They shall make an ark of acacia wood,

two and a half cubits

its length, a cubit and a half its width,

 and a cubit and a half its height.

(Shemot 25: 10)

Abba Hanan said in the

name of R. Elazar: One verse says, You shall make yourself an ark of wood,

and another verse says: They shall make an ark of

acacia wood, How can this be? The one applies to when Israel do the will of

the Omnipresent, the other to when they do not do the will of the Omnipresent.

(Eruvin 3b)

When they do the will of the Omnipresent – then the Temple

service bears their name.

They shall make an ark of acacia wood.

The expression ve'asita – and you shall make – is used

in connection with all the artifacts [in the Tabernacle]: and you shall make

a covering; and you shall make a table; and you shall make a menorah;

but here it says they shall make. The Sages expounded upon

this (Shemot Rabbah 34:2): "R.

Yehudah bar Shalom said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said: "Let everyone

come and be involved with the [construction of] the Ark, so that everyone will

merit [having] the Torah, and this intends that they will all volunteer [to

help with the construction of the Ark].

And according to the

plain meaning of Scripture, the Ark was a kind of special box in which the

Tablets could be kept, and since Torah came first the [construction of the] Ark

came before that of the other artifacts. And it was called aron as in orah

(Rabbeinu Behayeiy Shemot 25:10)

A Man and a Woman – if They are Meritorious – the

Shekhina Dwells Between Them

Diana Villa

After

all the raw materials needed for building the Tabernacle are listed in the

beginning of the parasha, God tells Moses: And they shall make me a

sanctuary, and I shall dwell in their midst (Shemot

25:8). The commentators took note of this odd formulation; instead of in

their midst it should have read – inside it. R. Hayyim ben Atar

explains: "He did not say "inside it" in order to say that the

place they sanctify for His dwelling shall be in the midst of the Israelites"

(Or HaHayyim on the verse).

The

midrash employs this verse to explain that the People Israel is "a nation

amongst whom dwells perpetual peace" (Bereishit

Rabbah 66). What did the Sages mean when they spoke of "peace"

– shalom? Were they talking about tranquility? The lack of a state of

war?

The

words of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel will help us understand the deep meaning of shalom.

He said: "The world stands upon three things – on justice, on truth, and

on peace" (Avot 1:18). In what sense

does peace serve as a foundational pillar of the entire world?

The

Jerusalem Talmud points to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel's underlying message by

stating, "And the three of them are one: justice is achieved, truth is

achieved, peace is achieved" (Ta'anit 4:2;

68a) It is only when the court seeks the truth and rules justly that

balance returns after it had been disrupted by an improper situation and then

people can feel at peace. Just legal rulings allow people to get their lives

back. .

I

would like to relate to a situation in which shalom – in the sense I

have defined – is lacking. Thousands of Jewish women, both in Israel and abroad,

suffer from a state of terrible imbalance: these are the agunot [women

who remain trapped in marriages against their will]. I am bringing this up

because across the Jewish world Ta'anit Esther will be observed as the

International Agunot Day. That day will contribute to increasing people's

awareness of the predicament suffered by those women; it offers us an

opportunity to take precautions so that we or our loved ones will not fall into

this trap from which it is sometimes very difficult to escape.

The

spouses of these women act like their ba'alim ["husbands" or

"owners"] in both senses of the word. These women have no control

over their own futures; they are dependent upon their spouses' good will to end

this unhappy chapter of their lives. Some of them are young and want to remarry

and have children with a different husband. Their biological clocks are

ticking. Some of them have been psychologically or physically mistreated; their

lives may be in real danger. Even if the civil courts imprison a man when there

is proof of his violence, he can still drag out divorce proceedings for years

in the rabbinical courts. It seems that despite the halakhic principle, "Danger

real danger.

Jewish

law requires that every get [write of divorce] be delivered of the

husband's free consent.¹ If he is forced to give the get, it

is considered invalid and defined as a get me'useh – a coerced get.

His wife will continue to be married and if she has children from another man

they will be considered to be mamzerim [bastards]. Since many rabbinical

courts are very concerned about any suspicion of a get's invalidity,

uncooperative husbands enjoy a great legal advantage.

From

Talmudic times to the present day, several halakhic solutions have been

forwarded to this problem. Some of these were used by courts across the

generations, while others were rejected but have attracted new interest in

recent years. Similarly, several ideas have been proposed for avoiding

situations of aginut, some of which have been more favorably received by

rabbinical courts and some less favorably. Many rabbinical courts are paralyzed

by concern for the severe consequences of allowing a woman to remarry another

man on the basis of an invalid get. The public is unaware that many

solutions do exist, and not all of them are revolutionary.² They

cannot all be rejected!

