Terumah

• So That I May Dwell Amongst Them

  Mar 1, 2025 Admin 0 Comments

  Did you ever want Hashem to live next to you or in your community? In Parashat Terumah 25:8 it says, "וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ - And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell amongst them." All Hashem is asking to make a home for Him, but is it all it takes? This would be another example where Hashem is hinting at something, without saying it openly.
  
  Let's look at this word: וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם - Veshachanti Beh Tocham - and I may dwell amongst them. The word Shachanti has a root of שָׁכֵן - shachen - neighbor. It is as if Hashem wants to be our neighbor, He wants to have His home amongst us. 
  
  Really, Hashem as a neighbor? That sounds cool! But in order to prepare a home for Hashem so He can be a neighbor, how do other existing neighbors feel living around us? Do neighbors suffer living there, or do they enjoy their life?
  
  What is a shul? Shul is a place where neighbors within a radius of around 5 to 15 blocks of walking distance gather together, and try to co-exist in and out of that establishment, and offer prayers in unity to G-d for the next 1-4 hours. 
  
  And while there, what do you think Hashem hears from this crowd in their prayers? 
  
  There may be more, but let's look at these two possible scenarios:
  
  Scenario 1: Someone’s prayer would be that he was wronged, ruined financially, with a stained reputation, and has an unbearable life in that neighborhood because of the lasting effect of the campaign against him, even after the dust had settled.
  
  Scenario 2: Someone’s prayer would be that the person is blessed to live in this neighborhood and to know those few individuals or the community who helped him when he was going through the hard times. The prayer would also be that he enjoys the thought of being associated with this crowd. There are plenty of gratitude, warmth, and great vibes coming from the members of that community as a whole.
  
  In my opinion, Hashem would think twice before joining the crowd in Scenario 1, since the congregants there are far from being the type Hashem would want to associate with.
  
  Be it a shul, kollel, or some social setting - which scenario do you find yourself in or are part of?
  
  As I mentioned before in this essay: Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue - the solution described would be the way to stop evil and eradicate it from our midst. Only then can we fulfill this pasuk—Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell amongst them. Otherwise, evil will continue to live, thrive and go unpunished, since we, the community, are not doing our part to fight it.
  
  Shmuel Katanov
  
  

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• The Sound Of The Clock or The Golden Menorah

  Jun 26, 2024 Admin 0 Comments

  Have you ever tried to hear the sound of a clock?
  
  In Parashat Terumah 25:31-40, "Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu to build a Menorah from a pure gold, hammered out shall the Menorah be made." The Hallacha says that if parts of it were made separately and then attached later on to make it look like one piece, this would make the Menorah not kosher and not fit for the service. Midrash Tanchuma tells us even more interesting details. Moshe could not visualize how the Menorah should look, so Hashem showed a Menorah of fire. Even then, he could not understand how to make it, so Hashem told him to throw the ingot, a huge solid chunk of gold, into the fire, and voila! A completed golden Menorah emerged from the fire, as explained by Rashi. 
  
  So, why must the Menorah be made from one solid piece of gold? And why does it need to be hammered out to give it the shape and look of the Menorah? Let's try to answer these questions. 
  
  In Parashat Ki Tisa 32:1-5, when people approached Aharon HaCohen after killing Chur and asked him to make them an intermediary between them and Hashem. Aharon’s response was - Bring me the gold. He thought that till they go and get the gold from the ladies, who will not be very thrilled about the idea of parting with their jewelry, Moshe Rabbeinu would come. Just like he suspected - the women refused to give their jewelry, but he didn’t expect men to give their own instead. So, in no time, they have gathered the necessary amount of gold for their project. Aharon HaCohen threw that gold into the fire, and from that fire, the golden calf emerged.
  
  This is where I would like to analyze these two events closely. 
  
  Do you realize what happened? These two scenarios are very similar but with different outcomes and responses. When Moshe Rabbeinu was presented with a task he did not fully grasp, his response was, "I don’t know, or I am not sure and I have to ask Hashem," as it was in the making of the Menorah we have discussed above, also judging the cases like with wood-gatherer or blasphemer in Parashat Shelach and Emor. But Aharon HaCohen's response was, "Bring me the gold."
  
  I strongly believe that Hashem put Aharon HaCohen in this situation so that Aharon would turn to Heaven and ask Hashem for assistance, and this is where something amazing would have happened. Aharon HaCohen would have risen in the level of prophecy, Hashem would have answered him and made him much closer to Himself, to the point where he would have been not far away in prophecy from Moshe’s level. 
  
