Parshat Vayakhel: The Power of Torah Shebeal Peh

At the end of last week’s parasha, we are given the commandment to keep and protect the Shabbat. In the 2nd pasuk of this week’s parasha, again the Torah commands us to do our work between Sunday and Friday, but to refrain from מלאכה, loosely translated as work, on Shabbat. As an aside, the Torah relays to us the severe punishment for one who blatantly violates Shabbat. This is of course after the Torah already commands us in Parashat Yitro as part of the 10 commandments, to keep the Shabbat and לא תעשה כל מלאכה. In multiple places in the Torah, the discussion surrounding Shabbat is to refrain from מלאכה, which we almost too quickly refer to as work. The trouble is, the Torah commands us in multiple places not to do מלאכה on Shabbat, if you do it you can be punished with death or כרת, and yet the Torah doesn’t define what מלאכה actually is. How could that be? As a loving G-d, I don’t think the message is that Hashem is out to get us. How could he treat us so unfairly?

The answer is that the Rabbis in the Medrash and the Talmud explain to us that the מלאכה referred to here is the 39 categories of work utilized in the building of the Mishkan. In other words, if you want to know what מלאכה on Shabbat is, use the מלאכה of the Mishkan as your defining guide.

If the מלאכה is explained to us by the Talmud, then how is there a death penalty attached? How come we always thought these prohibitions are of a biblical nature? The answer can be understood with a mashal. My children, nieces and nephews know me as the master of the game hide and seek. Although everyone knows the rules to hide and seek, I happen to have some extra rules we follow, and part of those rules are extra ways to be knocked out of the game. Imagine you came over to my house and we decide to play hide and seek. I tell you, let’s play, and make sure you don’t “do any work” or more likely, “make sure to follow the house rules.” Now you have no clue what that means, so you proceed to ask one of my children what I meant by that, and they explain the added rules and ways to be knocked out of the game, or “the work.” Let me ask you, if you continue and play the game and violate one of my rules and henceforth get knocked out of the game, are you knocked out because you violated my children’s words, or are you knocked for violating my words? The truth is that you heard words from them, but they were simply explaining my law. Similarly, one of the main functions of the Talmud is to explain the Chumash; it is there to translate and tell us what Hashem had in mind. So in actuality, the Torah or Hashem tells us not to do מלאכה on Shabbat, and the Rabbis are simply helping us understand what Hashem meant. The Rabbis are like my children in the Mashal, not creating their own edicts, but explain the edicts of the master.

The message here is crucial. One of the main tenants of Torah Judaism, or Orthodoxy, is the belief that Torah Shebeal Peh, the Oral Torah, was given to the Jews by Hashem at Har Sinai. The only difference is that the Chumash was written down and the rest was meant to be passed on orally. So in actuality, someone who doesn’t believe in Torah Shebeal Peh could not really keep Shabbat, because they would not know what to refrain from. Another example of how we cannot keep the Torah properly without the Torah Shebeal Peh is found in the mitzvah of the Four Minim on Sukkot: The Lulav, Etrog, Hadasim and Aravot. The Torah tells us

ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון, פרי עץ הדר כפות תמרים ענף עץ עבות וערבי נחל….

How on earth do we know what those are? What you and I know to be a lulav and etrog, how do you know that is what Hashem wanted you to use on Sukkot? The only answer is that there is an entire chapter in the Talmud which explains to us what a פרי עץ הדר is. It happens to be the fruit of a citron tree and we are given very exact directions as to how to search and recognize the tree and the fruit. The same is true for the lulav, hadasim and aravot. The moral of the story: without the Talmud, we could not possibly keep the Torah properly.

There are many examples which show the supremacy of the Torah Shebeal Peh. I believe Hashem chose Shabbat, the holiest day of the week and an integral part to our Torah observance, to send us this message. Judaism goes well beyond the five books of the Chumash; it goes into volumes of the Talmud and Medrash. If you want to understand the Chumash, if you want to understand what Hashem wants from you, start by learning and appreciating the importance of the Torah Shebeal Peh.

Parashat Ki Tisa: Why did Moshe have to break the luchot?

