Parashat Tetzaveh

Shining the Light Outward 

On Tuesday at this year’s Rabbinical Assembly Convention, Jewish Theological Seminary Chancellor Arnold Eisen was drawing some conclusions about the week’s Torah portion and how they related to the RA Convention’s theme this year, which was “Religion and the Public Square.

In the parashah, God describes to Moses the specific details of the vestments of Aaron and his sons—who are to be the priests. Pages of detail are devoted to the description of the weaving of the cloth and the preparation of the breastplate. Fibers, colors and design are intricately illustrated for us. We learn of the placement of the name of each tribe under its appropriate stone and of the Urrim and Thummim--two oracular entities--which slip inside the breastplate to help the priests divine God's will. The parashah details how these breast pieces will hang on the ephod, an apron sort of structure woven in high detail with gold, blue, purple and crimson yarns, and more stones. We learn the specifics of the headdress, the overtunic, the undertunic, the sash, the embellishments at the hem of the garments. And on.

This is followed by the sanctification ritual—the smicha—the ordination, if you will—of these men into the priesthood. The ritual is filled with sacrifices of the choicest flour and animals without blemish. Oil is poured over their heads as an anointment. Blood is sprinkled on the altar in a very specific rite, and then sprinkled on Aaron and his sons as well. The parashah completes with instructions, again, in minute detail, for the making of the altar.

This parashah follows on the heels of two previous parshiot which describe, also in vivid detail, the construct of the Tabernacle: the moving sanctuary in which God’s presence will rest as the Israelites move their camp through the desert. In the center of the Tabernacle is the Holy of Holies—that innermost in which will be housed the tablets of the law, and upon which will be the specific place where God’s presence will rest as God

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guides the Israelites. The Holy of Holies may be approached only by Moses, or by a Levite: a descendant of Aaron. And then, one may only approach after one has purified himself—another detailed ritual. Falling short of the specific preparations will result in one’s death. This instruction of how to build the tabernacle and how to prepare the Levites for the priesthood will continue for two more parshiot, interrupted next week by the story of the golden calf.

Five weeks are devoted to a description that is filled with a level of specificity that would drive an engineer to drink. For five weeks we turn our attention away from the traumatic memory of our enslavement in Egypt and the frightening moment that confronted us when we arrived at the Sea of Reeds. After making it through to the other side of the Sea with our freedom, and a short pause to sing our gratitude, we are plunged into five weeks in which our focus is completely internal, completely on the details of fulfilling God’s command to build a sanctuary.

What was it that Chancellor Eisen worked to communicate to us? He was frustrated by the irony of the internal focus of this week’s parashah—in a string of parshiot which focus on the internal demands of our Jewish holy life—as compared with the outward focus that was the theme of this week’s RA Convention: Religion and the Public Square. Our tradition tells us to look to our weekly Torah reading for wisdom in every situation, and the deepest teaching of this week’s parashah is about going inward, while here we were at a convention whose aim it was to help explore and define, our relationship as Jews with the world around us, particularly in the political arena—the outward manifestation of our spirituality in the public.

He shared a teaching with us that I find most profound, a teaching of Talmudic sages Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Abahu. Regarding the building of our temples, Rabbi Yochanan said that the windows should be narrower on the outside and wider on the inside, to conduct greater light into our holy places. Yet Rabbi Abahu disagreed. He said that the windows should be narrower on the inside and wider on the outside, so the light from our temple goes out into the world. The light from our worship, from our meetings, from our prayer, from our personal inquiry, our God-struggles and from our self-discovery, all this light must go out and light the expanse of the world. For indeed, what is the purpose of study, of prayer, of our meetings? There is a great discussion in the Talmud between Rabbi Tarfon and his contemporaries (Kiddushin 40b). One of them asks:

            Talmud gadol o ma’aseh gadol?

What is better? Study or action—deeds? Rabbi Tarfon said: deeds are better.

Rabbi Elazar says: study is better.

            Ne’enu kulam v’amru: Talmud gadol, she-hatalmud mevee lidey ma’aseh.

All of them responded and said: study is greater, because it leads to action.

These sages and Rambam after them continue to confirm this point. Study is the foundation to action. So all of the time that we spend here in the synagogue, praying, learning, reaching out to others, planning in our meetings—all these are the study that leads us to act on behalf of making our world a better place.

So what is the message of Tetzaveh, with its intense emphasis on the garments of and preparation for the priesthood—this attention to minute detail, the precision of ritual? The teaching is that our focus within leads us to generate light without. The deeper we go into our internal selves through our prayer, our personal reflection, in our Torah learning, in our search for understanding of what is right and good, the more action we will be able to generate to the world without, so that ultimately the light we generate inside our temple will be ever wider as it leaves the synagogue than it is here within it.

How many times have we heard that we, the Jews, are to be an or l’goyim:  A light unto the nations? What this truly means is that we go to Judaism’s inner resources of prayer, study, discussion and reflection and we use them to learn the values of our tradition and its musar—its ethics. Then we take that learning—the Or L’Torah: the light of the Torah—in our actions to the outside world, raising the kilowatts in the public square to more fully radiate the wholeness of our tradition. Why? So that ultimately, our outer world more closely reflects the light of God’s innermost Holy of Holies in its purity, justice and righteousness.

