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Terumah: Biblical Heresy · A Thought for the Week

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to a Thought for the Week, a Torah in
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  Speaker 1: Motion podcast. I'm Jake Hellman, founding director of Torah in Motion,
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  Speaker 1: and it's a pleasure to have you here with us.
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  Speaker 1: The opening message of the Torah, i would argue, is
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  Speaker 1: the idea that man is created in the image of God.
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  Speaker 1: That is surely the most radical message of the Torah.
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  Speaker 1: The you know, we hear it so often we don't
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  Speaker 1: think about how radical it is that every single person
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  Speaker 1: you meet is part God is divine. It sounds heretical,
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  Speaker 1: and maybe it is to some extent, and to use
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  Speaker 1: an expression the Tunnel uses when you have these things
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  Speaker 1: that are like heretical sounding ill Milayi Krakatoub. If not
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  Speaker 1: for the fact that the tor had written it ef Charlomro,
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  Speaker 1: it would be forbidden. One could not say such a thing.
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  Speaker 1: But the Tora says it. The tour says a man
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  Speaker 1: is like God's great in the image of God, and
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  Speaker 1: so we can say it, we can do it. So
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  Speaker 1: how we treat man says much. Maybe everything about our
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  Speaker 1: relationship with God. We all know. I think we were
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  Speaker 1: all taught that. You know, when we sin against man,
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  Speaker 1: we're sinning against God. But we're taught it because you know,
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  Speaker 1: God commanded us the meets thought, so it's also a
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  Speaker 1: sinning God. But it's literally a sin against God because
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  Speaker 1: Man is I would say, God with the small g.
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  Speaker 1: You know, there's the God with the big G. So
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  Speaker 1: we're sinning against God when we sin against man. At
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  Speaker 1: the same time, we serve God by serving man, who
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  Speaker 1: is like God. When we fulfill a mitzvah between man
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  Speaker 1: and man, that's really a fulfillment of a mitzvah between
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  Speaker 1: man and God. That's a much better way, not just
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  Speaker 1: the God in Heaven of course, with the capital G,
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  Speaker 1: but with the small Gods on earth moreover, And I
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  Speaker 1: think this is something we don't really pay attention to,
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  Speaker 1: but I think this is really what the Torah has
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  Speaker 1: in mind. The goal of meets for what we call
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  Speaker 1: between man and God pessa. So far, the goal of
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  Speaker 1: those meets for what is meant to draw us closer
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  Speaker 1: to our fellow human beings, to develop our relationship with man,
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  Speaker 1: to be more sensitive, caring, and compassionate. So as every
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  Speaker 1: meets vah between man and God is ultimately a meetzvah
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  Speaker 1: between man and man. Therefore our profits rail against ritual
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  Speaker 1: they hate ritual unless and only if that ritual is
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  Speaker 1: accompanied by ethics. There are so many examples. I'll just
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  Speaker 1: just take a look at the Torah and young kipper
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  Speaker 1: Yashayahu tells thing God cares about you fast banging your heart.
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  Speaker 1: You think that's a fast. That's not a fast. A
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  Speaker 1: fast is helping the poor. Really, that doesn't I wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: think that's about right. It's pray to God all day. No,
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  Speaker 1: it's about helping the poor. I say all this because
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  Speaker 1: I think it's very important and things we don't talk
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  Speaker 1: about enough. But I want to apply it to this
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  Speaker 1: week's parsha, which deals with the construction of the mischikan
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  Speaker 1: Parsia truma. I think we would all agree it's not
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  Speaker 1: the most exciting partia. You know, after Mishfatim was like
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  Speaker 1: the you know, the transition. Mishfatim is interesting, but it's
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  Speaker 1: still you know, la la la. Now we get this up,
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  Speaker 1: it's you know, so many details on how to build it,
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  Speaker 1: and of course it's not even practical. We don't have
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  Speaker 1: a mischkan, we don't have later on the bake a mikdash.