One

may hope that the rabbinical courts appreciate that by dragging their feet in

processing divorces they have become a target for public disapproval and that they

will soon begin to utilize all of the options offered by both Jewish and

Israeli law to improve the situation. Meanwhile, the International Agunah Day

affords us an opportunity to consider how each of us can try to help avoid such

problems in the future.

renuptial

agreements for the avoidance of aginut [the state of being an agunah]

offer a solution that has been accepted by important rabbis and dayanim

recognized by batei din.³ These are not property agreements

meant to protect the personal property of each member of the couple; rather,

they require a recalcitrant spouse to pay large monthly sums of money.⁴

In recent years many couples, especially from the national-religious community,

sign such agreements and even announce the fact while standing under the bridal

canopy in order to encourage their friends to do likewise. In this way both

partners can enter marriage bearing equal rights. In practice, spouses who sign

such agreements before marrying are not likely to be recalcitrant in denying

divorce if the marriage falls apart⁵ because they know that it would

bring into effect the sanctions to which they had earlier agreed. Thus, both

the couples and their children are spared unnecessary suffering.

Every

couple marries in order to be together forever, and break-ups are sad and

difficult.⁶ Judaism recognizes that divorce is possible in such

cases (30% of marriages in Israel end in divorce) and sometimes we see the ugly

phenomenon of recalcitrance.

Returning

to the beginning of our parasha, we find the People Israel being asked to make

donations towards the construction of the Tabernacle in which the Holy One,

blessed be He, will dwell. He will not merely dwell within the Tabernacle, but

more importantly, He will dwell among the Israelites (and I will

dwell among them) and also foster peace between them.

There

is a famous principle in Judaism: "Do not depend on miracles." We are

obliged to contribute to a better emotional climate, to help reduce the damage

accompanying divorce as much as possible, and to prevent women from suffering

for years as agunot. It is certainly not God's will that they suffer so. If we

do our part, we will open a passage through which God's spirit will be able to

settle upon the members of the couple, allowing them to conclude that stage of

their lives peacefully and with mutual respect.

1. Ever since the decree known as Herem DeRabbeinu Gershom was

enacted in the end of the tenth century, the woman must also freely consent to

receive the get, but refusal by the other party has much worse

ramifications for the woman, since, if she has children with another man, they

will be considered to be mamzerim. See: Halakhic Solutions to Get

Recalcitrance ICAR: Jerusalem 5768 (available online at http://www.icar.org.il/files/ENGLISH%20BOOKLET.pdf).

For an account of the situation of agunot in Israel, see Diana Villa &

Monique Susskin-Goldberg, Prenuptual Agreements: A Solution for the Agunah

Problem of Our Time, The Schechter Institute Of Jewish Studies: Jerusalem

5767, pp. 14-17 (available at: http://responsafortoday.com/eng_index.html

in the "To Learn and to Teach" menu).

2. See Diana Villa & Monique

Susskin-Goldberg, Za'akat Dalot: Halakhic Solutions for the Agunot of Our

Time, Center for Women in Jewish Law, The Schechter Institute Of Jewish

Studies: Jerusalem 5766.

3. Such prenuptial agreements come in a

variety of formulations, and it is imperative to check with a rabbi, attorney

specializing in family law, or rabbinic court advocate to make sure that an

agreement is halakhically valid before signing it.

4. This relates to egalitarian

agreements. Some of the agreements only penalize recalcitrant husbands. Such

one-sidedness recognizes that halakhah puts the wife at a disadvantage in

divorce proceedings, since the consequences of the husband's recalcitrance are

more severe.

5. The attorneys and rabbinic court

advocates with whom I work at ICAR tell me that in such cases the agreements

are never tested by the batei din, since the parties do not attempt to

sabotage the divorce process.

6. The Talmud (Gittin 90b)

cites R. Elazar as saying: "Anyone who divorces his first wife – even the

altar sheds tears for him."

Diana Villa is a lecturer in Talmud and Halakhah in the Schechter

Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem and chairs the Halakhah Committee of ICAR – the

International Coalition for Agunah Rights.

And this is the contribution that you are to take from them… – to

the exception of one who contributes that which is not his.

(J. Terumot 1:1)

Giving Equally and Humbly

Here is another explanation why the first two contributions (terumot)

are ordered specifically in God's name, whereas the third is not. Wherever

we find humility and submission among mortals, there we find the secret might

of Holy One, who dwells among the oppressed and the meek; but wherever there is

the slightest hint of pride, the Holy One refuses to bestow his name.

Therefore, the first two contributions, which were given equally by all, for The

rich are not to pay more, and the poor are not to pay less, and no one can

boast "My contribution is greater than yours", these God attributed

to himself:

1.  The first is preceded by And they may take Me – to my

Name. We have already explained, at the beginning of Parashat Miketz, and

on the verse Every place where I call my name to be recalled I will come to

you and bless you, (Shemot 20:21)

– every letter of His great name points to humility.

