיו V'asisa zer zahav l'misgarto saviv ki hasoger ba'ad ta'avosav, if you can succeed in having a molding, in closing in and having boundaries in your life, הרי הוא בן חורין ומלך harei hu ben chorin u'melech. Why should you have a crown on the molding? If the whole goal of the molding is to create a sense of boundary? And the answer says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar so beautifully is, one who lives with boundaries is royalty. It's not the lack of boundaries, the freedom to do anything you want that makes you royalty. It's living within the boundaries that makes you royalty, and that's why the molding itself had its own crown. להוציא פורץ גדרו לעולם הוא עני בדעתו L'afukei poretz gedero l'olam hu ani b'daato. Somebody who has no boundaries and lives freely and liberally and does whatever they want, they may think they're a king, but they're a pauper. They're a poor person. ונקרא לשון זר V'nikra lashon zar. And that's why it's called the זר זהב zer zahav. The crown is called a זר zer. זכה נעשה לו זר וכתר zacha na'aseh lo zer v'keser. If you merit it, it serves for you as a crown. לא זכה lo zacha, you don't merit, you don't respect the boundaries, נעשה זר ונכרי na'aseh zar v'nochri. That same זין ריש zayin reish can be a זר zer, a crown, can be a stranger. So it depends on your attitude towards your table.ועשית לו ארבע טבעות זהב V'asisa lo arba tabaos zahav. We'll do one last כלי יקר Kli Yakar. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar here is beautiful on this section of the פרשה parshah. כלי יקר Kli Yakar says the the round rings, thank you, that were on the side of the שולחן shulchan through which the poles ran to be able to carry it. Why are they covered in gold too? כדי שיזכור K'dei sheyizkor. כי הצלחות העולם הזה הם גלגל החוזר בעולם ki hatzlachos ha'olam hazeh hem galgal hachozer ba'olam, כדבר הזה העגול k'davar hazeh ha'agul. Just like the rings are round, so too we have to know economic cycles are round and people's fortune are round. Those who were rich yesterday are poor today, those who are poor today could discover a fortune tomorrow. And no one is never ever entirely secure. The world works in cycles like the ring on the שולחן shulchan. So if your table is empty today, don't despair. Like the ring on the side of the שולחן shulchan, the cycle could bring you great wealth. And if you have great wealth today, don't be complacent and assume it will always be there. Don't be arrogant. Like the ring, like the roundness, know that the world turns and it can disappear tomorrow as well. We're out of time but you got a small sense that the כלים keilim are not archaic, arcane, they're not outdated, but the themes of these כלים keilim in our פרשה parshah are the very description of the themes that should inform and inspire the furnishings, the lifestyles, the homes that we build as well. Have a