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  Speaker 1: So yes, we can take a look at the Michigan
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  Speaker 1: and say, okay, how do we fly that to a
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  Speaker 1: bag nessa to our shoel? And that's very nice, and
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  Speaker 1: how do we make a home for God? But based
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  Speaker 1: on our theory and thesis is that the primary function
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  Speaker 1: of the mischkan is not being at the lovel coomba
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  Speaker 1: is not man to God, but it's man to man,
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  Speaker 1: because every its primary motivation is between man and man.
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  Speaker 1: Let's take a look at what I mean by that.
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  Speaker 1: So of a few easy ones, how do we build
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  Speaker 1: the mischan? Everybody had to give half a sheeko? Right,
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  Speaker 1: that's we have that coming up on porum. Everybody gives
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  Speaker 1: half a sheko? Why have because every Jew needs another?
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  Speaker 1: Where one community, we can never do something we can't
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  Speaker 1: do it on our own. Furthermore, is a place where
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish people come together as a people three times
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  Speaker 1: a year, but all the time it's the gathering place
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  Speaker 1: of the Jewish people. Fascinatingly, the mishnayot u in Pavamiticia
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  Speaker 1: to talk about lost objects, the main place where the
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  Speaker 1: loss and found was the temple, and that actually had
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  Speaker 1: implications how long you had to declare an object. But
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  Speaker 1: that's also obviously very much Hashada returning a lost object.
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  Speaker 1: That's the purpose, one of the purposes of the bait am.
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  Speaker 1: But that's easy that everybody understands. But even the basic
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  Speaker 1: function of the mikdash on what we call beIN Adam
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  Speaker 1: macom level between man and God really ultimately is about
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  Speaker 1: man to man. The first part. Whether I think you
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  Speaker 1: ask most people, what's the purpose of the beta mcdash
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  Speaker 1: the mikrba? Not to bring bring sacrifices here this is
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  Speaker 1: actually pretty easy. We don't think about it this way
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  Speaker 1: all the time. Enough, we don't have kurbanas today. But
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of kurbunat or the prophets tell us over
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  Speaker 1: and over, like every prophet, God hates sacrifices again, unless
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  Speaker 1: it's accompanied with ethical improvement helping the poor. Also many
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  Speaker 1: many examples. We'll just quote the example that we read
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  Speaker 1: on the Shabbat before tishebab or Yeshayahu yells at the people,
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  Speaker 1: so to speak, quoting God lamaly Rovzi Femio Marsham. God says,
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  Speaker 1: why do I need? I don't I don't want all
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  Speaker 1: your sacrifices. I'm full of them. It's enough, please enough,
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  Speaker 1: lo too cifu Havi mean Katschev don't bring your meaningless
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  Speaker 1: gifts to the temple to Va. It's an abomination to me.
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  Speaker 1: I hate it, I hate your holidays. This is like
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  Speaker 1: really strong, strong language which we've heard. But because the
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  Speaker 1: purpose of kurbana is not to bring an animal to God.
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  Speaker 1: The purpose is to develop our sensitivity to the poor.
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  Speaker 1: That's why we've been kurpana to help people. The second idea,
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  Speaker 1: you'll say, maybe it is a little bit harder. The
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  Speaker 1: second idea is that a prayer Yahu. Maybe maybe prayers,
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  Speaker 1: I would say, is even more important than krpuaat. But okay,
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  Speaker 1: tells us key be t be tila mean that this house,
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  Speaker 1: temple bey t my house God is speaking, is a
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  Speaker 1: house of prayer for all nations. That's also an important
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  Speaker 1: idea relating it and sell them all Ohim is everybody
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  Speaker 1: all that kind, Julamim, June, non jew, all religions, Everybody's
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  Speaker 1: welcome and encouraged and urged to come to the temple
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  Speaker 1: to pray. Now what does that mean to pray? So
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  Speaker 1: the tumud in a really amazing tumbo is also if
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  Speaker 1: it wouldn't be written, you couldn't say such a thing.
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  Speaker 1: The tommud takes this verse literally literally. He bay t
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  Speaker 1: bay tv lay my house is a house of prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Blikol I mean, so it's bay tv la tie, it's
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  Speaker 1: my house of prayer. The tumbwood says my house of prayer,
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  Speaker 1: which means, of course, the house where people gathered to pray.