  Even in Parashat Balak, when the delegation came to Bilaam HaRasha to invite him to "bless the Jewish Nation," his first response was - I need to ask Hashem.
  
  But since Aharon HaCohen made the call and did not get Hashem involved, his closeness was postponed and has taken a different road. 
  
  By the way, how big was Moshe Rabbenu's level, or how close was he to Hashem? When Miriam and Aharon were discussing Moshe’s behavior towards his wife Tziporah, Hashem told them that they were nowhere near Moshe since he was - the trusted one in His house, and his level of prophecy was far above anyone. (Parashat Behaalotcha 12:4-9)
  
  Now, Hashem needs to bring Aharon HaCohen closer to Himself, but how can He do that? Aharon could have had that level by requesting help from Hashem, but since he did not turn to Hashem when he was in the situation of a golden calf, going forward, he had to put in the required work and years of effort to attain it.
  
  So, in Parashat Behaalotcha 8:1, Hashem commands Aharon HaCohen to light the Menorah and makes it a part of the daily service in the Bet Hamikdash, thus bringing him closer to Hashem.
  
  How do we know that Aharon HaCohen succeeded in this task and came closer to Hashem and those lofty levels?
  
  Centuries later, King David wrote in the Book of Tehillim, in Psalm 99: "Moshe, Ve Aharon be Kohanav, u Shmuel be Kore Shemo, Korim El Hashem Ve Hu Yaanem - Moshe and Aharon are among his priests, and Shmuel among those who invoke His name, they would call to Hashem and He would respond to them." King David confirmed in prophecy that Aharon HaCohen was able to accomplish that closeness with Hashem, and rose in the level of prophecy. 
  
  My dear reader, let me ask you a question. When you are in a situation where you can do good or evil, do you call out to Hashem? Do you ask Him for His opinion on how to respond to the situation you may be in? Do you bring the Torah knowledge or life experiences to your memory, the values you have been brought up with or learned in life, to ensure you make the best possible decision? 
  
  Hashem puts us in situations just to see the type of decisions we will make, and then we have to live and deal with those decisions and their consequences - be it man to man or man to G-d.
  
  Each of us hammers out his own Golden/Spiritual Menorah by the decisions we make down here on Earth. Every move we make, every decision we make, and every statement we make - slams and hammers out a dent on our own Menorah for Hashem to view in the spiritual realm, which is the only place where it is all truth, where one can't mask those dents, or lie about them. 
  
  Some have nice and symmetric menorahs - Kudos to them since lots of work went into them, and it's not an easy task. The rest of us may have very dented, twisted proportions and ugly-looking shapes. But these are our menorahs, and we keep on hammering away on them daily, hopefully bringing our menorahs to the right symmetry, and making them look nicer than they previously were. 
  
  Shhh..quiet down a bit and listen. Do you hear the sound of the clock—tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock? How does your menorah look? Do you think you'll have enough time to fix it?
  
  Our decisions of the past and in the future make dents that matter. Whether good or bad, it is our dents and responsibility - made by us and for us to fix. Decisions...an unending flow of more decisions pounding on us daily...it’s time to own up to those decisions. Maybe after 120, when we have had our chance to work on our menorahs, we won't be ashamed to view them, and we will be the Cohanim Gedolim of our Menorahs. We will light it daily in front of Hashem and come closer and closer to Hashem - just like Aharon HaCohen did. 
  
  So, now, do you hear the sound of the clock? It is always ticking away...nonstop, without skipping a beat, and not waiting for anyone. There's no way to stop it but to use it to our advantage. There's so much to fix and so little time to do it. How does your menorah look? Maybe the time has come to make the right dents?!!
  
  Shmuel Katanov

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• The Symbol of Loyalty

  Jun 5, 2023 Admin 0 Comments

  In Parashat Nasso 5:11-31, Hashem tells about a woman who is suspected of adultery by her husband. I assume you know the details... So the husband takes her to the Bet Hamikdash to see a Cohen for the test. A Cohen gives her a drink of bitter waters; if she is guilty, she dies there, but if she is not, she is blessed with a child.
  
