BS”D

Behaalosecha- The Menora and The Moznayim, The Scales of Justice

Dr M Bank

I would like to concentrate on the first 4 pesukim of the parsha. Chapter 8. It says as follows “ H said to Moses, speak to Aaron and say to him, when you kindle the lamps of the Menora, the seven lamps shall cast light. Aaron did so, towards the face of the Menora he kindled its lamps, as H had commanded Moshe. This was the workmanship of the Menora, hammered with gold from its base to its flowers it was hammered out, according to the vision that H showed Moshe, so did he make the Menora.”

There is not just material here for 1 hour, probably for millions of hours. How do the Menora and the Scales of Justice Balance in both worlds? Looking at the Menora, it is a seven armed candelabra. The scales of justice are seen as 2 arms hanging from a central fulcrum. The passage about the Menroa is placed after the long recitation about the tribal leaders. MIdrash Tanchuma, brought by Rashi, says that Aharon was amazed that every tribe was represented in bringing gifts to the new Mishcan, while he and the tribe of Levi seemed to be completely excluded. H comforted him by saying that the service of Aharon, the Cohanim and the Leviim was greater than all the gifts H had received because he would prepare and kindle the menorah every day. The descriuption of the prepapration of the Menora is in the present tense. The commentators explain, in olam haze and olam haba. That every day the heavenly Mishcan, Aharon or his neshama is preparing the Menora in Shamayim. Ramban explains that the Menora was singled out for this particular service and was even more auspicious than the Yom Kippur service of the Cohen Gadol going into the Kodesh Kedoshim There one person went into the holiest place once a year and saved the whole nation. Yet it seems based in part on the Tanchuma, kindling leads to a later miracle that would light up the world. The miracle of chanuka.

It says on the first day of the creation of the world H said “Vayehi Or. And there was light”. We imagine there was the sun and the moon that shone brightly. We are absolutely wrong. Why on the 3^rd day did H create the sun and the moon, the stars and the heavens? H created it with a word, the word Vayehi Or lit up the whole Universe. It was all like the inside of the sun. It was so bright we cannot comprehend it. From total desolation and nothingness, the Universe became like the inside of the sun, but the light did not burn. There is light that can incinerate and light like a searchlight that can light up the sky even on the darkest night. When H created the world, on the first day it was Vayehi Or. What happened to this light? It was hidden away for the tzadikim in the world to come (Gemora, Megilla). That light is called Or Haganuz. It is only exhibited in 4 very subtle ways in this world. We have to explore it;

(1) The mitzvah of Chanuka, which is symbolic of each Jewish home, a mishkan me’at. Each chanuka we light up the Menora counting the days of greater light. Fromlight to light. We are all delighted. We remove the darkness with just a tiny bit of quiet light. We glow in that light and radiate and contemplate, the miracle of Chanuka and the miracle of that or haganuz. How many lights are lit up? 36 – 36 points of light are brought to this world.

(2) There are 36 tractates in the Gemora - the light that lights up the written law. The oral law brings light to the written law. Without the oral law we wouldn’t know what to do. We would not know for example what tefillin are, how to put them on or what is inside them. There would be know way of knowing without the tradition given tongue to tongue from Moshe Rabbeinu up to today.

(3) The third point of light is 36 tzadikim in every generation. In their zechus the world continues.

(4) The fourth point of light is the light of Shabbos. There are 36 hours for Shabbos – 24 of Shabbos itself and 12 hours preparation before. Only those who prepare for Shabbos will have what to eat on Shabbos. That is a remez. Only those that prepare in this world will have what to celebrate in the next world.

The light of Torah and Mitzvos that we accomplish in this world, that is the light that we will delight in in the next world. Now we start to see that there is a certain din veheshbon going on with this light.

Only the faith and heroism of the Hasmonean family, a family from Aaron HaCohen, his descendants, would succeed in driving out the enemy, rekindling the Menora after the tragic darkness of all those years. H told Aaron, one day his tribe would save the nation. As impressive as the offerings of the tribal leaders were, they were only a one time thing. Aaron’s contribution would be every day for eternity. Lighting the Menroa was possibly one of the 613 mitzvos. Rambam suggests that the inauguration of the Temple took place after the Chanuka whereby the tribal leaders brought their special offerings. The offerings were dedicated or rededicated to the offerings of H’. Aaron did not partake in this, but H assured him that lighting the Menora was a constant thanksgiving offering. By kindling the Chanukia we rededicate ourselves to H’. This parsha is read on the last day of Chanuka. The Or Hachaim said that preparing the lights required that they be removed literally every day, so that Aaron was effectively building a new Menora, every day. This was the dedication of the Cohen Gadol, the Cohanim and Kol Am Yisrael.

