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Parshat Tazria
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
ובמלאת ימי טהרה... תביא כבש... אל פתח אהל מועד
"Blessed are You HaShem our God King of the Universe Who has enlivened us, sustained us, and brought us to this time."
The Shehiyanu blessing is coined by our Sages as the 'blessing of time', since it is said on special exciting occasions that occur from time to time and not regularly. Although this blessing is of Rabbinic origin, there are numbers of mitzot which seem to highlight the obligation of expressing gratitude at hallmarks of time.
One of these mitzvot seems to be the commandment upon a woman who gives birth to bring an offering at the culmination of her purification process after the birth. According to the Sefer Hahinuch this mitzvah highlights the obligation to express gratitude for the miracle of the birthing process. Another law that seems to express the excitement at a certain period of time in the Temple is the law that bids Israelites to enter the 'Cohanic Section', just before the Sacrificial Altar, only at the time they are actually offering or slaughtering an offering. At such a special time of closeness to HaShem through this offering, an Israelite is allowed to take a number of steps closer towards the Holy of Holies, Shrine of the Holy Presence. This is the fourth level of holiness in the Temple, in continuation of our study in the book of Vayikra of the 10 holy allocations associated with the Temple.
In a similar, yet different way, we find that there were certain places in the Land of Israel where individuals chose to sanctify for a limited amount of time in order to offer sacrifices, before the Bait HaMikdash in Jerusalem was built, which allowed for extraneous altars to be permitted for sacrifice. One fascinating example of this is Avshalom's (David's son) offering at the altar in Hebron. Commentators explain that Avshalom chose Hebron to bring his offering, for he saw Hebron as being ominous for the success of monarchy, just as his father David began his reign in Hebron. In the past we have shown that essentially Hebron does have such a special status of sovereignty and rule, as can be rooted back even to Avraham's stronghold of courage in saving Lot, the forerunner of Moav and the Davidic regal line.
Although Hebron does play a crucial role in the spiritual and sovereign development of the Land of Israel, it is not meant to detract the lofty level of Jerusalem but rather to enhance and lead up to it. David's initial rule in Hebron was ordained by God and provided a springboard towards Jerusalem. However, Avshalom's improper rebellion in Hebron was meant to sever the people away from his father David's power in Jerusalem, and thus ended bitterly.
Once the Temple in Jerusalem was built all such 'extraneous altars' in Hebron or any place on earth became obsolete forever, which explains why our People, and all Mankind, are so much of need of the Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem today to shine its spiritual light, emanating from the light of Hebron, as was announced at dawn in the Temple - "the whole east is alight till Hebron" (Yoma ch. 3).
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #164
"One night, I suddenly had many thoughts on a place I had worked at about a year and a half before. Several hours later in the morning, I "happened" to meet my previous boss, who subsequently took the initiative to ask me if I would like to return to my previous position from a year and a half ago..." (A.I)
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Parshat Shemini / Para
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
ראשיכם אל תפרעו
May You HaShem 'bestow upon us beauty in place of ashes' (Isaiah 61).
This quote from Isaiah indicates the turning of mourning for the absence of the Bais HaMikdash, 'ashes - epher', into the joy of its re-building, 'beauty - pe'er (the same letters as 'efer'). Our Sages remark that Jerusalem, synonymous with the Bait HaMikdash, was the most beautiful city of the world (Kidushin 49b).
In Jewish sources, the term for beauty, 'pe'er' or 'tiferet' indicates a state of completeness, in which different or perhaps even opposing facets, work together in a harmonious whole called in Judaism 'beauty' or 'tiferet'. Hence, commentators point to Rambam's famous 'middle-path' method of personal perfection (Deot ch. 1) as being derived from Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi's teaching in Avot (ch. 2): 'which path should a man chose? One that is beautiful (tiferet) for him and beautiful (tiferet) before other people.' Based on this concept we can understand why 'beauty' takes such a dominant role in the Bais HaMikdash in the laws that allow only un-blemished priests and animals to take part of the Service. Although, generally speaking, a physical blemish is seen by our Sages as a spring-board of potential for spiritual perfection through humility, nevertheless, in regard to the Bais HaMikdash there is importance according to the Torah that the Temple's internal attribute of beauty be manifest also in the physical state of those who act in its Service.
