This Shabbos we discussed the
parsha, Terumah, in which Moses is given detailed instructions in which to
construct a dwelling place for Hashem.
We discussed the order of the Parsha, and how the details come first,
and then the objective, which is to create this dwelling place. We talked about how normally, giving people
the overall objective first, helps motivate them in carrying out the details,
but in this case we had achieved such a high level of spirituality, we would be
highly willing to carry out this project.
This lead to an interesting discussion of how in the Israeli army
it is a strategy to make sure all the soldiers are aware of the overall
objectives, rather than just giving out orders to them.
We discussed some of the specifics
with respect to the design of this dwelling place. We talked about how the cherubim would face
each other, to reflect when we are in alignment with Hashem’s will for us, and
how the cherubim would face away from each other, to reflect when we are not
in alignment. Ultimately the cherubim were
placed so that they were at angles, which represents that we are somewhat
aligned with Hashem’s will, but there is room for improvement.
We discussed the fact that we have
challenges, to do things like overcome temptation, and whether or not that is
better than to not have any challenges or temptations at all. Would it be good if we never had
temptation? One of the points that was
brought up is that we get a feeling of accomplishment when there are
challenges, which we would not get otherwise.
Another point is that challenges and overcoming temptation help us grow
spiritually, by bringing us closer to Hashem.
One of the interesting discussions we had was whether it was more
desirable to have always eaten kosher food, vs. having to wrestle with the
challenge of giving up non-kosher food.
David talked about how his father,
Rabbi Dr. George Schlesinger, would say that everyone has challenges with
non-kosher food, as even those who have grown up keeping kosher have to wrestle
with curiosity of what non-kosher food is like.
Hashem created a world in which we have to undergo a certain level of “pain”
in order to “gain”, whether that gain is physical, at the gym, or spiritual. Those
who have grown to the point where resisting non-kosher food is no longer a
great challenge, can find other ways to grow spiritually, whether it is dealing
with a different type of temptation, like curiosity, or in some other way.
Finally, we discussed our calendar. Generally, a month is one lunar cycle. In ancient times, witnesses would notice a
new moon, at which time they would testify to this, and the court would rule
that a new month had begun. The length
of time for a month involves fractional days, so that sometimes a month is 29
days, and sometimes it is 30. Normally,
adding up all the months results in a year that is less than the number of days
in a solar year, so that every few years an extra month is inserted. We call this month, Adar II. Without Adar II a year would have around 350
days, and with Adar II the year has around 380 days. Some of the months may not always have the
same number of days. We may adjust the
lengths of these months so that holidays do not occur on certain days.
This is a summary of what we discussed this past Shabbos. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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