Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 5 Adar 1, 5784
Parsha Terumah: (Exodus 25:1 – 27:19)
Fourth Portion: Exodus 26:15 – 26:30

Good morning!  Today’s portion continues to instruct us on the tabernacle. As I have written in the past years; today’s focus is on connection.  How solid our the connections we are making? Let’s dig in:

15And you shall make the planks for the Mishkan of acacia wood, upright.

16Ten cubits [shall be] the length of each plank, and a cubit and a half [shall be] the width of each plank.

17Each plank shall have two square pegs, rung like, one even with the other; so shall you make all the planks of the Mishkan.

18And you shall make the planks for the Mishkan, twenty planks for the southern side.

The planks of the Tabernacle are made of wood.  Wood is soft, it is pliable.  If you soak wood, you can bend it.

19And you shall make 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.

The sockets – that connecting pieces? They are made of silver. Metal. Metal is more solid than wood – and -silver is a softer metal that can bend.

So we have wood and silver. When I think about our connections – within and externally – how do we connect? Are we connecting in a way that is rigid and won’t move as the weather changes? That wont expand and contract as the seasons change?  The sockets needed to be able to adapt. Silver is the perfect metal for this, isn’t it? As the wood would expand because of the heat, cold, rain; the silver would expand as well and not break.

20And for the second side of the Mishkan on the northern side twenty planks.

21And their forty silver sockets: two sockets under one plank and two sockets under one plank.

So we have the south and north side here. Same dimensions – twenty planks, forty sockets.

22And for the western end of the Mishkan you shall make six planks.

23And you shall make two planks at the corners of the Mishkan at the end.

24And they shall be matched evenly from below, and together they shall match at its top, [to be put] into the one ring; so shall it be for both of them; they shall be for the two corners.

25And there shall be eight planks and their silver sockets, sixteen sockets two sockets under one plank and two sockets under one plank.

So on the western end – the connection between the northern and southern side, it’s smaller. Eight planks. 16 sockets.

26And you shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the planks of one side of the Mishkan,

27and 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.

28And the middle bar in the midst of the planks shall [extend and] penetrate from one end to the other end.

So the bars run across – giving us the same height – cross beams. We see the Torah telling us the western side is the rear of the tabernacle.

29And you shall overlay the planks with gold, and their rings you shall make of gold as holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold.

And now we are seeing the wood covered in gold. Again, a soft metal.

30And you shall erect the Mishkan according to its proper manner, as you will have been shown on the mountain.

What I am gathering in all of this; what our takeaway may be – it’s relationship.  Within ourselves – and between ourselves and others.

Are we build strong? Do we feel connected within? Are we overlaid with silver and gold? Do we see our value?

Or do we see our tabernacle as torn up, destroyed, needing fixing? Do we see our wood being rotted? And does that produce feelings of guilt and shame so that when we meet someone else’s tabernacle -and see the beauty of the gold and silver – we want to run away?  Or we want to project our guilt and shame onto THEM – trying to show them how ugly and broken their tabernacle is?

These are my thoughts!  What are yours?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 1 Adar, 5783

Happy Rosh Chodesh! We have moved into a new month and have new intentions.

As I read this portion today, I’m struck with the idea of “connection” relationally. How are we building our friendships, our relationships with our children, with our partners? Is that connection “precious?” Or is that connection wood that could rot?

Are we connecting on an emotional level? Physical? Spiritual? Intellectual?

These are the key parts as we build our tabernacle.

And how about ourselves? Do we have a connection with ourselves? Is that connection precious, or do we say goodbye to it any time a shiny new object (or relationship) enters the picture?

As we think about the month ahead, my thoughts are to encourage us to start building precious connections within us. Spend time on self care. Make yourself a nice dinner. Journal. Meditate. Yoga. Pedicures. Massages. Do something that your inner self sees as precious. And from there? Everything else will fall into place!

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for Adar I 1, 5782

It’s Rosh Chodesh! A new Hebrew month in the calendar. And today begins a super special month because it’s a “double month!” In the Gregorian calendar, we add a day every 4 years in a leap year. In the Hebrew Calender, because it follows the cycles of the moon and not the sun, every 19 years, there are 7 “leap months” added. This is one of those years. So the Hebrew month of Adar becomes “double Adar.” This is the first of the first Adar (Adar I).

In studying about this month, the theme (from Kabbalah) is “mazel.” Many of you have heard the term Mazal Tov! Meaning ”good luck.” But that limits the meaning of Mazel.

The word Mazel literally means “a drip from above”. In Jewish mysticism mazel describes the root of our soul. The idea is a ray of our soul inhabits our body; the main part of the soul (our mazel) remains above shining down on us from a distance. So the idea is when we experience mazal; a drip of our Godly soul inhabits our bodies.

Interesting! Here is an article for more on this if you are interested: https://www.chabad.org/…/Adar-The-Month-of-Mazal.htm

Ok. So let’s dig into todays Torah portion:

So far in this Parsha we’ve learned about the ark, the table, the candelabrum. Then we learned about the coverings (all those layers!).

I’m starting to reflect more on how our bodies are built in the same way. We focus on the internal- the ark in our hearts, the table of our minds, the candelabrum of our soul. Then we move to the external coverings- the physical skin.

Today’s portion will focus on the walls and contents of the tabernacle. Before digging in, I’m reflecting on how these may be the physical innards of our bodies. Just a thought.

We start out learning about the beams made of acacia wood again, and crossbars of acacia wood. They should all be coated with gold.

Here’s something interesting though; the sockets for the beams to go into? Made from silver.

Kabbalah talks about this;

“One would have expected the main structure of the Tabernacle to make use of precious metal, and the foundational supports to be something more functional and practical. Yet we find it was the other way around: The foundations were made of silver and the main structure from wood. Why?

Sometimes, the connection is more important than the structure. Your body structure is mainly bones and muscle, but it is those little tendons that join muscle to bone which make movement possible. God already made the physical and the spiritual. It is our precious task to connect them. So in the Tabernacle, which was the model of God’s plans for creation, the connecting pieces were made of precious metal”

I find that very interesting!

And that is where todays portion leaves us. We have the ark, the table, the candelabrum; then we have the covering, then the foundation and structure. It is really interesting how this is all being put together!

What are your thoughts?