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  Speaker 1: The tumb would has another level of interpretation. God is praying.
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  Speaker 1: It's where I go to pray. Now this is quote
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  Speaker 1: unquote heretical. What's amazing and beautiful is the tum wud
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  Speaker 1: doesn't even go there. So okay, God praise. That's really nice.
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  Speaker 1: Doesn't say word, what do you mean? No? The next
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  Speaker 1: words of the tomor is my matsley. That's cool. What
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  Speaker 1: does God dovin? Does he say? Schmah? You know is RelA.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't fit. So what does God pray? Every day?
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  Speaker 1: So the Gamara and brah At seven B quotes Rabzutra
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  Speaker 1: bartuvia in the name of rav he says, he writes
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  Speaker 1: on milfanaishi if shu raham at casi mate billied, I
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  Speaker 1: will before me that my mercy shall conquer my anger,
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  Speaker 1: and I should show mercy to the Jewish people of
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  Speaker 1: Vetna hey BENI by not meet that I should have mercy.
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  Speaker 1: You know the Jewish people, and they're not always live
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  Speaker 1: up to what they're supposed to do. Let me turn
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  Speaker 1: a blind die. Just let me focus on mercylahem Leaf,
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  Speaker 1: surd Let me ask beyond the call of duty, do
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  Speaker 1: more than I'm required, Surdan. What's the Tamara telling us?
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  Speaker 1: Tamara is telling us this is what we're supposed to pray,
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  Speaker 1: like when we pray, praying to God, praying in God's home,
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  Speaker 1: meaning that you should have mercy on other people, and
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  Speaker 1: you should do more than you have to do. You
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  Speaker 1: can go that extra step beyond your requirements. That's what
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  Speaker 1: praying in the house of God is, not the pray
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  Speaker 1: to God. I believe in God. He is the God
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  Speaker 1: of Abraham. Bis. It's all very nice, but the goal
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  Speaker 1: of prayer is to develop our mercy towards others. And this,
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  Speaker 1: of course is true by Almley's foot in the Torah.
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  Speaker 1: Let's just take a few more examples. The tum with
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  Speaker 1: itself says in Brahut that the reward for a fast
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  Speaker 1: day is charity. We fasten young kipper, not the fastening
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  Speaker 1: young kipper. That's what means to an end, we fasten
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  Speaker 1: on young kipper, so we will know what it's like
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  Speaker 1: to be hungry, so we will go and get charity,
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  Speaker 1: so we will ensure no other people are hungry. We
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  Speaker 1: leave our home on Sukkut to ensure that we provide
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  Speaker 1: a home for all people. Nobody should be homeless. Matsa
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  Speaker 1: on pessak, to know what it's like to be a slave.
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  Speaker 1: So the most repeated verse in the Torah that remember
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  Speaker 1: you were slaves in Egypt. Don't mistreat the stranger, the convert,
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  Speaker 1: the outsider, because we know what that is like what
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  Speaker 1: the tenth man. It's a second set of thank youavn
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  Speaker 1: and say we keep Shabbat not to enslave other people.
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  Speaker 1: Every meetsvah between man and man is a meetsva between
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  Speaker 1: man and man and between man and God. But every
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  Speaker 1: meetsvah between man and God is and meets fah between
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  Speaker 1: man and man. That's the part that we don't pay
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  Speaker 1: enough attention to. Rabyakiva taught that the fundamental principle of
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  Speaker 1: the torres vahafta lar to love our neighbor as ourself.
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  Speaker 1: The Rambam living eleven hundred years later, A thousand years later,
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  Speaker 1: the Rambam taught that the fundamental principle you saw this
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  Speaker 1: is the way it starts. His code of law, the
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  Speaker 1: foundation of foundations, and the pillar of wisdom is to
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  Speaker 1: know that there is a God in truth. These are
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  Speaker 1: one and the same. The path to knowing God is
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  Speaker 1: through loving man Shabba your love. We hope you enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: a thought for the week at Torah in Motion podcast.
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  Speaker 1: If you found it meaningful, please share it with a friend.
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• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Tony thank you very much, looking forward to learning with
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  Speaker 1: you next week.