2.  The second contribution is termed my contribution.

Similarly, the use to which the contributions were put offers the same

message. Just as all contributions were equal, forestalling any boasting, so

were the boards – all of equal length. They were at the bottom of the entire

edifice, a trodden threshold, the foundations of the entire building. Those

who fashion them shall become like them – just as the givers were equal in

their contributions, none having excuse for pride over his fellow, so were

these boards acquired by the contributions, symbolic of humility, for humility

is the foundation of the building upon which the entire House of Israel is

established. They are called adanim – which hint at mastery

and rule [Trans. note: adan means board; adon means master],

because whoever makes of himself a trodden threshold below, is appointed master

above, for whoever lowers himself, the Holy One raises him us and makes him the

foundation and support for the entire building, just like these boards which

were foundation and support for all the edifice. And so the nasi

– (highest official) is so called such because he carries the

others, for they all depend on him [Trans. note: The Hebrew for "high

official" and "carry" share a common root].

(Kli Yakar, Shemot,

25:1)

In The Divine Service, Too, We Sacrifice Splendor For The

Sake Of Man

And overlay it with gold – It would have been proper for the ark

to be completely overlaid with gold, but it would have been too heavy

to carry, and the law requires that it be carried on the shoulder, as is

written – Since theirs was the service of the sacred object, their portage

was by shoulder and so we found that the altar was made of hollow plates, so

that it not be heavy.

(Hizkuni, Shemot

25:11)

Life, Death, and Holiness Are In the Power of the Tongue

The sin of language is one of speech, not of thought. It [the priest's

robe] had pomegranates and bells [on the hem] – which made sounds – to

atone for the tongue which is in the mouth, similar to the clapper inside

the bell, and the atonement for speech is that one no longer break his pledge

and should speak only of holy matters, as is written: And his voice

will be heard when he enters the sanctuary, and he will not die, because

"lashon ha-ra" – slanderous speech – kills three (Arakhin 15), From this we derive that one who

is careful not to speak slanderously will be spared death, as in the story of

the vendor who used to announce "Who wants to buy the elixir of life,

etc."

(Kli Yakar, Shemot

28:31)

Charity is Greater than all of the Sacrifices

There is a positive commandment to give charity in accordance with one's

ability. One should be extremely careful about it – more so than with any other

positive commandment – because it can lead to blood shed if one does not give

it immediately and the poor man dies, as in the incident involving Ben Zoma. We

have been commanded several times regarding it as a positive commandment, and

it also involves the prohibition not to ignore it, as it is said: You shall

brother. Anyone who ignores it is considered worthless and similar to an

idolater, and anyone who is careful about it demonstrates that he is of the

seed blessed by the Lord, for it is written, For I have known him because he

the Lord to perform righteousness [tzedaka – which also means

"charity"] and justice. The throne of Israel is founded and the true

religion stands only through charity, for it is said: You shall be established

in tzedaka (Isaiah 54). Only

through charity will Israel will be redeemed, for it says: Zion shall be

redeemed through justice and her penitent through tzedaka, and it says,

benevolence to be revealed. And charity is greater than all of the

sacrifices, since Rabbi Eliezer said: charity is greater than all of the

sacrifices, for it is written, Performing tzedaka and justice is preferred

by God to a sacrifice. Rabbi Eliezer said: Anyone who performs tzedaka

and justice, it is as if he filled the world with loving-kindness, for it is

said: Lover of tzedaka and justice, the Lord's loving-kindness fills the

earth.

(Tur Yoreh De'ah 247)

Study as a Sublimated and Updated Substitute for Concrete Action

Do not let it enter your heads for one moment, that these descriptions

of the Tabernacle and its appurtenances, the priestly garment and sacrifices,

the laws of purity and those dependent on the soil and all the rest of the

ordinances practiced in antiquity have no relevance for us today in exile. What

use, you may well ask, does it serve us to study them today?

My answer is this: Everything recorded in the Torah is designed to

provide us with a permanent source of inspiration and Divine wisdom, to perfect

our souls therewith. This is the message of the text (Devarim 29:8): You shall preserve the words of this covenant

and do them in order that you may be discerning in all that you do. Our

Sages explained: (Sifrei, Re'eh,

Rashi on Devarim 4:6): You shall preserve – this refers to the

Mishnah (Oral Tradition): You shall do – in its primary sense of actual

doing. The doing consists in the study of the text and deriving of the

spiritual lessons to be learnt there from by student and scholar, whether

during the time they were actually performed or afterwards (when they were no

longer in vogue).

Thus our study and explication of the symbolism of the Tabernacle and

its furniture today is as relevant now as it was then when they were in full

use. In the same way the sacrificial rites are not obsolete even though their

actual physical performance is not feasible. For their spiritual lessons remain

fresh. Through them man can learn humility before God, in accordance with the

text (Psalms 51:19): The sacrifices of

God are a contrite spirit.

(From Abarbanel's Commentary, towards the end of parashat Terumah, as quoted by Prof. Nehama Leibowitz in her Studies in Shemot pp. 504-5, Aryeh Newman,

translator)

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