Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 20 Adar, 5785

Good morning! The energy is around us is shifting again. Today’s Torah portion is laying out the structure for us. We know the dimensions of the tabernacle. And we have the choice to see that tabernacle as freedom, or we have the freedom to see it as a prison.

The Cherubim were placed inside – facing one another. Are we willing to look at ourselves? Or will we distract, numb, and avoid the storm within us that wants to come out for the purposes of healing.

Will we allow the storms to be there? Will we accept them? Will we embrace them? As the lovers (the Cherubim) who stand over the ark (Our hearts) face one another – will we be lovers within? Or will we remain at war – between our minds and our hearts?

The freedom is ours! What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from last year:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 27 Adar 1, 5784
Parsha Va-Yakhel: (Exodus 35:1 – 38:20)
Fifth Portion: Exodus 36:20 – 37:16

Good morning!  It’s Thursday, and we are getting for the new moon of Adar II! The month we enter into Purim. We are coming to a close of the first part of the celebration of the work we’ve done this past year, and we start ANOTHER month of celebration!  Let’s dig in to what the Torah says!  The context for today is Bezalel’s continued manufacture of the tabernacle – putting all the pieces together:

20And he made the planks for the Mishkan of acacia wood, upright.

21Ten cubits [was] the length of each plank, and a cubit and a half [was] the width of each plank.

22Each plank had two square pegs, rung like, one even with the other; so did he make for all the planks of the Mishkan.

23And he made the planks for the Mishkan, twenty planks for the southern side.

So we are seeing the dimensions starting to take form. The southern side was 20 planks.

24And he made forty silver sockets under the twenty planks; two sockets under one plank for its two square pegs, and two sockets under one plank for its two square pegs.

25And for the second side of the Mishkan on the northern side he made twenty planks.

The northern side was ALSO 20 planks.

26And their forty silver sockets: two sockets under one plank and two sockets under one plank.

27And for the western end of the Mishkan he made six planks.

The west end was 6 planks. So we are starting to see the dimensions forming, right? 20 planks north/south, 6 planks west. 

28And he made two planks at the corners of the Mishkan at the end.

29And they were matched evenly from below, and together they matched at its top, [to be put] into the one ring; so did he make for both of them; for the two corners.

30And there were eight planks and their silver sockets, sixteen sockets two sockets [under one plank and] two sockets under one plank.

The eastern side had a door, so only 1 plank in from the corner.  The doorway made up the other 4 planks.

So we have a 20 x 6 plank rectangle for the tabernacle; 120 square planks.

31And he made bars of acacia wood, five for the planks of one side of the Mishkan,

32and five bars for the planks of the second side of the Mishkan, and five bars for the planks of the [rear] side of the Mishkan, on the westward end.

33And he made the middle bar to penetrate in the midst of the planks from one end to the other end.

So now we get a height. 5 bars.  A total area would seem to be 120 square planks by 5 bars = 600 total square planks/bars.

That’s interesting, isn’t it? Considering the Torah has 613 mitzvahs, right? If we count Moses and the 12 tribes? We get the 13 people in the tabernacle.

More math – there are about 206 bones in the human body. If we look at the creation process – a man and woman have a baby – that’s 206 x 3 = 618.

I could be stretching here -but it does seem interesting these are all so close.

Let’s keep going:

34And he overlaid the planks with gold, and their rings he made of gold as holders for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold.

35And he made the dividing curtain of blue, purple, and crimson wool, and twisted fine linen; the work of a master weaver he made it, in a [woven] cherubim design.

36And he made for it four pillars of acacia wood, and he overlaid them with gold, their hooks [were] gold, and he cast for them four silver sockets.

37And he made a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue, purple, and crimson wool, and twisted fine linen the work of an embroiderer,

38and its five pillars and their hooks, and he overlaid their tops and their bands with gold, and their five sockets were copper.

So we finish making the entire tabernacle. We now get into the items being placed inside

37:1Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.

That’s 5.625 cubed cubits in area. Just if you are paying attention.

2And he overlaid it with pure gold from inside and from outside, and he made for it a golden crown all around.

3And he cast four golden rings for it upon its four corners, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side.

4And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

5And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark.

6And he made an ark cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

7And he made two golden cherubim he made them of hammered work, from the two ends of the ark cover,

8one cherub from the one end and the other cherub from the other end; from the ark cover he made the cherubim from its two ends.

9The cherubim had their wings spread upwards, shielding the ark cover with their wings, with their faces toward one another; [turned] toward the ark cover were the faces of the cherubim.

So something interesting here. The Torah mentions the Cherubim and their position. And not only mentions it – repeats it: The cherubim were facing one another. That is something we need to pay attention to. Why?

Given what we’ve been talking about, it seems important that the Torah is saying the shield within us – over our hearts (the ark is representative of our hearts) is not just guarded by one cherubim. It is two – working TOGETHER in Unity. They can represent masculine/feminine or yin/yang – but they were together shielding our heart.  Their wings a shield.

I think this is the takeaway – we need to navigate our internal conflict as we work to love ourselves and others. What are your thoughts?

10And he made a table of acacia wood two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high.

11He overlaid it with pure gold, and he made for it a golden crown all around.

12And he made for it a frame a handbreadth [wide] all around, and he made a golden crown for its frame all around.

The ark represents our heart – is it possible the table represents our head? The crown of the frame would seem to indicate our royalty.

13And he cast for it four golden rings, and he placed the rings on the four corners that are on its four legs.

14The rings were opposite the frame [as] holders for the poles [with which] to carry the table.

15And he made the poles of acacia wood, and he overlaid them with gold, to carry the table.

16And he made the implements that are on the table: its forms, its spoons, its half pipes, and its supports with which it will be covered of pure gold.

Finally, within the body – in the holiest of places – the instruments – the forms, the spoons, the pipes and supports – I wonder if those are connected to our senses?  Spoons indicates our sense of taste. Pipes may indicate our sense of smell. Forms may indicate our sense of hearing, and the supports could indicate our sense of being grounded in touch?

These are all the senses which our mind takes in data.

We are seeing the building of the heart/mind coherence within us, aren’t we? What are your thoughts?