Towards the face of the Menora

“Mul Penei Hamenora’ – towards the face of the Menora. How do you fathom that the Menora has a face. This is very curious. The two wicks on the right and the two on the left are all focused on the middle branch, focusing the light towards the centre. The Menora stretches outwards and symbolizes that H is the source of all light. The right represents spiritual pursuit while the left symbolizes thought and temporal activity. Both sides of the Menora give light towards the centre. All our effort both spiritual and academic must be dedicated to Avodas H’. Going to university and having a career is no less of a kiddush H than the Cohen gadol lighting the menorah. The workplace and the Beis Hamikdash are not two separate worlds, they are all part of our avodas H’.

Yesterday I was in a shop with the owner’s elderly father. A non Jewish customer who said he was a regular at the shop trying to get a refund for something that he had bought which was not the correct part. The owner’s father could not understand him. He only spoke Hebrew. The American customer said he was leaving on Yom Shevii, our Shabbos and urgently wanted the money he had paid for the thing which was unused. I was standing between 2 worlds. I explained to the shopkeeper’s father what the man wanted. He said that as it was not his shop, he could not authorize the refund, but his son should be back in an hour. The customer said that he had been a few times and every time he had missed the owner. The owner’s father went to find the son. The customer said that he was to busy to come back in an hour. As he walked out of the shop I walked out with him and tried to explain that maybe he could understand the other side of the situation. We carried on talking and he said you Jews are very interesting. Everyone who starts up with you people lands up in trouble. He said, look at world history. He said look at Saddam Hussain. He said he would destroy half of Israel and half of his country was destroyed in the first Gulf War. He tried to destroy the whole of Israel in the second Gulf War and he was put to death. Like Haman. I was startled. I realized that he was somewhat religious and started talking to him about the 7 Naochide Laws. He seemed quite interested. He said, I am leaving to go back to Washington in a few days. We are organizing a rally, going to the Whitehouse. We are going to shut down Washington. We have a grudge against Bush. I said what’s the matter? He said, there are a million Americans outraged at the way that Bush is treating Israel. Israel is made to stand in front of all its enemies, sacrifice land and take all these missiles and to take it gracefully. Imagine if that happened to America. If Cuba had started sending all these rockets to America. What would America have done to the Cuban people? How can we be expected to be more holy in the literal and figural meaning of the word, when terrorists riddle jewish bodies with bullets, R”L. We reflected what is going on in Iraq. As the world pressurizes Israel to surrender to terrorists, ironically H is forcing them to surrender to terrorism. It seems Iraq is lost, the Americans have lost the war and are ready to depart. Bush testified, Iraq is not like Vietnam, a distant jungle nation on the other side of the world. The war that we are fighting now is maybe more terrifying than World War I and II put together. Why? This enemy does not have a face. There is not a certain leader. Ironically, they still have not caught the man that fell the twin towers, Bin Laden. The richest, most powerful and sophisticated country in the history of the world in terms of technology, hasn’t been able to bring Bin Laden to justice. This is an enormous statement of the inability to conquer the East. Esav and Yishmael are in mortal combat for nothing less than the domination of the Universe. Measure for measure – the way that they treat Israel is the way that they are treated. The man said that it is no surprise to him the blessing that America has had over the last couple of hundred years because it has been the refuge from those who persecute Jews in the refuge box. This has been the place where they could come to recover from the wounds of world history. They could start for the first time in world history to be the Jews that the Torah commands. This can be seen by all the wonderful publications of Artscroll and Feldheim that speak the language of the Jew that doesn’t know Hebrew, doesn’t know the Alef Beis. Nobody is exempt from the nation. Every Jew has a pintele neshama, an infinite light. Even though its covered by so many klipot, the possibility of an encounter of an infinite kind to delight and enlighten his neshama to turn him to full faith in his creator. The man was quite upset with the treatment that he got and I had a terrible fear he would leave the shop saying ‘those money hungry Jews. This proves once again that their G-d is not the Almighty, but the dollar almighty. He didn’t say this, I just felt it. Just as we were talking outside the shop, the owner’s father runs out with what I couldn’t have imagined, three 10 shekel coins and 2 five shekel coins. He had his hand open and said to the man please take this. The owner had probably said, please Father, if he has the part give him his money back. The gentile was so amazed. Imagine if I had said, ‘what’s your problem mister, its only 40 shekels. Back off’. The number 40 is also a tikkun – 40 days on Har Sinai, davening for 40 days at the Kosel. Who knows what that 40 shekels meant to him in his relation with Jews in America, Israel and across the world. A tiny bit of goodness, refunding a man because he didn’t get exactly what he wanted. This Kiddush H weighs heavily on the scales in Shamayim.