This explanation follows perfectly with the Torah's term for un-blemished animals 'tamim', which also means 'complete.' Similarly, Torah mandates, as seen in our title quote, that the priests in service may not overgrow their hair, which can also be explained as maintaining the beauty of the Temple. In Torah perspective, properly cut head (not beard) hair is considered beautiful as we see in the laws of Kings: "the king cuts his hair every day... as its says 'a king in his beauty shall your eyes behold' (Isaiah 33, 17)" (Rambam Mlachim 2, 5). The location in the Temple where the priests must obey these 'standards of beauty' (i.e being un-blemished, haircut) takes us to the third highest holy level of location in the Temple, between the Hall of the Sanctuary (Ulam) and the Altar of Sacrifice.
The terms of 'tamim' and 'tiferet' as explained above come together perfectly in the figure of Yakov our father. Yakov is the Father singled out for his exceptional beauty (Bava Metzia 87a) and is also referred to 'Ish Tam' from the same verb root as 'tamim'. Indeed, our Sages teach that Yakov is the archetype of the 'middle-path' of harmonious beauty, which we mentioned before. Therefore, all these concepts come together so beautifully in Yakov's burial place, Hebron, which itself means harmonious 'unity' (hibur) and unites the different tribes and facets of our People to their common roots, our holy Patriarchs.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #163
"For about 10 years we had been using a halla-cover, a wedding-gift, embroidered with my and my wife's names and the name of the giver of this gift. One day, we heard of the passing of the giver of this gift, so I went to comfort the giver's son at his home, who turned out to be my neighbor (this I never knew before). When I showed the giver's son the halla-cover, he recognized it and said that he had embroidered it himself before our wedding..." (M.G)
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Parshat Vayikra
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
וידבר אליו ה' מאהל מועד לאמר
"And build Jerusalem speedily in our days...”
The request for the building of the Temple in Jerusalem is constantly in our prayers, forever permeating within our hearts, growing from the roots of history, from the spirit of the Mishkan. The internal 'spirit' of the Mishkan is none other than the spirit of the Holy Presence itself, which talked to Moshe Rabeinu from 'between the two cherubs' of the ark in the Mishkan, as is understood from our title quote.
In continuation of 'probing' different places in the Land of Israel this year we shall take Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as our next 'project' of study. In the past we have described Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as the 'brain' of the Land of Israel and Hebron as the 'heart' of the Land of Israel. Just as the brain is fed by the blood channels stemming from the heart, so too Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are 'fed' by the spirit of Hebron. Also, the brain has far-reaching effects on the entire body, as each part of the brain governs different facets of the body through the the neurological system. Similarly, each section, facet, and law of the Temple hints to facets and locations of the Holy Land.
In the book of Vayikra, the book of holiness and the Holy Temple, which is comprised of 10 parshios, we shall study the 10 levels of holiness attributed to the holiness of Jerusalem found in the Mishna of Kelim (ch. 1), studying a different level of holiness in each parsha.
The highest level of holiness is the Holy of Holies, where even the High Priest may only enter once a year on Yom Kippur. This entrance into the Holy of Holies, which occurs four times on Yom Kippur may remind us of the name Kiryat Arba, which can mean a 'coming close' (kirya - a city where the inhabitants are 'karov' - close to each other) 'of four' - that is the High Priest 'comes close' to the Holy of Holies 'four times'. Also the name Hebron, which means unity, hints to the two united cherubs in the Holy of Holies, from between the Holy Presence rests and from which HaShem spoke to Moshe. It is therefore not surprising, why, specifically in the tractate that teaches us about the Yom Kippur Service do we learn that the priests had the custom of asking, 'did the dawn reach Hebron', for it is through this spirit of Hebron that the High Priest can enter the Holy of Holies, as the Zohar points out from the word 'with this he shall enter'.
