Blog - Torah Insights

Finding Fulfillment 

The second half of this week's portion addresses in great detail the seven days of Miluim, the inauguration and initiation of the priests to the temple service. After reading about the commandment to build the temple in the last portion and reading about the commandment to fashion beautiful garments for the priests in the first half of this week's portion, the Torah describes the process by which the priests were initiated into the priesthood, a process that took seven days, requiring unique offerings and services. 

The Hebrew word for the inauguration, Miluim, literally means to fill. The verse states "and you {Moses} shall fill the hand of Aaron and his sons", and refers to the offerings as "fulfillment", and the seven days as days of "fulfillment". What exactly does "fulfillment" mean in the context of inauguration, and why does the Torah use this unusual expression for the inauguration? 

The Kabbalists explain that the seven days of inauguration were designed to "fulfill" and "correct" the seven days of creation we read about in the book of Genesis. G-d created a beautiful world, but unfortunately the human being did not engage with the world in a wholesome manner, he defied the will of his creator by following the temptation of the tree of knowledge. He was therefore expelled from the tranquility and innocence of Eden.  

The construction of the temple was the opportunity to fill the world with what it was lacking from the time of the seven days of creation. The introduction of the temple, symbolizing the spiritual relationship with G-d, allowed a person to feel fulfilled. No amount of material possessions or pleasures can bring the person fulfillment, for the physical is inherently temporary and fleeting; it cannot confer a sense of fullness and permanence which it does not possess. Only by building a home for G-d, by filling the material objects and experiences with spiritual and holy meaning, can a person truly "fill" the physical world created during the seven days of creation with true fulfillment, pleasure, and joy that emerged from the seven days of the inauguration of the temple. 

Adapted from the Kedushat Levi

Temple or Home? 

We are at the point in the story when G-d asks for a temple. We were liberated from Egypt. We received the Torah, and now G-d tells Moses to speak to the children of Israel, telling them: “Make for me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst.”

When we think of a sanctuary or temple, we think of a grand structure, a monument, a citadel that expresses the grandeur of G-d, an imposing building designed to make a person feel small and humble in its presence. Yet, as we read through the details of this week’s Torah portion, we realize that the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, was actually a furnished home, incorporating the essential elements and furniture of a modest, but beautiful home.    

A home needs two basic rooms (larger homes have two categories of rooms): an outer room for eating, relaxing, and living, a room to spend time with family and friends, a room with a table and some light; and an inner room, a bedroom, a personal and intimate space. The Tabernacle, too, possessed these two rooms, “the holy”, the outer chamber with a table, a menorah, and an alter; and an inner room, the “holy of holies”, the place of intimacy with G-d, which contained only the ark with its covering of Cherubim, male and female winged figures, symbolizing the romantic and intimate bond between G-d and the Jewish people.    

Perhaps the overarching lesson of this Parsha is that, G-d wants his temple to look like a home, to indicate that the reverse is also true: each of our homes can be a temple for G-d. As G-d wants to dwell not only in the grandeur of a temple but also in the daily life experienced in our homes. 

Further in the book, the Torah relates, “he places the menorah in the tent of meeting facing the table”. The Table and the Menorah must be placed across from and facing each other. The Torah is teaching us that the table with the showbread, symbolizing the physical needs and experiences of life, must face the Menorah, which symbolizes the spiritual parts of life. Our home becomes a home for G-d when our physical experiences are impacted and illuminated by spiritual light and purpose. Every activity can create a home for G-d when it is a component of our spiritual purpose and journey.   

G-d is in the Details 

Where in the World is Mount Sinai? 

The Jewish people are very good at preserving their history. We know where and when all the significant events of our past occurred. There is, however, one exception. The location of the most important event of our history, the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, is unknown.  

Immediately after G-d descended on Mount Sinai and imparted the Ten Commandments, G-d conveyed to Moses a grammatically problematic statement:

An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall slaughter beside it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. Wherever I will mention My name, I will come to you and bless you. (Exodus 20:21)

Rashi explains that “I will mention my name” actually means that the Jewish people will mention G-d’s explicit name. Nevertheless, the verse says, “I will mention”, because the verse is referring to the place at which G-d will give us permission to use His explicit name: 

Hebrew אַזְכִּיר, lit., I will mention. [This should apparently read תַּזְכִּיר, you will mention. Therefore, Rashi explains that it means: whenever] I will permit you to mention My Explicit Name, there I will come to you and bless you. I will cause My Shechinah to rest upon you. From here you learn that permission was given to mention the Explicit Name only in the place in which the Shechinah comes, that is in the Temple in Jerusalem. There, permission was given to the priests to mention the Explicit Name when they raise their hands to bless the people. 

