FINDING MEANING IN THE MUNDANE

Parashat Pekudei

Torah: Exodus 38:21 – 40:38 (Chazak!)

Haftarah: 1 Kings 7:51-8:21 (Ashkenazim); 1 Kings 7:40-50 (Sephardim)

Adar Hasheni 6, 5784 / March 15-16, 2024

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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah and a speedy and safe return of all the hostages being held by Hamas.

This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have been wounded in the Hamas terrorist attacks and in fighting against the terrorists, as well as innocent non-combatants caught in the crossfire.
 
This d'var torah is offered in memory of all the victims of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. Y’hi zikhronam liv’rakhah – May their memories be a blessing. And may the memory of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah and all their supporters be forever erased.
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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. We will not be meeting on March 18. On Monday, March 25, we'll be at BT Shabbat 145b, page 205 of Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) Volume 1 – "In the future shall Jacob yet take root ....” -  "... הבאים ישרה יעקב יציץ" 

 
Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) is available for on-line reading or as a downloadable PDF at:
https://hebrewbooks.org/9630   
 
A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria:
https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents  
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Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about our various programs and becoming a Member at: https://bnaihayim.org/ 
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Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at: 
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 
 
Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you should read at: 
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com 
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!משנכנס אדר, מרבין בשמחה - With the beginning of Adar, we increase joy! (BT Ta'anit 29a) 

HERE'S A LITTLE PURIM TORAH CONTEST 

As this is a Jewish Leap Year, it raises a question, and the person who gives me whatever I believe to be the best answer will be awarded one slightly used bottle of slivovitz (the decision of the judge and the amount of slivovitz he drinks from the bottle first are in his sole discretion and are final): Since we are instructed by our rabbis to be joyful in Adar, and Adar is twice as long this year, does that mean that we have twice as much joy this year than in non-leap years, or, does it mean that on any given day in the months of Adar, we are only half as joyful as we would have been in a non-leap year because our joy must be spread over twice as many days? There is no right or wrong answer! Be (very) creative with proof texts!
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Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.

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FINDING MEANING IN THE MUNDANE

“Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled upon it (alav); and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Exodus 40:35

Etz Hayyim: It is unclear whether entry is literally blocked or is not permissible or that Moses dared not enter.

The erection of the tabernacle and the Sacred vessels, as in Exodus 4017–19; from the 1728 Figures de la Bible

The playwright David Mamet (in Five Cities of Refuge, co-authored with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner) asks an interesting question. “But is there something in the notion that Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud rested on him?”(reading the word “alav” as “upon him” rather than “upon it” - the Hebrew is ambiguous) He goes on to suggest that when Moses was filled with the Holy Spirit, in direct communion with the Divine, he was thereby unable to act as a servant to either God or the Israelites.

There has lately been a quest by Jews and non-Jews alike for “spirituality”. These searchers want a connection with God that is uplifting, meaningful, emotional, etc. And often, they want it immediately - they want a moving personal experience when they want it. This is a difficult proposition for rabbis and cantors, clergy of all types, who cannot always deliver spirituality on demand. One also must wonder whether God takes orders in quite this way - or in any way at all!

I am not in any way denigrating the spiritual needs of people. I also desire that connection, however ephemeral or short-lived it may be. But whenever I am having my individual experience with the Divine in a way that is not through any physical act, such as meditation or even singing, or when my spiritual moment is divorced from the world around me (something that I do seek from time to time), I am not then able to fulfill the Divine will. That is to say, we are commanded to act in this world through gemilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness), through tikkun olam (repairing brokenness in the world), and through tzedakah (justice or charity). One might argue these are only ordinary acts. But I think they are extra-ordinary and powerful ways to worship God. We all know that there can be joy in performing these mitzvot, as well as joy in the results. By acting as God’s servants, by feeding the hungry and burying the dead and protecting God's Creation and loving the stranger and giving charity, we make the spiritual (and human!) connection that God wants, even if it is not necessarily the connection we want when we want it.

If indeed God is Hamakom, the One That Is In Every Place, then in a narrow sense, God is within us as well. Although we may seldom if ever experience an ecstatic connection with God, we can nevertheless have an emotionally and spiritually satisfying connection whenever we want - by finding meaning in the mundane; in ordinary, everyday Jewish living. You want to find God?  Go - perform an act of chesed or tikkun or tzedakah and save the world! One small piece at a time.

Shabbat Shalom!
 
HaRav HaGa’on Abba Reuven ben Menachem Mendel Flom, Sh’lita
Av Beis Din – Chelm
Slivovitz Taste Tester
משנכנס אדר, מרבין בשמחה
From the beginning of Adar, we increase joy.
BT Ta’anit 29a
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