We all have a certain episode in the Torah we struggle to understand, perhaps even to the extent that we just don’t get how it possibly occurred. For me, that is the story of the sin of the Golden Calf, the חטא העגל. The Jewish people had just witnessed the 10 plagues of Egypt with only the righteous proceeding to leave Egypt. Then those righteous people witness the splitting of the sea, perhaps the greatest miracle of all time, where nature was totally overthrown. They are taken to the desert where Mon falls and all of their needs are taken care of. I am thinking that these people must have been closer to Hashem than any Jews in all of time. They then proceed to worship the Gold Calf? Really? I would like to think if I were there, that wouldn’t have happened to me; but it did happen to them. It happened to every Jewish male. How could it be?

I hate to keep you hanging, but I am going to delay sharing my approach to answering this until the week before Purim, where we can find a hint to understand this. For this week, I ask a different question about this episode. I understand that Moshe was angry with the Jewish people and that he would want to teach them a lesson, but why smash the luchot only to have to return to Har Sinai to get a second set? Why not just make this a positive teachable moment? Why not explain to the Jews where they went wrong?

The Sefer Shaarei Yosher answers this based on a passage in the Gemara, that says there was a special quality in the first luchot; had someone learned the words of the first luchot, he would remember it forever. There was no such thing as forgetting the Torah of the first luchot. When Moshe saw the Jews worshipping the calf, he understood that although it seemed great to be able to learn and remember the Torah forever, there was a very dangerous aspect to this as well. He understood it would be possible for a person to know the entire Torah by heart and yet be infused with evil. It would have been possible to be a perfect Torah scholar and yet not follow the ways of the Torah.

It is, for this reason, Moshe decided it was better to destroy the 1st luchot entirely and work to create a 2nd set that would be different.  The original luchot were made by Hashem and thus had a potentially everlasting quality. But the 2nd luchot were made by Moshe in a way that could only last if certain conditions were met. We see the Torah describes Moshe creating the 2nd luchot as פסל לך שני לוחות אבנים, meaning Moshe had to make them himself. This is a message to each of us: We have to create our own Torah. We have to make our Torah and write Hashem’s name on it, meaning that learning Torah and accepting the Torah are one; both require accepting to do the mitzvoth unconditionally. In other words, if we do not accept to keep the torah and mitzvoth, then even our learning of the Torah will not last. Unlike the first luchot that had this eternal ability for a person to learn it and remember it forever, even if he didn’t keep the mitzvot, our second luchot require us to do both: learn Torah and accept to do all of the mitzvot as best as we can.

I believe this message is important for all of us. Unfortunately, there are many people who separate the learning of  Torah from the observance of Torah. Moshe Rabeinu is teaching us that learning without doing is not only wrong, but it is better to smash that idea into pieces so we learn the correct Torah outlook of ללמוד ולעשות, learn to do.

Parashat Tetzaveh: Where is Moshe in the Parasha?

The main focus of this week’s parasha is the special priestly garments, the בגדי כהונה. Despite the beautiful descriptions of all of these garments, there are a few questions that come to mind both about this parasha and about the כהונה in general.

Why is this the only parasha in the entire book of Shemot that does not mention the name of Moshe Rabbeinu? Why leave him out specifically of this parasha? Moreover, one might wonder, why wasn’t Moshe appointed to be the Kohen Gadol? Granted that his brother Aharon was a big tsaddik, but wasn’t Moshe the bigger tsaddik?

Rashi in the fourth chapter of Shemot says that Hashem was upset at Moshe for initially turning down His offer to be the leader of the Jewish people. Hashem decided that there would be fall out for Moshe’s initial refusal to lead; he and his descendants would not merit becoming the Kohen Gadol. It is for this reason Moshe did not become the Kohen Gadol and naturally left out of this week’s parasha that focuses on the garments of the Kohen Gadol.

Rav Soloveitchik offers an alternative interpretation. Basing his thoughts on the words on the Vilna Gaon who says that Parashat Tetzave always coincides with the 7th day of Adar, the yahrtzeit of Moshe. In other words, since Moshe went missing from the world this week, he is left missing from the parasha. Rav Soloveitchik suggests that had Moshe agreed to be the leader, he would have become the Kohen Gadol and he and the beit hamikdash would never have been destroyed. He would have brought it to such a level that it could never be destroyed. So in a certain sense Parashat Tetzave which has the choice to choose Aharon as Kohen coincides with the death of Moshe. Moshe’s lack of permanence in the world was established in this parasha and so it is linked with his yahrtzeit.