While, according to Rashi, this verse refers to one specific place, the sages of the Mishnah introduce a revolutionary interpretation. The Mishnah states that “when ten people sit together and occupy themselves with Torah, the Shechinah abides among them”, and then explains that the same is true for five people, three people, and two people. The Mishnah continues:  

How do we know that the same is true even of one? As it is said: “In every place where I will mention my name I will come unto you and bless you”. (Avos 3:6)

According to the sages of the Mishnah, immediately after the awesome experience at Sinai, G-d informed Moses that whenever one person, wherever he or she may be, studies Torah, the Divine presence will rest there. In other words, there is no need to know the precise location of Mount Sinai because whenever we study Torah, we recreate the revelation of Sinai wherever we may be.  

How is it possible that every Jew can transform any corner of the world? How can our mortal lips utter words that will accomplish the seemingly impossible, transporting the experience of Sinai to the most distant location on earth? It is because when we speak words of Torah it is G-d’s words speaking through us. The verse says, “I will mention my name”, although the verse means that the Jewish people will call G-d’s name, because whenever we study Torah, when we voice the words of G-d, it is G-d speaking through us.

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Shabbat Yisro 5751    

How to Split a Sea 

They were trapped. 

The Jewish people had just departed Egypt, hoping to experience freedom and liberation, but now they were trapped. Pursuing  them was the Egyptian army, the Red Sea was before them. They did what you would expect them to do, they called out to G-d. 

The Torah recounts G-d's response: 

The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them travel. (Exodus 14:15)

G-d's response is totally unexpected. After all, what is wrong with prayer? Isn't it a Mitzvah to pray to G-d when in distress? 

The Ohr Hachaim, the 18th-century commentator and mystic, explains that, the Jewish people were not worthy of the great miracle of the sea splitting on their behalf. G-d commanded Moses "speak to the children and let them travel", the people should travel forward with faith that G-d would protect them. The miracle would occur in the merit of the faith they would display.

This story is a lesson on how we can achieve personal freedom in our own lives. Occasionally, we feel stuck, we don't see how our own challenge or difficulty can be resolved. Our natural impulse is to remain paralyzed. What is the point of taking positive action when we don't see how it  will solve the overarching problem? This attitude is, in fact, what keeps us "imprisoned" in the adverse circumstance. G-d gives us  the key to freedom, "speak to the children and let them travel"; the key to liberation is taking a positive step. This will trigger a divine blessing which will free us of negativity,  bringing us to a place of positivity and liberation. 

Service or Festival? 

There was a breakdown in communication  between the parties. Finally, after seven plagues, Pharaoh was ready to negotiate with Moses regarding who would be permitted to leave Egypt. The Torah relates: 

Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, worship the Lord your God. Who and who are going?" Moses said, "With our youth and with our elders we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our cattle we will go, for it is a festival of the Lord to us." (10:8-9)

Pharaoh was sure that this was a scam. Pharaoh declared:

Not so; let the men go now and worship the Lord, for that is what you request." And he chased them out from before Pharaoh. (10:11)

Seemingly, Pharaoh wanted to ascertain  that the Jewish people who were going to serve G-d in the desert would return to Egypt; he, therefore, wanted the women, children, and cattle to remain behind as security. 

There is, however, a deeper element to Pharaoh's refusal. In Egyptian culture, only the priestly class served their Gods. Service was relegated to a small group of individuals who could truly understand and meditate on spiritual concepts. For Pharaoh, it was conceivable that educated men would go and serve G-d in the desert, but it was implausible that women and children could be part of the service.

Indeed, Pharaoh's words, "Go, worship the Lord your God. Who and who are going?" was not a question, it was a statement. Pharaoh stated: look at all the surrounding cultures, "who and who are going?" Only an elite group of men worship.

Moses insisted that, if we are to serve G-d properly, all Jewish people must participate: "With our youth and with our elders we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our cattle we will go". Our service of G-d is radically different. There are no representatives before G-d; but rather, each and every individual has a personal and unique relationship with G-d. 

Moses continues: "for it is a festival of the Lord to us"; the way we serve G-d is not only through study and meditation but also through festival and joy. The way we connect to G-d is through experiencing joy and happiness, which is possible only when we are all united and present together.   