The Zohar says that 'this' refers to the Holy Presence coined 'zot'. The word 'zot' is also used in context of the Torah as it says, 'vezot haTorah asher sam Moshe'. Fascinatingly, the numerical value of 'zot' equals the numerical value of 'Het' (the Canaanite tribe which sold Maaras HaMachpela to Avraham), which are enigmatically tied to the ten commandments in the Midrash. The Midrash states that the ten times the word 'Het' is mentioned in the portion of the sale of the Machpela to Avraham correspond to the 10 commandments. Interestingly, 'het' can also stand for the letter het, whose numerical value is 8, standing for the 8 people buried at Maaras HaMachpela - 'the 4 couples' hinted to in the name Kiryat Arba. Based on our previous understanding, we can ascertain that this Cannanite tribe basically acted as concealment upon the true spiritual potential of this location, which is deeply tied to the Holy Presence that rests with the Torah, both called 'zot'. These concepts all come together in the ark within which lie the Torah portion of the ten commandments and where the Holy Presence rests.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #161
"While writing the lines in this dvar Torah about the numerical value of 'zot', suddenly one of my friends started talking exactly on the topic of the numerical value of 'zot' (he does not read any of my divrei Torah in English)." M.G
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Parshat Tzav
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
וזאת תורת המנחה
"We are hereby prepared to pray the Minha prayer that Yitzhak our Holy Forefather enacted... May the Pleasantness of God be upon us..."
The common word for the afternoon Service is 'Minha' which means and has some correlation to the meal offering in the Temple, also called 'minha'. Although the main source for this afternoon service is derived from Yitzhak's prayer in the field and animal sacrifice of the afternoon in the Temple, we may fairly say that this 'service of Yitzhak in the field' deeply corresponds to the meal offering derived from wheat which grows from the field (in contrast to animal sacrifice which does not grow from the earth). The Zohar (II, 39b) identifies this 'field of Yitzkak' to be the 'Field of Machpela', where Yitzhak saw the Holy Presence and specified this location for his prayers. The 'bottom up'/'growing' approach of this wheat for the meal-offering is actually very close to the type of spiritual work identified with Hebron, which emphasizes the human spiritual work from below to rise up to the spiritual Divine lights bestowed from 'above to below' in Jerusalem.
In continuation of our study in the book of Vayikra on the 10 levels of holy location stemming from Jerusalem we shall study the next location of highest sanctity after the Holy of Holies, the Heichal. This location is the enclosed chamber of the Bais HaMikdash which includes the Shulhan - Table, the Menora, and the Altar of Incense. The Mishna Kelim states that the sanctity of this site is expressed by the prohibition on even a Kohen to enter this chamber without first washing his hands and feet. We find the concept of washing the hands (and feet) in our daily practiced halachic observance in washing our hands in the morning, for bread, etc. in order to remove 'impurity/uncleanliness'. In addition, according to the Arizal it is befitting to wash one's feet on Fridays to remove the spiritual uncleanliness on one's feet in honor of Shabbos. In other words we may infer that washing the hands and feet, both in our observance and in the Temple to enter the Heichal, means removing negative spiritual energy from these extremities of the body (distant from the 'main-body-spiritual-source') which are more susceptible to this negative energy. The subduing and removal of this negative energy can be linked to some of the deeper meanings of the Shulhan, the first vessel mentioned in the Torah to be contained in this Heichal.