Rav Chaim Shmulewitz offers a totally different explanation. Moshe not being appointed as Kohen was not a punishment. Even though on some level Moshe lost out by not being Kohen Gadol, on another level he was one with his brother, Aharon; he had a closeness with him that allowed him to feel as if he, too, was actually performing the avoda of the Kohen Gadol. So in actuality, Moshe is represented in this parasha by absentia, but through the mentioning of Aharaon.

Finally, The Sefat Emet offers yet another interpretation. The famous Mishnah in Pirkei Avot says that the world has 3 crowns: Torah, Kehunah, and Malchut. These are each different and unique and attaining each require different attributes. The Kohen is supposed to be נבדל, somewhat separated and removed from the people. He has different clothing, different halachot, etc. This was Aharon. But Moshe represented Torah. He brought Torah to the Jewish people and that requires closeness, not distance. He had to be one with the people, which precluded him from being the Kohen. So it was not that Moshe was punished or lost out. On the contrary, the Torah leader and the Kohen Gadol are two positions that compliment each other.  Moshe representing Torah and Aharon representing Kehuna. Based on this, it is clear why Moshe’s name is specifically not mentioned in Parshat Tetzaveh and why he did not become the Kohen Gadol.

These words of the Sefat Emet are so relevant to each and every one of us. The Jewish world and the world at large has many roles for each of us to fill. Some of us might teachers of Torah, while others teachers of general מדע. Some of us are professionals who support Torah institutions and other chesed activities. Some of us have the luxury to devote our time to volunteer work in the community.  We learn from the partnership of Moshe and Aharon that the world cannot exist with just a few individuals doing the work. We each have to take pride in our role and maximize our part in improving the world around us.

Parashat Terumah: Where does Hashem reside?

ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם (כה:ח) 

“And they shall build for Me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them.”

This week’s Parasha describes the building of the Mishkan, Hashem’s dwelling place in the desert. Much of the remaining portion of the book of Shemot will describe the details of the vessels that were placed in the Mishkan and the special garments that the Kohanim would wear while serving in the Mishkan.

A few questions come to mind about the purpose and function of this dwelling place. Firstly, why does Hashem need a dwelling place, is He not comfortable everywhere else? Moreover, doesn’t placing His presence in this physical dwelling place limit His omnipresent nature? Is His presence really only found here? Isn’t He everywhere?

My friend, Jeff Kirshblum in his book, “Thinking Outside the Box,” points out that many people misunderstand the word Shechinah to be another name for Hashem. This is a mistake; Hashem has many names, but Shechinah is not one of them. Shechinah represents the spiritual force that allows us to feel and be aware that Hashem is present. We might know in our minds that Hashem is everywhere at all times, but do we really feel it? As opposed to the magnanimous occasion of receiving the Torah at Har Sinai, where every Jew felt this holy presence, most of us do not feel that on a daily basis. In fact, after giving the Torah, Hashem removed his Shechinah from the Jewish people and they quickly came to miss His presence. It is for this reason that Hashem told Moshe to build a Mishkan where His presence could reside and the Jews could come anytime to connect to it. So it is not that Hashem Himself resided in or only in the Mishkan, but this was the place where His presence was most palpable. (It is not a coincidence that the word Shechinah and Mishkan come from the same root word, which means dwelling.)

Returning to our first question, Hashem did not need a resting place as He has no physical needs. The pasuk says ויקחו לי תרומה- כה:ב or take for Me an offering. What could we possibly give Hashem? And why does it say “take for me” as opposed to “give me?” The commentators explain that the purpose of these contributions was for our benefit; it was to give us meaning; to give us a cause to connect to. In other words, our giving was really for us to receive and to gain. In fact, the Nesi’im did not understand this at first as they volunteered in earnest to donate everything that was still needed after the Jews brought their donations as if to say there was some shortage for Hashem. Rather, the giving was an opportunity for self-development and connecting to Hashem. The Mishkan was a place for us to come, give of ourselves in an effort to grow from the experience. 

When we read this Parasha, we must remember that our modern day shuls are all מקדשי מעט, smaller versions of the original Mishkan. We must remember these two lessons: we can always come to shul to reconnect to Hashem’s presence, and at the same time we must give and donate to make our shuls beautiful. This is not because Hashem needs it to be beautiful, but it is because we need to feel compelled to give. Through this giving, we can all feel the presence of Hashem in a tangible way and this will hopefully allow us to merit the rebuilding of the original Beit Hamikdash speedily in our days.