Part of a Greater Story  

It was, perhaps, the rock bottom moment of the slavery. G-d sent Moses to Pharaoh to demand, "Let my people go and serve me in the desert", yet not only did Pharaoh refuse to obey, but he intensified the burden on his Hebrew slaves. Moses cried out to G-d, demanding to know why G-d had sent him on this seemingly futile  mission:

So Moses returned to the Lord and said, "O Lord! Why have You harmed this people? Why have You sent me? Since I have come to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed this people, and You have not saved Your people." (Exodus 5:22-23)

In this week's Torah portion, we read G-d's elaborate response to Moses’ argument. There are many ways G-d’s response is interpreted, the following is one explanation.

What do we do when we are trapped in a metaphorical Egypt? What do we do when we see no way out of our current difficulty and challenge?   

When Moses cried out to G-d, instead of providing a direct answer, G-d began by evoking events of the past, His covenant with the Patriarchs, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob: 

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob with [the name] Almighty God, but [with] My name Hashem, I did not become known to them. And also, I established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings in which they sojourned. (Exodus 6:3-4)

Then G-d went on to talk about future events, the giving of the Torah and the entry into the land of Israel: 

And I will take you to Me as a people, and I will be a God to you, and you will know that I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land, concerning which I raised My hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you as a heritage; I am the Lord. (Exodus 6:7-8)

G-d conveyed to Moses that the way to be free is to raise oneself above the moment. This moment may be difficult, we may be trapped in Egypt, yet we are free if we realize that this moment does not define us. We are part of a bigger story. We are part of a greater history. We are a link between an illustrious past and a bright future. 

The same is true in our personal life. To experience liberation in a moment of challenge and difficulty, is to know that this challenge, this moment, this failure, or this setback does not define us. We are greater than the moment. The setback is here not to define us but as a springboard to bridge our past and our future, to help us reach a deeper dimension of our life, a greater chapter in our story.

Is the Name Moshe Grammatically Correct?

Moshe. What a beautiful name. 

The name was given to him by his adoptive mother, the daughter of Pharaoh, who called him Moshe because he was drawn from the water. As we read in the Torah: 

Pharaoh's daughter went down to bathe, to the Nile, and her maidens were walking along the Nile, and she saw the basket in the midst of the marsh, and she sent her maidservant, and she took it. (Exodus 2:5)

After the baby was given to his birth mother to nurse, the Torah relates: 

The child grew up, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became like her son. She named him Moses, and she said, "For I drew him from the water." (Exodus 2:10)

If you are familiar with Hebrew grammar, you may ask, why was he named Moshe ("the one who draws") and not Mashuy ("the one who was drawn")? After all, the one who drew was the daughter of Pharaoh and not the passive baby? 

The classic Biblical commentator Ibn Ezra raises this question and explains that in Biblical Hebrew nouns are flexible and do not conform to the specific rules of grammar:  

Do not be perplexed as to why moshe was not called mashuy, as nouns do not keep their forms as verbs do. 

Yet, perhaps, the form Moshe ("the one who will draw") is indeed precisely what his adoptive mother had in mind. When we look at Moshe's life for clues as to why he was chosen to lead the Jewish people, a pattern emerges. The Torah tells us nothing about his greatness, wisdom, humility or prophecy. Instead, the Torah relates three stories in which Moshe stepped in to protect the vulnerable: Moses saved a Hebrew slave from the Egyptian oppressor, he saved a Jew from being struck by his fellow Jew, and he protected the daughters of Jethro at the well in Midian. 

Moshe learned to step in and help others, despite the risk to himself, from his adoptive mother.. His name served as a constant reminder that his adoptive mother defied her father Pharaoh's wicked decree and drew him from the Nile, saving his life. Yet the name Moshe focuses not on the great act that she did, but rather on the lesson that she sought to teach him. He too must follow his adoptive mother's example, "drawing others" from their "water", saving others from their plight.

He must not only remember that he was saved, but that memory must motivate him to save others; he must not be a "Mashuy", "one who was drawn", but a Moshe, "one who draws others". 

The Crouching Lion 

At the end of his life, Jacob summoned each of his children to his bedside and blessed each one with their individual blessing. The blessings are beautiful and poetic but also mysterious and cryptic; they address both the character of each son as well as future events that would unfold with their descendants and members of their tribe. There are, therefore, multiple layers of interpretations and perspectives on each phrase of the blessings. We will explore dramatically different interpretations of one phrase in the blessings to Judah. 

