YOU SHOULD MAKE A

MENORAH OF PURE GOLD; THE MENORAH SHALL BE MADE OF HAMMERED WORK; ITS BASE AND IS SHAFT, ITS CUPS, CALAYXES, AND PETALS SHALL

BE OF ONE PIECE. SIX BRANCHES SHALL ISSUE FROM ITS SIDES; THREE BRANCHES FROM

ONE OF ITS SIDES AND THREE BRANCHES FROM ITS OTHER SIDE.

 (Shemot 25:31-2)

The Golden Menorah – was there Significance to its Details?

Thereupon a menorah was

placed in front of it in order to glorify and honor the Temple.

For the Temple, which was always

illumined by lamps and separated by means of a veil [from the Holy of Holies],

made a great impression upon the soul. You know to what extent the Law

fortifies the belief in the greatness of the Sanctuary and the awe felt for it,

so that on seeing it, man should be affected by a sentiment of submission and

servitude.

(RaMBaM, Guide of the Perplexed III:45, following the Pines translation)

…the Menorah alluded

to this second kind of reward, i.e., spiritual reward, for man's soul is God's

lamp (Proverbs 20:27). The seven lamps allude to the seven

sciences, which may all be found in God's Torah. All of the lamps faced the

center lamp, which faced the Holy of Holies, to imply that the true wisdom

agrees with the roots of the Torah, which rested in the Ark.

The Menorah was all pure gold, to show the degrees of wisdom and its eternal

persistence, and that strange opinions will not be found in it, which do not

agree with the Torah, for it is all pure gold. And it had cups, calayxes, and

petals, to hint at the subdivisions of the sciences and opinions each from each

other, one serving as a preparation for the next. And it was all hammered work

and made from a single mass of gold, since the sciences are in some way related

to each other… for wisdom is all one, just as a house is a single building,

but it is divided into seven parts – the number of varied topics called the "seven

sciences." And that is the point of the Menorah itself which was all one

piece of hammered work that was divided of into seven branches…

(Abrabanel's Commentary on

the Torah, as brought in N. Leibowitz's Iyyunim Hadashim

BeSefer Shemot, pg. 366)

This article

is dedicated to my father and teacher,

Prof. Eliyahu Rosenheim upon the

publication of his book,

Siyah Metupalim

So that

the Tabernacle becomes one whole

Uriel Rosenheim

"God

is in the details" – so says the architect Mies Van Der Rohe. This

statement was intended to emphasize the role of details in architectural

design, and it is uniquely illuminated in our parasha, which lays out the

specifics of the divine blueprint for the construction of the Tabernacle.

After

listing the vessels, Scripture turns to describing the Tabernacle. This passage

opens with the words, And make the

Tabernacle of ten strips of cloth… (Shemot 26:1) and ends with so that the Tabernacle

becomes one whole (26:6). The strips

of cloth that are mentioned before the boards of the Tabernacle merited having

the whole Tabernacle named after them, and their unification expresses the

Tabernacle's unity.

How

do the two sections of cloth, connected one to one another with loops

and clasps, represent the Tabernacle's essence? How do they join them together

into one?

It

is possible to offer a plain reading (following the RaShBaM) that the connection

of two strips to each other unites them, and since they cover the Tabernacle

and its vessels, they lend their name to the whole of it. Ibn

Ezra, however, is not satisfied with this explanation, and so he writes:

The

tabernacle was called one which included all, for no object is really

one thing, but rather it is composed of parts. And such is the Honored Name; it

is one and includes all, and is called one, and so it is with the microcosm

(man) and the macrocosm (Creation).

Ibn Ezra implies that in order to understand the Tabernacle's

unity, we must reach a deeper understanding of the word "one."

Or

Sages taught us that in order to understand the essence of a word,

we should look at the first place it appears in Scripture. In our case, we must

check the first three times the word appears, since the book of

Bereishit offers us something of a surprise: The first time the word "one"

appears, it is in reference to the unity of time: And God called the light

one day (Bereishit 1:5). The second

instance deals with the unity of space: And God said, "Let the waters

gather below heaven in one place, revealing dry land," and it was so (1:9). The third refers to humanity: That is

one flesh (2:24).