This is in contrast to a Cohen Gadol who went into the holy of holies without being completely thought in mind and money. In the time of the second Temple, cohanim paid to get the honour of being Cohen Gadol and going into the Kodesh Kedoshim, but they didn’t come out alive. They would be taken out by a strong attached to their foot.

I would like to reflect on a true story that occurred on the midrechov, the Ben Yehuda walkway. How do I know the story? I’ll tell you how. There was a young man that had grown up in Maale Dafna. He was quite young when his parents passed away and as fate would have it, he left yiddishkeit and eventually left Jerusalem. He started working at a hotel in the Dead Sea. One Motzeiu Shabbos he came to Jerusalem top close a deal on a car that he was buying. He was meeting with a friend in the Midrechov. All of a sudden from a perfectly beautiful motzei shabbos, all Gehenom broke loose. Two huge suicide explosions ripping apart the midrechov. Dozens of dead, many many wounded. In a way it was one of the worst bombings, R”L. This young man, in his 20s, remembers hearing a terrible explosion and then been covered in fire. He somersaulted in the air, he was thrown about 20 metres in the air. IN that split second he said, H I do total teshuva. I will keep every mitzvah in the Tora. He collapsed on the floor and when he was found, he was in a pool of his own blood. They rushed him off to hospital. He was one of the worst victims of the suicide bombings and they had no hope for him. The x-rays showed a hundred nuts and bolts riddled his body. It would be like somebody taking a machine gun and riddling him with 100 bullets. They operated but it seemed hopeless. He was holding onto life by the skin of his teeth. For 3-6 months he was in and out of acoma. Eventually he woke up completely. He got out of bed and put a pair of tefilin on. After that he prays every dday. How do I know this? Because he is married to my secretary. His friend was hit by one bolt which, given where they were standing , could have hit him. It hit the friend in the base of the brain, rendering him quadriplegic. The guy was 20/21. Hye already met his fiancée but he was not religious enough. Something made them meet again, while he was recovering. The friend he was with was with him at the Chupa, and to this day he cannot move any limb in his body. He showed me – he had a ten agarot coin in his top left pocket. That coin was hit by a nail that was pointing directly at his heart. The coin was pierced between the right hand arm of the menora, and the second arm. A mystical understanding – the far right is called chessed, the second, gevura, which is din, judgement. If you look at the coin, the only one with the menorah, you will be dazzled how a screw could hit just there. We understand that in that millisecond, shamayim was judging him. Will it be din, death or chessed and rachamim, another chance. All 7 branches of the menor a represent a posuk in tehillim. Each one is one of the sefiros we count in sefiras ha’omer. This is a major tikun. In parshas Emor we discussed who the 7 leaders are. Each one is a tikkun. Malchius is the seventh, the middle light of the Menora. What is the opposite of serving the King? Being a slave of slaves. We were on the 49^th level down. Through the tikkun of the sefiros, we reached the 49^th level up. There was no opportunity to graduate to the 50^th level. Before Torah, if a person went through to the 50^th level it was actually destruction of the Bris Mila – having relations with a non-Jew. With Torah, H gave us Teshuva which could turn averos into mitzvos if done with all ones heart and all one’s soul. It can turn tragedy into triumph, darkness into light. If we keep all of H’s Tora, this world will be like Gan Eden.

Where does the light come from in the Mishcan?

The Menora is not just a beautiful light to light up the Mishcan and then afterwards the Beis Hamikdash. The light did not come from outside through the window. The windows had thin openings inside and were wide on the outside. The light radiated from inside out. The light of Torah would radiate into the world. Where was the light coming from ? The Aron, the holy of holies which did not have a Menora.

