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Vayakhel and the Tabernacle of the Heart

February 24, 2011 By punktorah

At the beginning of this portion this week, Vayakhel, Moses reiterates the commandment to observe Shabbat, and then goes on to explain, in more excruciating detail, the construction of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, that is to be Hashem’s dwelling place with the Israelites as they travel. The question in this portion is what, in all of these details regarding the kind of blue, purple and red dyed wool, goat hair, animal skins, gold, silver, and copper, what can we learn from this, this craziness?

This is the questions I asked myself:
What does this have to do with me?

At the beginning of the portion, Moses asks the Israelites to donate these rich and precious materials to build G_d’s house, His Tabernacle, and to work to build the Sanctuary.
And what do the Jews do?
They give.
And give.
And give some more.
The Torah says:
“Every man and woman whose heart motivated them to bring for any of the work that Hashem had commanded to make, through Moses – the Children of Israel brought a free-willed offering to Hashem.”
They came and gave freely. Not only did they give, they worked, they sewed and built and labored.
In fact, they gave so much of their possessions and of themselves that Moses had to say, “Man and woman shall not do more work toward the gift for the Sanctuary”!
Moses told them to stop!

The building of the tabernacle raised another question in studying this portion: what is the Mishkan that we should be building today? One answer is the tabernacle of our hearts. And more than this, we are told that all who desired came to build, together, to build the Mishkan. Can you imagine that? This saying that not only are we to build the sanctuaries of our own hearts, our own spaces for Hashem to dwell within us, more importantly we are called to help build up the sanctuaries of others, to empower them to a higher connection with G-d.

What can we take away from this?
We are called to give, not as charity and not just money. Jews are called to give tzedakah, which means “righteousness” or “justice”. We are called to do right with ourselves and our resources. We are called to work not only for our own personal spiritual benefit, but for those in the world with us as well.

So give. Give of your time, your money, your selves. Give until Moses himself says “No more!”.

But more than that, give of your skills, your love, your soul, and help your fellow human beings dedicate the tabernacle of their hearts to the unity and Oneness that is the reality of G-d.

(Thanks to everyone at Torah Together on Monday nights at OneShul.org for the help!)

Filed Under: Your Questions Answered Tagged With: bible, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, D'var Torah, darshan yeshiva, exodus, heart, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, tabernacle, temple, torah portion, vayakhel

Parshah Terumah: Tents and Tents-Ability

February 3, 2011 By punktorah

(Subscribe to R. Michael’s weekly D’var Torah at OneShul’s IndieYeshiva by clicking here)

In this week’s Torah portion, Hashem tells us all about the construction of the Sanctuary, how big each piece of acacia wood needs to be, what kind of cloth to make the tents and curtains out of, even how many boards to use when making the Sanctuary walls! (It’s 48, by the way.)

What we are seeing this week is G-d specifically communicating how to make a space in which to dwell, how to create a holy place to house G-d’s presence among us.

There are a few other things that stand out this week as well.

The people of Israel are called to bring offerings to help build the Sanctuary. Notice though, that they aren’t commanded to bring offerings, but Hashem says “from every person whose heart inspires him to generosity”. We are shown that the only way we can build a space for G-d to dwell among us is if we give freely and generously to make this space complete. It has to happen through our free will. G-d doesn’t just magically appear in our lives, we have to give to make it happen. And not only give, but work! Throughout the portion G-d tells us over and over, very specifically and repeating instructions many times, exactly how to build what is needed for Hashem’s presence to be amidst us. This tells us that not only to we have to give, but we have to work, and work hard. Anything that is worth doing is worth doing right. And G-d tells us so. Does Hashem really need a tent made of goat skins or gold covered acacia wood poles? Probably not. But we are called to give generously of our time, our sweat, and our prized possessions, in order to create a space of holiness in the world.

Another point is the constant demonstration that happens through the textile arts. Hashem says to make numerous multicolored curtains, and to connect them with each other with loops and clasps, so that, as the Torah says, “the Mishkan will be one”. Only through the presence of Hashem can the many become one, echad. This miracle of unity is only available through the power of Hashem’s presence.

Most strikingly, however, is the fact that this sanctuary that is being built is portable. The Israelites were to keep G-d’s presence with them wherever they went. G-d travels with us. G-d has brought us out of Mitzrayim, the narrow places, and reminds us that as long as we create that space, G-d will be with us.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud), Your Questions Answered Tagged With: bible, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, d'var, darshan yeshiva, mishkan, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, portion, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, sanctuary, tents, Terumah, Torah

God Doesn’t Care If You Wear A Black Hat

January 3, 2011 By punktorah

By Heshy Fried (Originally Posted Here)

The RaHaF ZT”L in his sefer nefesh hahesh brings down a story of a man who left his body and went to the beis din sehl mala where he spoke to God about gaining entry into Olam Habah:

I saw a long table that was catered by someone I would have never eaten by in my physical body, it was laid out for all to see and everyone was standing around scratching their heads wondering how a triangle-K caterer got this gig when he came up to the heavens.

