From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 2:24 PM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort: parshas Terumah, 5768- corrected version
The Table of Brotherhood
By Rabbi Joshua ( fraternally known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
In honor of my aunt, Mrs. Shirley Shapira,of Lauderhill, Florida, whose 85th
birthday occurs this coming Shabbos.May God grant her many more years in
happiness and good health.
Ramban, in his introduction to parshas Terumah, writes that the mishkan was
meant to be an perpetuation of the Jewish people's experience at Mt.Sinai, when
the Jews experienced the open revelation of the divine presence. In the
mishkan, they would experience God's presence in a more hidden way, but on a
permanent basis. The construction of the mishkan, writes the Ramban, marks the
culmination of the redemption process,with the people reaching the level that
had been raised by their ancestors, in whose tents the divine presence rested.
For this reason, Ramban refers to the book of Shemos as the book of 'galus and
geulah,' 'or exile and redemption.The book of Shemos, then,ends appropriately
in parshas Pekudei with a description of the finalization of this
process, marked by the completion of the construction of the mishkan and
the divine presence dwelling in it. Rav Shaul Yisraeli,zt'l, once noted that
part of the experience at Mt.Sinai that was also transferred over to the
mishkan was the setting of boundaries around the mountain,marking up to which
point each group of people could step,and beyond which they could not
go.So,too,in the mishkan, there were various areas which marked up to which
point a Yisroel could go, up to which point a kohein could go, and, finally,
the kodesh hakadoshim, or holy of holies,which only the kohein gadol could
enter,and only on Yom Kippur. The strict observance of these boundaries was an
essential part of the laws of the mishkan, and overstepping these boundaries
could cause literally grave repercussions.
Interestingly, the observance of boundaries was also a restoration of the
experience of our forefathers in their own tents, especially that of
Avraham.The Talmud tells us that Avraham kept all of the mitzvos before they
were given, including even that of eruv tavshilin. Eruv tavshilin is a rabbinic
enactment by which one is able, on a Yom Tov which is followed immediately by
Shabbos, to prepare food on Yom Tov for Shabbos, even though such preparation
is, on a Biblical level, forbidden. One of the reasons given in the Talmud for
this enactment is so that people will make sure to have food available both for
Yom Tov and for Shabbos. Rav Kook explains that when the rabbis said that
Avraham even kept eruv tavshilin, they meant to say that Avraham was able to
differentiate between different levels of holiness, just as the eruv tavshilin
enables us to distinguish between the holiness of Yom Tov and the holiness of
Shabbos. This distinction between different levels of holiness was carried over
into the mishkan, as well, as we shall see.
The Torah commanded that we make a paroches, or veil, and hang it
in the mishkan between the kodesh kodashim, the holiest place in the
mishkan, and the kodesh, the area outside the kodesh kodashim, which had a
lesser level of holiness. As the Torah states,"...and the paroches shall
separate between he Holy and the Holy of Holies" ( Shemos,26: 33).
Rav Dovid Avudraham, in his commentary to the siddur, writes
that the text of the beracha we recite in the havdalah we make on
Saturday night when Yom Tov occurs then, is "hamavdi bein kodesh
lekodesh, " meaning, " Who separates between
holy and holy, " is based on this passage in our parsha. He explains
that just as the paroches distinguished between the holiness of the kodesh
kodashim and that of the rest of the kodesh, so too does havdalah
distinguish between the holiness of Shabbos and the holiness of Yom Tov.
Thus, the sensitivity displayed by Avraham in distinguishing between different
levels of holiness was carried over into the mishkan, as well.
Given the Torah's emphasis on the distinction between different levels of
holiness in the mishkan, it is all the more remarkable that three times a year
these distinctions were blurred. During most of the year, the rabbis enacted
the institution of 'tumas am ha-aretz,'or impurity transmitted by a person who
has the status of am- ha'aretz.This term,as used today, refers to an unlearned
person, but in Talmudic times referred to someone who was lax in his mitzvah
observance due tohis lack of learning. during the three festivals of Pesach,
Shavuos and Sukkos this prohibition was lifted and the kohanim who had
the status of am ha-aretz were permitted into the area of the mishkan where the
menorah, shulchan and mizbeach were kept. The Talmud Yerushalmi in
Chagigah explains that this was done in order to promote brother hood among the
Jews who came to Jerusalem for these festivals. After the festivals,
however, the utensils kept there were immersed in a mikvah to purify them from
the touch of the am ha-aretz,which was retroactively deemed as causing
defilement. Since there were duplicate and triplicate copies of most of the
utensils, this did not pose a problem in terms of the continued functioning of
the Temple. However, in terms of the shulchan, or table upon which the lechem
hapanim, of 'showbread,'was placed, no duplicate copy was made, because
it needed to remain in place constantly,as the Talmud derives from a verse in
out parsha. Therefore,the kohanom of am ha-aretz status were warned not to
touch the table so as not to defile it,since rectifying such an occurrence
would be very complicated.We need to understand,however, why it was so
important to allow the amei ha-aretz to get close enough to the shulchan to
generate such a problem. Couldn't the lesson of brotherhood have been conveyed
without allowing them to come so close?
Rabbi Mordechai Elon,in his work Mikdash Mordechai, notes that the
Talmud a the end of Chagigah ( 26b) tells us that the shulchan was
lifted up, during the three festivals, and shown to the people to indicate how
beloved they were by God, in that the show bread was as fresh over a week after
it was placed there as it was on the first day. Rabbi Elon writes that an
additional lesson for displaying the table to the people was to
inculcate within them the need to share of their table with others, just as God
provides them with their own sustenance. The idea expressed here, it seems, is
that while the nation was reminded during the three festivals, of its
inherent brotherhood, despite the distinctions that exist between its
various components, it must also be taught that because of
this brotherhood each one should look out for the needs of
the other.. This message was inculcated in them three times a year when they
came to the Temple to bring sacrifices to God. The message they needed to take
home with them was that they must share the bounty that God granted them with
their brothers among the nation, because, no matter who else they are,
they are all,ultimately,part of the same family. This message is brought
out beautifully by the Rambam in his Hilchos Matnos Aniyim, or Laws of Gifts to
the Poor ( 10:2),in which he writes that all Jews and those who attach
themselves to them ( converts) are brothers,as it says," You are
children to the Lord your God." ( Devarim, 14:1),and if a brother does not
have mercy on his brother,who will? ... Their eyes arenot fixed
only on anyone but their brethren." It is this message of brotherhood
and mutual responsibility that the public display of the menorah was meant
to teach the pilgrims to the Temple.
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