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EXODUS 35:01-38:20
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
"And there was Extra" (Ex 36:07)
In this week's Torah portion we are given the mandate to build the
sanctuary. The details of how it was built, who funded it, and who was in charge of
its construction are given. It is interesting to note that a 13 year old,
named Bezalel, was assigned the task to be in charge of the artistry and
construction of the Tabernacle. We can learn from this that even a great
man such as Moses, cannot be perfect in everything. We are a community and
depend on each other for our different skills and strengths. Bezalel
needed Moses to teach him Torah. Moses needed Bezalel to teach him architecture
and gold crafting.
Moses asks the people to contribute all sorts of items to be used for the
Mishkan's manufacture. The people voluntarily delivered gold, silver,
gems, jewels, cloth, silks, furs, and hides. They were so giving that there
was a surplus of donations. God instructs Moses to "restrain us from giving"
(Ex 36:06). If only our modern building funds had this "problem"!
Why did we need a Mishkan? Why did we need the first and second Temples
in Jerusalem? Why do some of our people pray for the restoration of the
Third Temple? Why do we need our modern synagogues and temples? Do we in the
year third millennium really need a place where we can "see" God dwell among us? Is the
Mishkan the answer to our quest to see and feel God that we tried to
achieve with the Golden Calf? (Please refer to last week's D'var on Ki Tisa.)
Bezalel made a wondrous menorah (Ex 37:17 to 24). It was of pure gold.
Did you ever note that the seven-candled menorahs in traditional shuls are
never golden. Perhaps they are bronze or silver. This is because the Talmud
ruled that a gold menorah can only be used in the Temple in Jerusalem. Have you
noticed that liberal Judaism's sects chose a gold menorahs? Have you
noticed that gold menorahs are used in liberal temples? Liberal Jews are making the
statement that we are no longer waiting for or praying for the Third
Temple.
In our temples, in our hearts, and in our good deeds are where we say
God's presence, the Shechinah, dwells. The Divine Light is accessible to us
each and every day. We know from our history that God's presence left the
Second Temple. Why? It was because of people's unbiased hatred, jealousy,
arguments, and the fact that even murder was committed there.
The Talmud teaches that studying Torah at night (when melancholy can
set in, when one can cry over the reasons for the Temple's destruction), is
effective in bringing the Divine Light back. Our very own human behavior
can cause this light to be with us. Or our behaviors can cause it to leave
us.
We have freedom of choice. "Who is strong? The person who practices
self-control" (Pirkei Avot 4:01).
Rabbi Chanina said, "Anyone whose good deeds are greater than his
wisdom, his wisdom will endure. Anyone whose wisdom is greater than his good
deeds, his wisdom will not endure" (Pirkei Avot 3:12). Torah study, or going to
temple, or even teaching a class there, does not change people. Only by
practicing what we learn or teach can we influence our own behavior and
the behavior of others. Our actions of good deeds and tikun olam are
essential.
They show our commitment. They help us to grow spiritually while at the
same time help others. The Talmud Bavli in Tractate Sotah 3a tells us that we only sin
when we are not thinking straight. God rewards us, in traditional teaching,
for planning to do a good deed along with the finished deed itself. But God
punishes us for sinning only if we do the act, not our thinking about it
(Talmud Bavli Tractate Kiddushin 40a).
What if Moses said he did not want Bezalel's help, that
he knew it all? What if Moses acted jealously toward Bezalel or sabotaged
his project? Do any of us today get jealous of the successes of our friends
and undermine their advancement? Do we have folks in our temples who would be great resources,
but do not use them because our fear and our jealousy keep us from doing so? This comes from a lack and faith a trust in God.
Are we so silly as to think that there is a finite amount of goodness in
God's universe. Are we so unsophisticated to think that if we ignore our
friends when they are in need, and do loshan ha ra about them when they wish to
succeed, that these sins do not affect our own well-being? These types of
behaviors only reinforce our own fears of mortality and insecurities.
After all, is it not illogical to think that if we help another, there will be
less help available to aid us when we are in need? Is the Divine Light
available to us only finite?
What do we do in our modern Mishkan that we call our temples, shuls, and
synagogues? "The people has approached Me with its mouth and honored Me
with its lips, but has kept its heart far from Me, and its worship of Me has
been a commandment of men learned by rote" (Isaiah 29:13).
The Torah is a tree of life. Judaism is not just a religion. It is a way of life.
"L'chaim...to life!!" is our toast. The Torah teaches us to behave at all times "when
we lie down and we rise up." Although we are taught to "love your brother as
yourself" and to "pursue justice, " do we? What does our Judaism mean to us?
Is it just matzoth balls and singing our prayers without trying to act on
them in our daily lives? We are all children of God. If you want to make a
parent happy, be nice to his/her kids. "You are children of God, your
Almighty" (Deut. 11:01).
We are also servants of God as it says in Ex 19:06: "You shall be unto Me
a kingdom of priests. " We are to act holy, in all of our activities. "You
shall be holy, for I God am holy" (Lev 19:02). This holiness is not genetic. We
need to work at it regularly. As Isaiah says it best in Chapter 44, verses
6-10, "You are My witnesses...a light unto the nations, so that My salvation
may be unto the ends of the earth!"
We are living during some interesting times when politicians have a
litmus test for national office. They have a need to tell the voters how Jesus plays
a role in their lives. Does this marginalize us as Jews? Could you imagine
in the mid-1970s a radio commentator saying to an African American, "Get
the bone out of your nose and get the NAACP to buy a liquor store and do riot
rehearsals?" Yet, this speech was allowed on the Rush Limbaugh
radio show from the mouth of the host!!
Limbaugh and his ilk want prayer in
school and the Ten Commandments posted. This is just as vain as having the
Second Temple full of hatred and our modern temples filled with Torah talk
without Torah behavior.
In Europe today, in the countries of the former USSR, Russia, Hungary,
Sweden, France, and Austria, neo-Fascists parties like Le Pen and
Haider are part of their coalition governments. Anti-Semetic web sites abound.
Yet Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League acted conciliatory to
the government of Austria fearing a backlash. Didn't we hear those same
fears in the 1930s? Did it save our European cousins? The ADL rented
space to the Austrian embassy in New York City. Rabbi Stephen Wise spoke out courageously against Hitler and Nazism in the 1930s. Who among
us will speak out forcefully now against Joerg Haider, Le Pen, Limbaugh,
Buchanan and candidates courting the American ayatollahs of the
religious right?
Bezalel's menorah in his Mishkan, as our menorah and Torah in our own
sanctuary, remind us about God's dwelling in this world. By virtue of our
incorporating Godliness and holiness into our own lives we can redeem the
world! This was the message that Moses brought to us from Sinai.
This is our mission as Jews. We cannot avoid it. Once we do, we are not Jews, and
not worthy of our temples, Torah, and menorah. May we all try to act better
toward one another so that our neighbors can see that if we make our
temples a place for brotherhood, there is hope, tikvah, to make our
cities, nations, and world fulfill our prophets' dreams. Let us give a little
"extra" so that one day, there will be so much love, peace, and understanding,
God will tell us all to "restrain" with a loud "Dayenu"!
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
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