God sat at the end of the table eating herring and kichel, talking in Torah to some of the clean shaven folks with knitted yarmulkes, can you imagine that? Imagine the pain I felt when I had to step onto end endless line, let me tell you, this was worse than any DMV you’ve ever been to, there was no information desk. There was only an infinitely long line of black hats stretching for eons, angels poured us drinks, but we noticed that they didn’t have four hechsherim on them so no one took any – the angels looked pleased with this result.

Then I noticed this really quick moving line of people, they all looked different, sure there were some black hat wearers on it, but I saw kippah srugas, women and even a few folks not wearing yarmulkes, I even saw a woman wearing pants and not covering her hair. Our line had no women on it, I assumed because we were the most frum of everyone, I assumed that ours was separate because we were most frum, I assumed it was moving by so slowly because we all had so many mitzvos that it took forever to weigh the scales, watch the video of our lives and receive the obvious entry into gan eden, but this is not what happened.

It seemed like forever, but I finally got my turn, I noticed that the guy before me looked a little shocked, he adjusted his hat, brim down this time and walked solemnly along to his destiny – I wondered if all those stories about us sitting in the bleachers while we watched the gedolim learning in the heavenly beis medrish were true, I really hoped I got a good seat.

God didn’t speak to me, he had a mediator and it wasn’t really a he, someone may say it could have been a she. I asked the mediator if she thought was tznius that I was talking to God via a woman, how they could allow women into such a holy place. God laughed and everything shook, he made the mediator disappear, I heard nods of approval coming from the line behind me, my black hat brethren knew it was untznius – was it true that God gave us yetzer harah’s even in the heavens.

“Why are you shaking like that?” God roared…”do you think shuckeling is something that is appropriate to do when standing in front of a king?”

I had no idea what to say, I honestly thought the faster and more violent you shook during prayer, the better it was, I had seen the other holy people doing it. “I see here in the ledger that you were kind to your in laws” Very important to be kind to those you hate, but what about all of the goyim and non-black hat Jews you disparaged at the shabbos table? “You could have told divrei torah instead”

I tried to speak, but he wouldn’t let me, I felt like Pharaoh having his heart hardened. I wanted to ask him about speaking against those who were evil, the goyim who didn’t keep the shiva mitzvos, the Jews who didn’t keep shabbos, but my mouth was froze as God roared at me again. “You stole, cheated and lied – you cared more about what your fellow man thought than I and for that I sentence you to the mandatory 11 months at the all you can eat Kiddush with long arms tied to the wall”

Unfortunately the sefer hanefesh of the RaHaF was lost, so most people continued to wear black hats regardless of the fact that God didn’t care and besides the RaHaF also known as Rav Heshy Fried Shlita wrote his sefer hanefesh at a time when black hats were worn by the goyim as well, so they may have been a fashion statement rather than the halacha l’maissa they have become today.

Filed Under: Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Rants Tagged With: bible, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, Counterculture, darshan yeshiva, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, online conversion, orthodox, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Religion, Torah

Reclaim The Name: A Statement of Revolutionary Judaism

December 23, 2010 By punktorah

This is a brief statement of revolutionary Judaism. In it we try to address some of the possible failings and potential answers to issues plaguing Judaism today. It is not an official statement of belief, but it is close. It is more like a letter written by two people who love Judaism, love their fellow Jews, and want to make the future a better place for all of us.

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Rants Tagged With: bible, conservative, convert, Counterculture, D'var Torah, emergent judaism, ger, hashem, Israel, jew, Jewish, Judaism, manifesto, mitzvah, mitzvot, orthodox, Punk, punktorah, rebel, reclaim the name, Reclaim The Name: A Statement of Revolutionary Judaism, reform, Religion, revolutionary judaism, statement, Torah

Parshat Sh’mot Slideshow Extravaganza!

December 22, 2010 By punktorah

A little something different this week. Enjoy!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3P9Bu-tkyk

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud), Podcasts & Videos, Your Questions Answered Tagged With: bible, christianity, exodus, gay, gay judaism, islam, Jewish, Judaism, lesbian, Moses, Parsha, parshah, parshat, prophet, punktorah, queer, Religion, Sh'mot, shemot, shul, synagogue, tattoo, Torah, transgender

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