Can we do תפילות prayers for:
The Temple Institute?
So that through them The האור Light, רפואה The Healing and The ואהבה Love of ישועת יהוה Yeshuath YHWH may come back to הארץ The Land of Israel?![]() |
"And it was on the eighth day" (Leviticus 9:1) Nisan 28, 5772/April 19, 2012 13th day of the Omer Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day
G-d created the world in six days, and on the seventh
day He rested. On this basic tenet of creation our world exists. Yet this
past week's Torah reading opens, "And it
was on the eighth day" (Leviticus 9:1) Where did this eighth day
come from? What is it doing here? Of course, on the literal level, Torah is
referring to the day following the seven day inauguration of the Tabernacle
in the desert. The first seven days were a dry run, a full dress rehearsal
minus the presence of G-d's Indwelling, the Shechinah.
The Shechinah did not assume its place within the Tabernacle until the first of the month of Nisan, the day after the seven day rehearsal.
On a
deeper level, the eighth day referred to by Torah is not simply the day
following the first seven. It is, in fact, and by virtue of what took place
on that day, on what was made manifest
that day, a brand new day in creation. The day that
G-d's presence made itself manifest in our world was a day
like no other day before. It was an entirely new reality. The first seven
days weren't built for this. So G-d, in a manner of speaking,
had to necessarily create a new day in order to accommodate this new
reality in the world. This is the eighth day that parashat Shmini is referring
to.
In an
unrelated matter, the Zohar states that every time the Shechinah, the manifest essence
G-d's presence enters our world, the first moments are fraught
with turbulence and potential danger. This is an unavoidable metaphysical
reality. The Shechinah is so
powerful a force that we need to accommodate our world to its nearness.
Just as when we exit a darkened house into the bright light of day we need
to squint until our pupils can adjust to the intense brightness of the sun,
so too do we need to adjust our selves and our actions to the return of
G-d's manifest presence in our world. This is why
G-d warned the people against advancing on Mount Sinai in
anticipation of the revelation that was to come. And this is why
G-d prescribed precise actions to take place within the
Tabernacle, and indeed, the reason for the seven days of rehearsal: so that
the kohanim (priests) would conduct
themselves properly in the presence of the Shechinah and thereby avoid harm. Aharon's sons, Nadav and Avihu, in their excitement and fervor,
sidestepped these rules, and paid the price.
Today
we are likewise living in a reality that is utterly unlike the reality that
preceded it. This new reality is the state of Israel. After the long night
of exile, sixty four years ago the world woke up to the dawn of a new day,
a day unlike any other day that came before it. On this day, as on the
eighth day in the desert, the Shechinah began its long journey back to
our world. And just as that day was fraught with danger, so too, our new
day of the state of Israel is also fraught with danger. It is taking time
for all of Israel and for all of the nations to accept the reality of this
new day, to make the necessary changes in their modes of behavior and
manners of perception in order to fully appreciate and welcome the beauty
of this new day. Hence the prolonged turbulence which describes our recent
past and current events.
Just as
the new reality within the dedicated Tabernacle required a new day in the
world, the eighth day, so too, the new reality of the state of Israel and
the return of the Shechinah from
its long exile, requires new days that can reflect the new reality. In the
six weeks that fall between Passover and Shavuoth, (the holidays which mark
our physical escape from Egypt and our spiritual liberation in Torah), are
four new days that never occurred before in the history of creation. These
are Yom HaShoah, (Holocaust
Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron,
(Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers), Yom HaAtzma'ut, (Independence Day), and
Yom Yerushalayim, (Jerusalem Day).
Two of these days, Yom HaShoah and
Yom HaZikaron, are days that
reflect the danger and tragedy that accompany, inexplicably or not, the
return of G-d's Indwelling, the powerful healing light of the
Shechinah, to our world. The other two days, Yom HaAtzma'ut and Yom Yerushalayim, rejoice in the ever
increasing light of redemption that mark our times. These four days could
not have possibly existed prior to the birth of the modern state of Israel.
Likewise, the modern state of Israel, and
the state of the nations in light of the state of Israel, all could
not exist today without these four new days in
creation.
Here in
the land of Israel, we are reading this Shabbat the double Torah reading of
Tazria-Metzora. These portions pick
up precisely where Shmini leaves
off, firmly grounded in the new reality. Tazria-Metzora describes all sorts of
spiritual realities in the life of the nation of Israel and the individuals
that make up the nation, that couldn't possibly have existed before the new
reality of the eighth day. These spiritual realities which are so poorly
translated as "purity" and "impurity" and "leprosy" are nearly impossible
for modern man to grasp. Hence the dismal failure in translating these
ideas. But fully understand them or not, these are the very new realities
that we need to begin striving toward as we accommodate ourselves to the
new day in the world in which we are living. So many challenges lay before
Israel today. Not necessarily the challenges that we read about in the
morning papers, but the spiritual challenges that our return to the land
demand. Hidden from the journalist's pen and unreported by the politician's
leaks, far from the glare of the cameras, this spiritual journey is taking
place, day after blessed day. The situation is fragile and still fraught
with danger, and will be until the Shechinah has reassumed its rightful
place within the rebuilt Holy Temple. May
that new day come soon!
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What
exactly was the sin of Nadav and
Avihu, two upstanding sons of the
High Priest Aharon, who brought a
"strange fire" on the very day of
the Tabernacle's dedication? How can we avoid making the same mistake
today?
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Up
For The Count! Every day counts, if we count every day! The
seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot provide for us ideal time for
introspection and spiritual progress. Reflect upon your own soul and
burnish your Divine image.
Hanging
In The Balance: The great illumination of 'instant' freedom that
we experience on the Seder night so often seems to pass us by. Slaves
yesterday, free men today, we simply haven't the vessels to be able to
absorb the great chesed - loving kindness - and enlightenment that
G-d had blessed us with. For this we have Sefirat HaOmer
– the counting of the days of the Omer, that prepares us gradually
for the great re-illumination of G-d's light - receiving Torah
on Mount Sinai.
Sefirat
Ha'omer - Count For Yourselves! Forty-nine days that can change
your world: The forty-nine days between Passover and Shavuot, (between
leaving Egypt and receiving Torah at Sinai), are days laden with awesome
spiritual potential. The opportunity for growth is ours for the taking. We
must count our days and make our days count! The Temple Institute
celebrates the 49 days.
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View a brief slide show
depicting the barley harvest and the Omer offering during the time of the Holy
Temple.
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THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
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