These

three passages deal with time, space, and humanity, summarizing God's

revelation in Creation. Each involves two opposing elements that join together

to create a one: evening and day, water and dry land, man and woman.

The

word one in this sense refers not to uniqueness, but rather to a unity

built of opposites which complement and define each other. The Sages often

cited these pairs of opposites as offering a basis for understanding all of

Creation:

The

Holy One blessed be He created everything in His world

as male and female. (Sanhedrin 100a)          

And

in Bereishit Rabbah, 2:22:

The

Holy One blessed be He told Israel: My son, everything I created, I created in

pairs: heaven and earth are a pair, the sun and moon are a pair, Adam and Eve were

a pair, this world and the next world are a pair – but my glory is one and

unique in the world. How do we know this? From that which we have recited

regarding this matter: Hear O Israel,

the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

While

man is composed of opposites which seem to him to be opposed to each other, in

God these elements exist in the harmony which constitutes His wondrous unity.

The MaHaRaL writes of this in his book, Netivot Olam:

And

the blessed Lord… makes peace between them (between the waters of the depths)…

until one does not enter the other's borders, and every one stands alone, and

all must accept the peace, even the exalted ones, God Himself being Peace.

Rabbi

Alexander Y. Shafran, in his book Hukat Olam ve'Razei

Olam, relates to this discussion from several angles, including his

attitude towards disagreements, through Jewish history, and finally in regard

to the human/divine relationship:

This

active conflict which occurs in nature and within man is conceived by human

thought as involving a contradiction… it can only grasp unity as it relates

to division… reciprocal complementariness is only oppression of one part by

the other…

He

continues, describing the relationship between science and Kabbalah:

And

so every variable regarding life and the cosmos – both physical and spiritual –

within the Kabbalah is based on the principle of bi-sexuality, bi-polarity, and

the mutual complementariness of opposites.

RaShBI's attempt to resolve the argument between the House

of Hillel and the House of Shamai regarding the question of whether heaven or

earth was created first offers a fascinating outlook upon the phenomenon of

mutually complementary opposites:

Rabbi

Shimon Bar Yohai said: I wonder how they disagreed… but I think that they

(heaven and earth) were created like a pot and its lid (the potter makes them

together as one, first making a closed roll, like an empty ball, then he bakes

it in the kiln to harden it, then he separates it into halves – a pan and a

cover) for it says, [My own hand founded the earth, My right hand spread out

the skies] I call unto them, let them stand up together (Isaiah 48:13). (Bereishit Rabbah 1:15)

Back

to the Tabernacle:

The

Tabernacle's frame was built of acacia-wood posts, connected to each other with

bars (exposed and hidden). The clothes were then stretched upon this static

frame.

The

two great sections of cloth were composed each of five identical strips of

cloth, sewn to each other. Five azure loops were sewn along a narrow edge of

each section, placed parallel to those in the section to which it was to be

attached. A golden clasp was placed through each pairs of loops, connecting the

strips to each other. The cloths themselves were embroidered with figures of

cherubim, cherubim, thoughtful work, you shall make

them (26:1).

The

relationship between the stretched clothe sections takes on an interesting dual

nature: They were spread out so that their longer dimension is oriented with

the width of the Tabernacle, limiting their inter-connection, and preserving each's independent existence. On the other hand, they pulled

on each other, the seam of their connection lying just over the line of

division set up by the curtain which separated the Holy from the Holy of

Holies. The balance between them was maintained by opposing forces; the

equilibrium between them was dynamic, a balance of power established through

constant motion.

In

this way, they are similar to night/day, water/land, male and female. Each of

these elements enjoys an independent existence, while simultaneously remaining dependent.

Each member of a pair defines the boundaries and identity of its companion by

exerting force against it. One might say that this balance, expressed by the

strips of cloth, between the Tabernacle's inner and outer parts made it

possible for it to be called by the name of the God who caused His essence to

dwell within it: Peace.

So

wrote HaRAYaH Kook in Orot Hakodesh, volume 2,

pg. 393:

The

wisdom of truth teaches us the world's unity, the aspect of balance to be found

in all of experience, rising up higher and higher, making creation similar to

Creator.