  We have another incident of the bitter waters in a different parsha. In Parashat Beshalach 15:23-25, right after the Am Yisrael goes through the Yam Suf, the nation becomes thirsty, but couldn't drink the waters of the Marah, since they were bitter. So they asked Moshe, who, in turn, asked Hashem. And Hashem showed him a piece of wood, which he threw into the water, and it became sweet. And.. the nation drank. 
  
  There's something about this piece of wood. So, let's look at it closely.
  
  Have you ever wondered why Aron HaKodesh or the Holy Ark looks this way? - click here
  
  In Parashat Terumah, we are told about the details of the Holy Ark. A wooden box covered with gold from the inside out. On the box cover, there are two golden figures of angels—Keruvim—facing each other, their wings spread forward. Inside the box are two sets of Luchot - the 10 Commandments. And on the side of the box, two golden loops on each side, through which wooden poles covered with gold were inserted. The ends of each pole are wider than the openings of the loops, so the poles cannot be inserted through the loops. The Zohar says a miracle occurs, and the poles pass through the loops miraculously. 
  
  It is a very holy and mystical structure, where every part of it represents something.
  
  The tablets containing the 10 Commandments inside the box represent a Ketuba, a marriage contract. When a man and a woman get married, they receive a Ketuba; the 10 Commandments are a Ketuba between the nation of Israel and Hashem, since on Shavuot, when we receive the Torah, Hashem marries the nation of Israel. 
  
  Each wedding ceremony or chupa has 2 witnesses, and the two Keruvim—the golden angels atop the Holy Ark — also serve as witnesses. Every time Cohen HaGadol enters Kadosh Kedoshim on Yom Kippur, based on certain signs of the Keruvim, he determines whether Hashem is happy with the way the nation is leading its way of life.

  The wooden poles are covered in gold on the sides of the Holy Ark, which represent man and woman, or to be exact, a husband and wife. Why are the poles covered in gold, you ask? Simple...what is Tzeniut or Modesty? When a couple follows the laws of modesty in front of Hashem, they are covered in gold. But, by uncovering themselves or dressing immodestly, they are displaying their wooden-like bodies, since wood and the human body are physical products of Earth, which makes them appear lowly in G-d's eyes.

  
  So, there you have it - two wooden poles, covered in gold, miraculously inserted into the rings, as the Zohar says. The Torah adds: And the poles shall never be removed... But suppose the wife removes her golden wrapping, abandons her position on Holy Ark, and is suspected of having relations with someone other than her husband. In that case, the Torah requires her to undergo a test with bitter water. If she is guilty, she dies; if she is not guilty, she is blessed with a child, and Hashem wraps her back in gold and restores her to her former position.

  
  And this makes the Holy Ark as a  symbol of Loyalty between Husband and Wife and between the Nation of Israel and Hashem. 
  
  The Midrash says Leviyim carried the Holy Ark by holding the poles from each side. Further, it adds that it is not the Leviyim who carried the Ark, but it is the Holy Ark that carried the Leviyim in the desert. 

  
  So it is, with the husband and the wife. When the couple gets married or later in life, they dedicate their lives, their whole existence, to Kabbalat Ol Malkhut Shamayim – Accepting the Kingship of Heaven, by following G-d's laws and leading a family based on Torah values. And just as the Ark that carries the Leviyim, in the same way, it is not the couple that carries the burden of the Kingship of Heaven, but the Kingship of Heaven carries the couple through their journey of life, by overflowing them with holiness, abundance, and constant miracles. 
  
  Shmuel Katanov
  
  (The Bitter Waters of the Sotah)

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• Из-за Денег или Аз Баҳри Пул

  Feb 11, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

  В Книге Деварим 21:1-2 говорится:
  וְיָצְא֥וּ זְקֵנֶ֖יךָ וְשֹׁפְטֶ֑יךָ וּמָדְדוּ֙ אֶל־הֶ֣עָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֖ר סְבִיבֹ֥ת הֶחָלָֽל׃ כִּי־יִמָּצֵ֣א חָלָ֗ל בָּאֲדָמָה֙ אֲשֶׁר֩ הי אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ נֹתֵ֤ן לְךָ֙ לְרִשְׁתָּ֔הּ נֹפֵ֖ל בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה לֹ֥א נוֹדַ֖ע מִ֥י הִכָּֽהוּ׃ - "На земле которую даст вам Г-сподь, если вы найдёте тело которое лежит в открытом поле, и вы не знаете кто убийца, то старейшины города должны выйти и определить к какому городу тело лежит ближе, и значит тот город является виноватым в убийстве этого человека."
  
