There's a wonderful new saying flying around the Torah world these days. It's transpiring behind all the fanfare of political posturing and slick advertising that characterizes so much of Western society, certainly within the American election year. It occurs far beyond the intellectual power struggles driving the typical Yeshiva scene; far beyond the subtle self-pity and illusions of grandeur that storm within so many praying hearts.
Aye, it's a saying with no known origin. It simply happened, sometime over the last few weeks as far as I know, tossed ever so humbly off the tongue of one Jew, slipping straight into the heart of another, singing its truth with such affectionate jubilance that you can be sure it's coming straight from Heaven. It came to me something like this:
"Shoilem. How're you?"
"Baruch HaSh-m {thank G-d}, doing well. And by you?"
"Couldn't be better!"
"Really."
"You didn't hear? {The Jewish month of} ADAR's here!"
"Ah, that's right. Thanks for reminding. 'When Adar enters, joy increases' {as per the Talmudic dictum}. And this year we get TWO of 'em {due to the leap year}."
"Hodu L'HaSh-m ki tov {praise G-d}…….
Y'hear the latest about two Adars (breaks out with bright smile)?"
"No (I smile back in contagious response), let's hear."
"Well, two months add up to 60 days. And the Halacha {Jewish Law} says, batul b'shishim {non-kosher food falling into kosher is 'nullified in %60' of the mixture}, so too it must be that this year atzvus {sadness} is batul b'Adar!!"
"Pshhhhhhh........."
Cute, right. But it really goes deep. When there's a leap year, the mystical period known as Sh.o.v.av.y.m. {after the first 6 weekly Torah portions read in the Book of Exodus} extends two more weeks, now known as Shovavym-Ta'T. The addition is in reference to the next two portions, Truma and Tetzaveh (Ex. 25-30:10). These particular Scriptural readings introduce the construction of the Tabernacle, the Mishkan, which is the desert model of the Holy Temple, the Mikdash. When we begin to understand a little something of the meaning of what our secular brethren often derisively refer to as the "Temple cult" aspect of Torah life, we begin to experience the power of serving G-d with joy.
So let us ask: How in the world are these readings about the Mishkan-Mikdash relevant to us who live in the age of learn-from-everyone-and-everything-at-the-push-of-a-button Virtual Enlightenment? To review humanity's classic narrative about how a meek people miraculously climbed their way out of an excruciatingly oppressive exile is one thing. We ALL have personal exiles about which we need liberation. But re-reading the details of how that weird structure for animal sacrifice and incense was constructed?? All that jabber about beams and curtains and hooks and cherubs and a dye of this color and a dye for that, and and and.
"No (I smile back in contagious response), let's hear."
"Well, two months add up to 60 days. And the Halacha {Jewish Law} says, batul b'shishim {non-kosher food falling into kosher is 'nullified in %60' of the mixture}, so too it must be that this year atzvus {sadness} is batul b'Adar!!"
"Pshhhhhhh........."
Cute, right. But it really goes deep. When there's a leap year, the mystical period known as Sh.o.v.av.y.m. {after the first 6 weekly Torah portions read in the Book of Exodus} extends two more weeks, now known as Shovavym-Ta'T. The addition is in reference to the next two portions, Truma and Tetzaveh (Ex. 25-30:10). These particular Scriptural readings introduce the construction of the Tabernacle, the Mishkan, which is the desert model of the Holy Temple, the Mikdash. When we begin to understand a little something of the meaning of what our secular brethren often derisively refer to as the "Temple cult" aspect of Torah life, we begin to experience the power of serving G-d with joy.
So let us ask: How in the world are these readings about the Mishkan-Mikdash relevant to us who live in the age of learn-from-everyone-and-everything-at-the-push-of-a-button Virtual Enlightenment? To review humanity's classic narrative about how a meek people miraculously climbed their way out of an excruciatingly oppressive exile is one thing. We ALL have personal exiles about which we need liberation. But re-reading the details of how that weird structure for animal sacrifice and incense was constructed?? All that jabber about beams and curtains and hooks and cherubs and a dye of this color and a dye for that, and and and.
Isn't this a little anti-climax?!
The opposite. These parshas of ta't are THE time for applying what we've done (or hoped to do) during Shovavym. It's the time to translate all the incredible gratitude we feel about our personal Exoduses into building a HOME for our Maker. That means sanctifying our physicality, explains the Nesivos Shalom, which includes sacrificing the exilic mentality that is fixated on immediate gratification and sensational thrill. It means re-dedicating ourselves (a concept related to the root of Mikdash) to giving UP our entire beings.
"Make for Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell among them" states the famous verse in parshas Truma (Ex. 25:8). The Sages explain that we might have thought it should say among IT (the Tabernacle). But the Holy Torah is precise: Among THEM means each and every person involved in the construction. You build it, His Presence will animate YOU!
That's called "un-believing."
Believing in G-d is about receiving from Him; depending on His grace. He comes, dispenses blessings, and goes. But becoming an unbelievable Jew is about giving back. About blessing G-d. As virtually every Jewish prayer begins: "Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d."
The opposite. These parshas of ta't are THE time for applying what we've done (or hoped to do) during Shovavym. It's the time to translate all the incredible gratitude we feel about our personal Exoduses into building a HOME for our Maker. That means sanctifying our physicality, explains the Nesivos Shalom, which includes sacrificing the exilic mentality that is fixated on immediate gratification and sensational thrill. It means re-dedicating ourselves (a concept related to the root of Mikdash) to giving UP our entire beings.
"Make for Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell among them" states the famous verse in parshas Truma (Ex. 25:8). The Sages explain that we might have thought it should say among IT (the Tabernacle). But the Holy Torah is precise: Among THEM means each and every person involved in the construction. You build it, His Presence will animate YOU!
That's called "un-believing."
Believing in G-d is about receiving from Him; depending on His grace. He comes, dispenses blessings, and goes. But becoming an unbelievable Jew is about giving back. About blessing G-d. As virtually every Jewish prayer begins: "Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d."
When we do that, sincerely, all sadness evaporates.
ALL sadness.
Try it. Never fails. Giving back to your Creator means closing Eternity's circuit, about which a healthy soul feels no greater joy.
Especially when assisted by the parshas of Sh.O.V.aV.Y.M.-T.aT. and double Adars.
ALL sadness.
Try it. Never fails. Giving back to your Creator means closing Eternity's circuit, about which a healthy soul feels no greater joy.
Especially when assisted by the parshas of Sh.O.V.aV.Y.M.-T.aT. and double Adars.
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