The

Sages used the acronym AShaN to abbreviate the terms Olam

(world), Shanah (year), Nefesh (soul), which express the entire

creation in which God reveals Himself:

Time:

Also expresses technological knowledge and temporalized, designed,

conceptualization = symbols.

Place:

Defines the site to which the plan relates=portability in the desert.

Man:

Expressing the specific needs of the client=the human/divine connection,

priests.

Uriel Rosenheim is an architect

On Amalek and the war on terror (responses to

Beshalah edition)

The War of Light Against Darkness

The issue of Amalek has

vexed me for years. Why are we commanded to destroy this particular nation,

including its women, children, and animals? Why must we remember Amalek each

day, and strive to blot out its memory? Is hatred for another people ethical

and appropriate for a holy nation such as Israel?

Amalek

was the only people which hurried forth to attack and do battle against Israel without any provocation on

our part. It saw us as posing a genuine threat and danger. Little cocky Amalek did what the great Egyptian Empire feared to do – they

fought Israel, which was still in its swaddling-cloths, tired and weary,

as the Torah puts it – they fought us to no purpose, merely to kill. They

wanted to kill us while we were still small in order to get rid of us as

quickly as possible.

Sefer

Devarim describes Amalek as not fearing God. It

lacked guidance; no one held sway over it. It was a nation that chose the sword

for its inheritance, a nation whose sole goal was, in Rabbi S.R. Hirsch's

words, "the destruction of the well-being of nations and human happiness."

Pharaoh expected to derive some benefit from Israel,

exploiting us as slaves. Amalek, however, set up for itself the aim of never

resting as long as there remained a free nation or individual who possesing

happiness, peace, and dignity. Those who seek peace are Amalek's eternal enemies. They include the activists for human

dignity, working across the world. They include those who love life and hate

death. They take pride in education, love, brotherhood and solidarity, and not

in the values of death: conquest, genocide, and warrior heroism. Amalek was beaten by Moses hands. This was not a matter of

magic, but rather the power of faith and trust in God and His Torah – they cast

down Amalek, saving the Jewish People. They saved the world.

Rabbi S.H. Hirsch reads

the verse closely: I will surely blot out the memory of Amalek from beneath

the heavens – its memory, but not Amalek itself. We are commanded

to blot-out Amalek's memory. Amalek, he explains, is

the cause of human moral evil. We are commanded to blot out the memory of

death, of hatred for man and ethics – these we shall always be commanded to

blot-out, and to look forward with hope and true faith towards peace.

Yonatan Orich

Amalek and Terror – Comparison and Contrast

The editor rightfully

took note of "the danger of blurring the boundaries and contrasts between

different situations," and I agree that if we remain vigilant to this

danger, there is nothing wrong with the kind of comparisons made by Rafi Lederman.

I would like to mention

one great difference between Israel's

war with Amalek and our war against Palestinian terror. Amalek

attacked Israel

suddenly; no previous conflict existed between them. Israel

had done nothing wrong to the Amalekites, and Amalek never makes any such claim

(and, in contrast to Lederman's statement that "the

Amalekite attack caught the Israelites in a strong

and powerful condition," the verse says that you were tired and weary).

In contrast,

Palestinian terror derives from a drawn-out territorial dispute between two

nations. The Palestinians feel that their land was robbed from them and

conquered by another nation, much stronger than them. Of course, such feelings

do not justify disgusting acts of terror. However, anyone who wants to put an

end to this terror cannot be satisfied by merely fighting active and potential

terrorists – Lederman and his comrades are engaged in

that fight, and many of us owe them our lives. Yet, with all of the anguish

involved in saying it, they merely treat the symptoms. As long as there are

sixteen year old youths whose despair with their situation and lack of hope for

a better future motivate them to kill and be killed, we will remain far from

our goal of ending terror. In contrast to the war with Amalek, this terror can

only be eradicated with an arranged division of the contested land – a land

which is viewed by each party to the conflict as its own. Only when the great

majority of people in both peoples feel that the land was fairly divided – even

if it is painful – will terror be ended or greatly reduced.

Dr. Gavriel

Birenbaum

Additional responses to Rafi Lederman's article, and comments by the author and editor will appear

in the next edition.

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