Mishkan, Balance, Access & Unicorns - Terumah

from Parsha with Rabbi David Bibi · host david bibi

Onewho disregards the truth of Midrash is a heretic; one who regards Midrash asliterally true is a fool!  Thinking inRosh Hodesh Shabbat prayers      שֶׁתַּעֲלֵנוּ בְשִׂמְחָהלְאַרְצֵנוּ וְתִטָּעֵנוּ בִּגְבוּלֵנוּ, וְשָׁם נַעֲשֶׂה לפָנֶיךָ אֶתקָרְבְּנוֹת חוֹבוֹתֵינוּ, תְּמִידִים כְּסִדְרָם וּמוּסָפִים כְּהִלְכָתָם. אֶתמוּסְפֵי יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת הַזֶּה, וְיוֹם רֹאשׁ הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה, נַעֲשֶׂהוְנַקְרִיב לְפָנֶיךָ בְּאַהֲבָה כְּמִצְוַת רְצוֹנָךְ     Look at twoconcepts  Mishkan . Mikdash  We mourn loss  But do weunderstand what we lost ?  I would like todiscuss two concepts   Access   Balance   And, Do I makea difference      And one otheridea, I would like you to think about in light of current events and what theMikdash and even the remnant the Kotel HaMaarivi means      The Beis Hamikdash was meant toserve Goyim as well as Jews, as the pasuk states, ki beti bet tefila yikareilechol ha’amim; My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations(Yeshaya 56:7).      This sentiment was expressed byShlomoh Hamelech in his public prayer whereby he dedicated the Beis Hamikdash,'…and also to the gentile who is not from Your people Israel and who comesfor the sake of Your Name from a distant land. When they will hear of Yourgreat Name, Your powerful hand and Your outstretched arm and come to pray inthis house,      You will hear from Heaven, theplace of Your abode, and do whatever the gentile requests of You, so that allthe nations of the Earth will know Your Name and fear You (Melachim I 8:41-43).     I learned from my Rabbi thatbased on this when B’Y come to pray, sometimes the answer is no, but because ofKing Solomon’s prayer when a goy comes and cries out to Hashem, then Heavensheeds his plea.      We’ll come back to this at theend         Also noted Iwould like to speak about   Unicorns   Chantelle veryinto unicorns  Ketuba Unicornand Lion         40 some oddyears ago  Wrote Shortstory in Rhyme   Chantelleillustrated it   A couple ofyears ago, our youngest Mariyah edited it and turned it into a small book   Little Kids allinto unicorns      This week weread      ב דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ-לִיתְּרוּמָה: מֵאֵת כָּל-אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ, תִּקְחוּאֶת-תְּרוּמָתִי.     2. 'Speak to the children of Israel, andhave them take for Me an offering; from every person whose heart inspires himto generosity, you shall take My offering.     Among the various items used tobuild the Mishkan were the tachash skins that were used as the outer coveringof the Mishkan as well as a slipcover for the vessels of the Mishkan whiletraveling through the desert.     How do wedefine Tachash?     The Gemara offers threeanswers:  1. Rav Yehuda says: “It was taynin,(a violet color) and named for its dye.”  2. Rav Nechemiah said: “It was galaktinin.  3. The Rabbi's said: “It was aclean [kosher] animal, and it lived in the wilderness.”    This third explanation fitswith that which Rav Eleazar bar Yose stated, R. Abbahu in the name of RavShimon ben Lakish in the name of Rav Meir: The Holy One, blessed be He, createda clean animal for Moses in the wilderness. Once [Moses] had constructed the mishkanwith it, it was hidden away.  Rav Avon said it was called a Keresh.  R. Hoshaya taught, It had [only] one horn.    There is a parallel discussion in the Bavli (Shabbos 28a,b)regarding the nature of the Tachash.   There the Gemara quotes Rav Nechemiah who explains that thatthe Tachash was a Kosher animal that had a skin with many colors.      Rav Yosef explains that theTargum (traditional Aramaic translation of the Torah) of the word Tachash isSasgona which is a conjunction of the words sas (rejoice) and gevanim (colors).The Tachash is an animal that rejoices in its many colors.  Like the Yerushalmi, the Bavli maintains that the Tachash hada single horn on its forehead and it only existed in the times of Moshe so thatit could be used to serve as a covering for the Mishkan. After it had servedits purpose the Tachash was hidden away.  Similarly, the Medrash Tanchuma (Terumah 6) tells us that theTachash was a large wild kosher animal that had a single horn, its skin wasmade up of six colors (The Radak explains that sasgonna can be read as sheishgavnim six colors), and its length was 30 amot(nearly 50 feet long!). The Medrash also quotes Rav Nechemiah who says that theTachash was a miraculous creation, created specifically for the Mishkan andthen hidden away.  The Gemara in Shabbos (28b) connects the single horn of theTachash to another animal that had a single horn. Upon being expelled from GanEden (see Targum Yonasan ben Uziel Bereishis 8:20) Adam brought a sacrifice ofan animal with a single horn – some suggest that the skin was preserved for theMishkan.      We’ll come back to this laterto try to understand the connection with balance      (Yalkut Shimoni II,688) records a fascinating story in which the majestic re’em possibly unicornlifts David up into the clouds:  David was once walking in thewilderness and climbed upon a hill—which turned out to be, not a hill, but theback of the massive re’em. The re’em raised David up to the clouds (eitherbecause it was so big when it stood up, or perhaps because it had wings andtook off). David prayed to God to save him     The Alshich HaKadosh (TorasMoshe, Shemos 26:14) connects the Tachash to the coming of Mashiach. There aretwo ways Mashiach can arrive; in the proper time (in the normal process of theworld) or אחישנה, swiftly (see Yeshaya 60:22, Sanhedrin 98b). The word אחישנהshares the same root as the word Tachash.     The Arizal (Eitz Chaim 49:3)says that the Tachash is the spark of holiness in Kellipas Noga. With this inmind we can see that the Mishkan itself was inherently Kadosh (like theMitzvos) whereas the covering of the Mishkan represents the Kedusha that inunleashed when we elevate the physical world (Kellipas Noga).

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