  Почему Тора считает город виноватым в смерти этого человека?
  
  Чтоб ответить на этот вопрос, давайте посмотрим что произошло с этим человеком.
  
  Чужеземец пришел в город, и чтобы найти себе на пропитание пошёл на базар. Проходя по базару, прося милостыню у прохожих и заходя в лавки к торговцам, он не получил от них не единого гроша, куска хлеба или глотка воды. Уставший от скитаний, проголодавшись и утомлённый жаждой, он вспомнил что по дороге в этот город он проходил по полю которое находилось между двумя городами, и он решил собраться с последними силами и пойти в соседний город с надеждой получить там свой кусок хлеба.
  
  Как говорится в произведении Ильяс Малаева, песня исполненая Авраам Толмасовым - Бахри Пул:
  
  Пул набошад дар барат, ҳеч кас намедиҳад салом,
  На ки меҳмондўстию, на ҳурмату, на эҳтиром,
  На зиёфат, на муроъат, на ки чою на таом,
  Дойимо барпо шавад ҳар муддао аз баҳри пул.
  
  И вот он в пути в другой город за куском хлеба. Иссякая силами, уставший и голодный, еле еле он плетётся в другой город, но не дойдя до цели, он падает и умирает на пол-пути в поле.
  
  Тахтаю тобут пулу, гўру кафан ҳам пул, бидон,
  Мурдашўю сангу гўрков-пул, ба ғайри мункирон,
  Дар барат гар пул набошад вақти мурдан, ногаҳон,
  Мурдаат дар кўча монад бенигоҳ, аз баҳри пул.
  
  И вот его тело лежит в открытом поле одно без присмотра и его находит другой прохожий, проходивший мимо, зовёт старейшин чтоб те позаботились об умершем.
  
  Закон гласит - что старейшины должны измерить расстояние от тела до ближе лежащего к нему города. И тот город к которому тело ближе находится, старейшины должны оповестить его о том что они всецело виноваты и на них кровь этого человека. Тогда старейшины города из которого вышел этот бедняк, приведут с собой молодого телёнка который в первом году жизни и которого хозяин ещё не эксплуатировал. Они ломают шею телёнка топором, моют над ним руки провозглашая - "Прости нас странник, что мы не знали что ты был в нашем городе, что ты нуждался, и хотел есть и пить, и прости нашу молодёжь которая была на рынке и к которой ты подошёл, но они не ответили на твой зов и не услышали твой крик о помощи и не помогли тебе. Если бы мы знали что ты в городе и видели бы тебя, то конечно мы помогли бы тебе, накормили и напоили бы тебя, и дали бы в дорогу денег. Пожалуйста прости нас, наших детей и всех жителей нашего города." Только проделав этот обряд, Тора говорит что душа умершего находит покой и это будет правильно в глазах Г-спода и этот акт уберёт вину от людей всего города, как сказано в Деварим 21:1-9.

  
  Господа - на нас лежит ответственность за наших стариков и тех семей нуждающихся в материальной помощи. Мудрецы уже дали нам самые оптимальные способы как это сделать. Человеку нужна работа - помогите ему устроиться на работу - сделав пару звонков и став его гарантом, кто-то хочет открыть своё дело но не имеет достаточно средств - станьте его партнёром и наставником в этом деле, семьям не хватает с пропитанием - помогите и там.
  
  Велика заслуга человека который денежно помогает но не знает кто получит его добро, а те в свою очередь принимают но не знают от кого оно. Этим сохраняя достоинство и не унижая честь человека которым необходима помощь. Любая оказанная помощь, возвращается дающему и его потомству многократно. И награда этой мицвы гарантированна самим Вс-вышним и Он призывает нас испытать Его в этом.
  
  Таърифи он шахси пулдор ки, саховатпеша шуд,
  Меҳри худ дар мардумон доду, худаш дилреша шуд,
  Маст нагашту, соҳиби хоксорию андеша шуд,
  Дон ки, ў гашт одами ақли расо аз баҳри пул.
  
  Дўсти ҷонӣ, дўсти пул ҳеч вақт нагардад дар ҷаҳон,
  Фарқи дўсту, фарқи пулро, аз ҳама афзал бидон,
  Сер шавад инсон, зи обе қатраю, як бурда нон,
  Баҳри ин, Илёс бигўяд:“Ҳар хато аз баҳри пул“
  
  - Шмуэль Катанов
  
  

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