TorahParsha

What are years?

 

for Parshat Terumah

 

i

God tells Noah

to build a great ship

out of gofer wood

three hundred cubits long

fifty cubits wide

thirty cubits high

to carry the creatures through the storm.

*

God tells Moses

to build a Holy Ark

from shittim wood

one and a half cubits long

one and a half cubits wide

one and a half cubits high

to carry God’s Testimony

across the Desert

to the Land.

*

Pharoah asks Jacob

How many are the days of the years of your life?

Jacob

who has had a difficult life

who is old

answers Pharoah:

I have lived one hundred thirty years,

few and bad were the days of the years of my life. 

 

ii

A number is a measure

of material for carrying things:

cubits of wood for voyagers

cubits of wood for holy cargo

years of life for bearing good

or bad.

 

iii

A number is a question:

With only so much material

so much wood

so many cubits

so many years

—nothing more—

what can we carry

and how much

how will we carry good

and not bad

what is in our power

to justify the measure we have?

 

 

 ____

Title taken from the title of a poem by Marianne Moore

 ____

(Originally sent in 2012)

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

___

Please pray for Yechiel ben Michal

TorahParsha.com

 

What we do with holiness in surprising places

for Parshat Terumah

 

The outside of God’s Tent,

His home,

is to be covered with cloth.

The dimensions of the cloth

are to be such

that a whole flap of cloth

will run beyond the Tent;

that flap

must be folded back

and on to the Tent again.

*

Much of life is made of this:

finding the holiness

that has gone beyond its borders

and grasping it

and letting it guide you

all the way back to God’s Tent.

 

____

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

www.TorahParsha.com

What are years?

 

for Parshat Terumah

 

i

God tells Noah

to build a great ship

out of gofer wood

three hundred cubits long

fifty cubits wide

thirty cubits high

to carry the creatures through the storm.

*

God tells Moses

to build a Holy Ark

from shittim wood

one and a half cubits long

one and a half cubits wide

one and a half cubits high

to carry God’s Testimony

across the Desert

to the Land.

*

Pharoah asks Jacob

How many are the days of the years of your life?

Jacob

who has had a difficult life

who is old

answers Pharoah:

I have lived one hundred thirty years,

few and bad were the days of the years of my life. 

 

ii

A number is a measure

of material for carrying things:

cubits of wood for voyagers

cubits of wood for holy cargo

years of life for bearing good

or bad.

 

iii

A number is a question:

With only so much material

so much wood

so many cubits

so many years

—nothing more—

what can we carry

and how much

how will we carry good

and not bad

what is in our power

to justify the measure we have?

 

 

 ____

Title taken from the title of a poem by Marianne Moore

 ____

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

TorahParsha.com

 

Please pray for Neshama Emuna bat Batya

 

 

Why the Menorah is like all of us

 

(for Parshat Terumah)

 

i

The nation of Amalek comes to attack. Moses goes up to the hilltop, carrying his staff. Aaron and Hur go up with him. And Moses lifts his hand up.

And as Moses would lift up his hand, the people would overcome Amalek. But Moses’ hands grew heavy.

So Aaron and Hur helped Moses’ hands—one holding from here and one from here, and Moses’ hands hold steadfast until the sun sets.

*

The raised hand is the sign of an oath.

 (God swears years later: I will raise My hand to Heaven.)

The people overcome and are strong in the sign of the oath, in the steadfastness of a raised hand—

in the steadfastness of holding each others’ hands up.

 

ii

Aaron’s two hands from here, and Hur’s two hands from here, and Moses’ two hands and his staff in the center, all steadfast—

it is like the Menorah, the  seven-branched Candelabra in the Temple:

three branches from one side and three from the second side, the seventh pole at the center,

all seven lit continually, for all generations.

*

Our source of light

is like our source of strength:

many uniting together, sharing together for the long work.
 

 

____

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

____

Note: Aaron and Hur holding with two hands is my presumption; the text only says they “helped Moses’ hands.” But I think the fundamental parallel in structures stands regardless.

____

Please pray for the premature infant  Baer Yakov ben Emunah. Please pray for Fievel ben Chaya, Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther.

 

Filth (for Parshat Terumah)

i
God says: The people should make a Mishkan, a great Tent.

God will dwell amongst the people from within it.

God commands all the materials and parts for the Mishkan be made, be brought.

ii

God says, You shall make an altar of copper for the Mishkan.

The priests will bring the people’s sacrifices to God there.

*
God says: you shall make  pails for removing…ashes that will heap up on this altar (from the fires of the sacrifice).

This is the only part of the Mishkan about which God mentions ashes.

It is the only part of the Mishkan about which God mentions filth, and the removal of filth.

*
Here is the place where Man approaches God.

iii

We approach God; we bring our world of filth with us.

But God does not say: stay apart from Me, you are filthy.

God says: come into My dwelling-place, My home.

You can clear your ashes away once you come.

But build the altar of copper.

Come.

 

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

____________
Please continue to pray for Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah, whose immediate condition has improved.
Verse cited: Exodus 27:1
www.TorahParsha.com

The Ark’s Cover Rests Upon the Ark (Parshat Terumah)

i
The Ark is a wooden crate, covered outside and inside with gold.

The Ark holds the Testimony.

The Testimony is the text of the Law.

It is the contract that binds the people to God.

*
The Ark’s cover is made of pure gold. Two golden cherubim are sculpted upon it.

God speaks from above, from between these two cherubim.

ii
The Ark’s cover rests upon the Ark.

The glory of God's speech rests upon what is solid, what is everyday.

So God’s speech in this world rests upon the Law.

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