Jacob blessed Judah with leadership, military might, and an abundance of wine, representing the fertility of his future portion of land in Israel. Jacob stated: "A cub [and] a grown lion is Judah", which Rashi interprets as referring to King David: "He prophesied about David, who was at first like a cub: "When Saul was king over us… and at the end a lion, when they made him king over them". Then, continuing with the metaphor of the lion, Jacob continues:  

A lion's cub Judah, from prey my sin you ascended; he kneeled, crouched as a lion and as an old-lion who will raise him?  (Genesis 49:9)

If the lion represents the might of King David, then what is the symbolism of crouching? Rashi and Onkelous explain that the crouching lion is a metaphor for a time of peace and tranquility, when the lion can rest and does not have to assert his might, for all its enemies will have already been vanquished. As Rashi explains:  

 This refers to the reign of King Solomon, when peace prevailed in the land and the people of Israel sat "each under his grapevine and each under his fig tree". No nation dared disturb their tranquility, as none would dare disturb a lion's rest. 

The Zohar, the primary book of Jewish mysticism, offers a completely opposite reading. To the Zohar, the crouching lion refers not to the tranquility of the era of King Solomon, when the Jewish people were at their peak both physically and spiritually, but rather to the time of exile, when the Jewish people are "crouching", are subjugated under oppressive nations. Yet they nevertheless retain the strength of the lion and remain steadfast in their commitment to Judaism and G-d. As the Zohar explains:  

This describes the people of Israel in their exiles: although they have been brought to their knees, they have the strength and perseverance of a lion, and are not swayed by the nations who persecute them and attempt to seduce them away from their faith and their practices. 

The Zohar, the inner perspective of the Torah, invites us to reexamine the apparent reality and find the deeper truth. Yes, the lion is crouching, seemingly in a weakened position, but, in truth, the lion is crouching in preparation of pouncing. The same is true for the Jewish people. Our personal and collective challenges, while they seem to weaken us, are, in truth, an opportunity to dig deeper and discover reservoirs of strength, to not only survive but ultimately to transform the world as well. As the Zohar continues: 

And as a lion who crouches not out of weakness but in order to pounce on its prey and vanquish it, so too the bride Israel in her exile is fallen only in order to pounce from her crouch as a lion and banish idolatry from the world.

Translation of Onkolous and Zohar taken from the new Open Book Chumash

Why Recite Shema at the Reunion?

Finally, after twenty-two years of separation and mourning, Jacob was reunited with his beloved son Joseph. For twenty-two years, Jacob believed that his son Joseph had been devoured; and now, he was about to meet Joseph, who had risen to the position of viceroy of Egypt. The Torah describes Joseph's emotional reaction to the reunion:

And Joseph harnessed his chariot, and he went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and he appeared to him, and he fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck for a long time. (Genesis 46:29)

But wait, what about Jacob? The verse does not inform us about Jacob; what was Jacob doing? The Midrash, quoted by Rashi explains that Jacob did not react emotionally at all, for Jacob was preoccupied with reciting the Shema: 

Jacob, however, neither fell on Joseph's neck nor kissed him. Our Sages said that he was reciting the Shema. 

Why was Jacob reading the Shema at that very moment? What message was he conveying to himself and us by declaring the oneness of G-d in the Shema? 

The Talmud analyzes a verse from the prophecy of Zechariah, which states that in the Messianic era, "The Lord will be one and His name one". The Talmud asks, how can we say that only in the Messianic era the Lord will be one, "Is that to say that now He is not one?" The Talmud explains that now there are two names of G-d, there are two distinct blessings, one for good news and one for bad news. In the Messianic era, however, this will not be the case, "His name will be one", there will only be one blessing, the blessing for good tidings: 

Rabbi Aḥa bar Ḥanina said: The World-to-Come is not like this world. In this world, upon good tidings one recites: Blessed…Who is good and does good, and over bad tidings one recites: Blessed…the true Judge. In the World-to-Come one will always recite: Blessed…Who is good and does good. There will be only one mode of blessing God for tidings. (Talmud, Pesachim 50a)

The Shema, the declaration of the oneness of Hashem, reminds us that not only is there only one G-d, but additionally  there is nothing outside of His oneness; there is no creation or experience outside the oneness of G-d. This is a declaration of faith and belief, yet we don't always experience this truth. In this world, we experience the dichotomy of "good tidings", times when we see and feel the presence of G-d, and "bad tidings", times when we feel abandoned and disconnected from G-d. Yet, in the Messianic era, we will experience the deeper truth, we will recognize that indeed G-d was with us even when we did not feel His presence. 