Five Senses

When we contemplate the 5 senses that H gave us, where are they situated? On the face. Let us contemplate for a second. All 5 senses have an opening. The ears for listening to Torah and avoiding loshon hora. H gave us the ear lobe to protect the ear. Many times I have seen people show that they are not interested in listening to loshon hora at all by taking their ear lobes and putting them into their ears. Aaron HaCohen was an ohev shalom and rodef shalom. He loved peace and pursued it. He would say to a husband, you have no idea how bad your wife feels about what happened yesterday. H would say to the wife, you have no idea how much your husband wants you back. Through this reconciliation, the marriage was saved. If people didn’t have the koach to say sorry themselves, he would act as a bridge to save the marriage and save the nation. The alter weeps when a marriage is dissolved. The person is not committed to the marriage for their own good. For what they can get out of it. A marriage like this is destined to self destruct. On the other hand, the ultimate level in serving H is to serve each other and to work together to serve H’ through creating a Bayis Neeman, through the law of Tora. This brings little miracles which becomes a great big miracle. This brings the next generation and the next generation in an unbroken chain, an infinite link for Am Yisrael and H. Veerastich Li H. We restate our marriage vow to H every day when we put the tefillin on. Shabbos is an ot of its own. We are away and come back to H for our honeymoon each week. Now all of a sudden we see the power of marriage and shalom. When we understand we can recognize the power of the light of Torah, that we are doing it leShem Shamayim, of rthe sake of H’. This is the central purpose in this world. There is infinite light to be shared with the rest of the world. We listen with all our hearts – Shema Yisrael. The next sense is the eyes – shemiras einayim. We look at divrei kodesh and are inspired. We see wonderful things going on in H’s world and have to praise H even for the tinniest creature, from the egg of an ant to the elephant. The genetic cholent of these would not work. Even something as close a donkey and a horse produces a mule which cannot breed. There is no second generation just like there is no second generation of somebody who rebelled against H with all his might. Seeing is believing. Even if we don’t see H, we see His evidence across Universe. The next sense is the sense of smell. We smell besamim, emanating from the kitchen – we feel Shabbos coming, olam haba coming to this world. On the other hand if you smell a non kosher restaurant, a person might have had this in his previous life, even if he thinks this smells tasty, he controls his teivas and his teva. If a person is in an elevator filled with the scent of a woman’s perfume, he might take the stairs. A Rav was in a taxi where somebody before had left a strong scent of perfume. He was careful not to breathe through his nose the entire journey so that he should not be influenced by these fragrances to have one tiny thought that isn’t perfect. Smell is a very powerful sense that can influence a person for good or for bad. Lastly but not least is the sense of taste. By tasting things one says a brocho on the food one eats. That H has given the miracle of taste. Imagine the tragedy of a person who doesn’t have a sense of taste. How can he enjoy the fabulous cheesecake on Shavuos, or a beautiful steak. On the other hand if he cannot control his desires he might become a cocaine addict, alcoholic or cigarette dependant. It could be somebody who eats something and doesn’t know the hechsher. They are a slave to tragedy. All the senses have an opening to the outside world. How many? We hear in stereo. We have bioptic vision. To see depth and colour. The infinite wisdom H given us to see and to have inner vision. Having that vision we can see things and understand them in the correct sense. H in his wisdom decided there should be 2 nostrils. Even if one is blocked, you can still breath. If you are at the dentist, provided you have one nostril clear you are still in business. The last, taste in the mouth. We should be no less careful of the hechsher for what goes into our mouths than we must take care as to what comes out of our mouths. Everything should have the best hechsher that we could get. These seven openings are seven lights radiating from the face of every person who chooses to walk in the path of H’. The radiance of Tora shines in his face. Sometimes you can see a glow on somebody’s face who is really inspired by Tora and you can say, this is living Tora. You see the Rosh Yeshiva walking past and you can see the energy, the simcha, radiates from his face, the Torah that he shares and is giving, you can feel the warmth that is experienced in this Yeshiva.

When Moshe Rabbeinu came down from Har Sinai, light was radiating from his face. It was so bright, that when he came out of the Ohel Moed, they had to put a veil over his face. The radiance of Torah shone from the most humble prophet the world ever saw. He spoke face to face with H’, not through sleep or through a dream. The relatinhsip H had with Moshe Rabbeinu was unique because he was Anav, he was the most humble person that will ever walk the face of the earth. His ratzon was only that of H’. Humility is not to say I’m nothing. Humility is when a person says my opinion counts for nothing, what H wants is what I want. That is humility. The parsha ends with Miriam – just one sentence about Moshe. It was in her zechus that Moshe came to this world. His parents decided to have no more children when Pharaoh decreed to kill all the Jewish boys. Miriam said, you decree is more harsh than the Pharaoh’s. He said no Jewish boys. You are extending that to daughters. They decided to have another child – that was Moshe Rabbeinu. Still, she was struck with Tzoraas. The Torah says, if a person’s father spat in their face, wouldn’t they feel terrible for a week. This is the emotion people should have if they even intend to speak Loshon Hora. It is not false, it can be true, but said in a way to denigrate the other person, to remove the kavod H’ in this world. All of a sudden, not the Menora or the outside light but the Torah lit up the Beis Mikdash. The glow of Aaron, that each and every person sees radiates out into the world so that the nations will say what a great and wise people. Each Jew is like a Beis Hamikdash and should set an example and bring the light of Torah and the light of H to this world.

This teaches every Jew to radiate the light of Torah, no less than the Menora in the Beis Hamiokdash, Bimheira Veyameinu, in which case we should be zoche to see the Mishcan and Beis Hamikdash return Bimheira Veyameinu, Mosge Rabbeinu, Moshiach Tzidkeinu, Aaron Hacohen lighting up that Menora and please G-d the Geula Shleima bimheira veyameinu.

A Good Shabbos to all.