In Tehilim, David pleads 'set a table before me before my foes'. This means that the table is also associated with the subduing of evil. Indeed, the numerical value of 'heichal' is the same as God's Name 'Adonai', which describes God's Majestic attribute of justice which subdues evil. Here too we find the spirit of Hebron, the cradle of Israel's Davidic monarchy, meant to pursue justice and destroy all evil.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #162
"Once I was not feeling well where I was sitting, so I stood up from my seat. Just then, the lamp above the seat collapsed, fell, and shattered right on the seat where I had been sitting a moment before..." R.G
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Parshat Pekudei
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
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Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
????? ?' ??? ?? ?????
"Awaken, awaken! For Your light has come; arise, shine! Awaken, awaken, sing a song; the Honor of HaShem is revealed upon You!" (Lecha Dodi)
The 'Honor of HaShem', referred to in 'Lecha Dodi' in greeting the Shabbos Queen and in our title quote, refers to the Holy Presence in regard to the realm of time. In parallel, the ultimate resting place of the Holy Presence in the realm of location, as is well-known, is the Temple in Jerusalem. This Temple, as we have shown for the past several issues, came after a gradual process of 'seeking' the Holy Presence in various cities in the Holy Land, culminating with a period of 50 years in Givon before Jerusalem. The number 50 reminds us of the Jubilee cycle, and indeed it seems that the concept of the 'Jubilee' is very dominant in understanding the status of the Temple. Just as the Jubilee year involves laws which raise the Land to 'supernatural' levels, such as 'the Land is God's', calling for the return of all lands in the Holy Land to their previous owners, so too the Temple represents the supernatural sanctity of a certain part of the Holy Land raised above all others lands.
To be more exact we may say that this concept of 50 may be divided into the 48 levels leading up to the 50th level, the 49thlevel which represents Jerusalem, and the 50th level which represents the Temple itself. Interestingly, the numerical value of 'Yovel', Jubilee, is 48. These 48 levels can correspond to the 48 days from the Exodus before the 'three days of separation' before the giving of the Torah on the 50th day, Shavuous. Also, we find that the Torah enumerates 48 holy cities of the Holy Land set aside to be either Levite cities (42) or Refuge Cities (6) such as Hebron. We see the number 48 again in context of the period of time it took from the Exodus to reach the Temple in multiples of ten, 480 years (Kings I 6, 1). Also, the period of time it took from the building of the First Temple to the Second Temple is also exactly 480 years (410 First Temple + 70 Babylonian Exile).
Although there is very much to discuss about the Temple in Jerusalem we should make mention of the Temples' parallels to the Patriarchs of Hebron who instituted the service of HaShem at the Temple Mount. Thus, Rabbis assert that the First Temple corresponds to Avraham, and the second to Yitzhak, both of which had offspring that left the path of Judaism, indicating that these Temples will be destroyed. Here we should also mention that, although the First and Second Temple were obligated to be at the same location (also the Third Temple), they had five fundamental differences that existed in the First Temple but not in the Second: the Ark, the Divine fire, the Holy Presence, Divine inspiration (Ruah Hakodesh), and the Urim Vetumim (a divine manuscript which gives the Priest's breastplate prophetic power). It is clear that these differences point to a lack of the level of Divine spirituality in the Second Temple in comparison to the First Temple. Nevertheless, the Prophet Hagai (2, 9) says that that the Second Temple is 'greater' than the first, and commentators explain that the Second Temple had greater physical grandeur and lasted more years than the First. These differences highlight the inherent advantages of the Patriarchs Avraham and Yitzhak one over the other.
This said, our hope and wish is for the Third Temple which corresponds to the Patriarch Yakov considered to unite the characteristics of both Avraham and Yitzhak together, so that the Third Temple will stand in the harmony of both spiritual and physical supremacy, forever.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #160
"One day, I was told that there was a problem with a key to a certain hall that I was given permission to use by the landlord, so I decided to call this landlord to find a solution/fix the key. However, before I was able to call him, he 'happened' to give me a ride in his car for the first time in about three months, allowing me to talk to him face to face..." M.I
Sources: Likutei Halachot Mincha, 7
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