When Jacob reunited with Joseph, he experienced the perspective of the Messianic era. Jacob sensed that, in retrospect, G-d was indeed with him all along, that the apparent calamity of Joseph's disappearance was, in fact, positive and good, for it led to Joseph's ascension  to power and the salvation of his family and the entire region. Jacob recited the Shema in recognition that, indeed, Hashem is one, He is with us in every experience and in every moment. 

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Did You Ever Wrestle With An Angel?

Did you ever wrestle with an angel?

Did you ever overpower an angel? 

The Jewish people received their collective name, Israel, because of the episode in this week's Torah portion, where our father Jacob had an all-night wrestling match with a mysterious person who turned out to be an angel. In the morning, Jacob would not let the angel go until the angel agreed to bless him and said: 

So he said to him, "What is your name?" and he said, "Jacob."

And he said, "No more will your name said to be 'Jacob', but rather 'Israel'; as you have become ruler with the divine and with men and you have prevailed" (32:28-29)

There are many interpretations of the meaning of the struggle and the blessing; the Rebbe offered an interpretation that makes this story relevant to each of us, descendants of Jacob, members of the people of Israel. 

The Rebbe taught that yes, each of us does indeed struggle with an angel, and each of us, by virtue of being a descendant of Israel, possesses the ability to overcome and overpower the angel. 

What angel are we referring to?

The Talmud teaches that before a child is born, an angel declares the destiny of that child: 

As Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa interpreted that verse in the following manner: That angel that is appointed over conception is called: Night. And that angel takes the drop of semen from which a person will be formed and presents it before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and says before Him: Master of the Universe, what will be of this drop? Will the person fashioned from it be mighty or weak? Will he be clever or stupid? Will he be wealthy or poor?

The conventional understanding is that the angel's declaration determines our destiny and that we cannot become wiser or more successful than the declaration of the angel, which then becomes embedded within our nature. Yet the truth is that the very name of our people, Israel, represents the ability to" become ruler" and "prevail" over the angel of G-d. Embedded within the Jew is the ability to overcome the restrictions imposed by the natural self and transcend the inborn limitations. 

A Jew may feel that he or she has reached their capacity, that they reached the point beyond which they cannot cross. The angel in our portion tells us otherwise. Yes, there are limitations imposed by the natural world and even the spiritual DNA conveyed to us by the angels. Yet, the children of Israel are undaunted by the limitations of our nature. We are not afraid to wrestle with the angel; until, ultimately, we overcome both man and angel.

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Shabbat Yitro 5744

Why We Fall In Love With Rachel 

Rachel was beautiful. 

Rachel was Beloved. 

Rachel’s children, Joseph and Benjamin, represent inner serenity, spirituality and righteousness. 

Jacob loved Rachel, he worked seven years, and then, after he was tricked into marrying her sister Leah, another seven years, for the right to marry her. 

Leah, by contrast, was not as beautiful.

[“Leah's eyes were tender”; Rashi explains: “Tender. Because she expected to fall into Esau’s lot, and she wept”.] 

Leah was not as beloved. [“and he {Jacob} also loved Rachel more than Leah”. 

Leah’s children were less than perfect. [They kidnapped their brother Joseph and sold him as a slave. Their father described Simon and Levi as “Cursed be their wrath for it is mighty, and their anger because it is harsh”.] 

But, surprisingly perhaps, it was Leah who gave birth to the most children and established six of the twelve tribes of Israel.
It was Leah’s children who became the leaders of the Jewish people, the monarchy from Judah, and the priesthood from Levi. 

It was Leah who merited to be buried with Jacob in the family plot, in the cave of Machpelah in Hebron; as opposed to Rachel who was buried on the side of the road, on the way to Beit Lechem.    

Like Jacob, we too fall in love with Rachel. 

We want peace, serenity, and a tension free life.  

Like Jacob, we too experience both the beauty of “Rachel” as well as the challenges of “Leah”. 

Like Jacob, we learn that growth and greatness comes not from perfection but from growing from the challenges. Not from innocence but from correcting mistakes. 

Like Jacob we learn that what G-d values more than righteousness is the effort and growth that emerges from overcoming the darkness of challenges and ultimately transforming them to light.