How do we bring that light out? There are so many ways. We have a wonderful social action group here at Or Chadash that serves our local and world community in so many ways. And I know that each of you has commitments to various organizations and causes that work for this same goal. Yet I want to speak of the focus of the RA Convention, and the message that was given to us again and again by Sallie Meridor and Martin Indyk, the current and former Israel ambassadors to the US, respectively; by Dr. Ruth Wisse of Harvard, who’s new book is entitled Jews and Power; by House Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer; by Ambassador Dennis Ross, former special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton; by Michael Chertoff, the Secretary of Homeland Security; by Congressmen and women such as Shelley Berkley of NV, Allyson Schwartz of PA, Rahm Emanuel of IL, Steven Israel of NY, and more. In most cases, it was the Jewish identity of these individuals that pushed them to become public servants, and each of them acts on issues that affect us as specifically as Jews, like concerns for Israel’s economy and security, and the threat of Iran. Then there are the issues that affects each’s own conscience. For example, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of FL, is working on a bill that would prevent life insurance companies from discriminating against travelers to Israel. She herself was turned down for life insurance because she “might” be traveling to Israel, an area deemed by some life insurance companies as dangerous. She is working with her colleagues right now to promote legislation that would place a country in the list of “dangerous” if it were actively at war. When she applied for her insurance, Israel was not at war.

But regardless of the issue, whether in the Middle East or here at home, the message that was given to us is that we are needed right now to place our vote—through letters, phone calls, and meetings with politicians—for the well being of Israel and for the continued freedom of Jews in the US. Issues like prayer in public schools resurface. Did you know that a number of the Congressfolk spoke to us about a bill that pops up from time to time about Christmas, making its observance as a national holiday? These Congressmen and women told us that these bills are meaningless except to continue to remind the Jewish men and women of Congress that the rest of the Congress still sees them as Jews, and wants to remind them of that. They—we—are still the minority, and are, through subtle digs and pokes, aimed at being kept that way.

Yet while there are these issues that are obvious to us that we need to get behind as Jews, there are others that are less obvious. Take homeland security. More and more people on the hill see our security here as tied to the security of Israel. There are two motions afoot. One is Iran divestment. We must push our representatives to create and pass legislation that divests from Iran.  And more importantly, these lawmakers are demanding from us that we push for independence from foreign oil. They say this is the ONLY way that we—the US, Israel and the rest of the world, will cease to be threatened and terrorized by Iran and the Arab world. We may see this as an environmental issue, or an economic one, one that will boost our American economy. But it is also a Jewish issue and a world concern, and one that we have been asked to speak out about loudly and persistently.

We have also been asked to speak to our representatives about the health care situation in this country. The Reform Movement has recently launched the “Health Insurance for All” initiative, to promote state-level advocacy on universal health care. Whether you agree with the concept of universal health care or not, the underlying issue is that there are millions of people nationwide with no health care, and millions more with care that they can barely afford, or that ceases to care for them when they are in their moment of most severe need. We have been asked to speak up about a more just system of health care. You define the parameters that seem just to you, and write them in a letter to your Senator and Representative.

The issue of global warming was referenced in Chancellor Eisen’s address as well as by every single rabbi and almost every politician with whom we met. Over and over: Climate change. In the Resolutions sessions of the convention, a resolution was passed called “A Green Covenant,” calling for the greening of all Conservative synagogues. The Movement will assist us in calculating our synagogue’s carbon footprint as well as the carbon footprints in our lives at home and on the job, help us devise a plan of energy conservation and the use of renewable energy, and work to reduce our carbon footprints by 50% within a five year period. Added to this is the commitment to educate and advocate for carbon neutrality in all Conservative institutions. A part of this is the Men’s Club’s current Solar Ner Tamid Project. This covenant also includes supporting legislature that shifts from high-carbon to low-carbon energy production, planting trees here at home and in Israel, the support of habitat preservation, use of public transportation where applicable, and purchase of high mileage or hybrid vehicles. It is a very thorough and encompassing resolution that involved so much planning and commitment.

And of course, we have been encouraged to vote. Vote, vote, vote. Numerous public servants clearly expressed that each of the four [Ed: now three] potential presidential candidates supports Israel, each with a good record, each with variations. And while some individuals came right out and told us of their preferred candidate, others did not. Both Dennis Ross and Rahm Emanuel told us they hadn’t yet chosen, but they felt compelled to communicate that the Internet slander of Obama was not only putrid but incorrect, and that vis-à-vis Israel, where Obama lacks experience, he seeks knowledge and those with experience. We all know how supportive McCain is of Israel. Lieberman and so many others reminded us of that at the AIPAC breakfast. And that Huckabee has the largest number of visits to Israel of all of the candidates. And of course, we know the Clinton Administration’s support of the peace process, with which Hillary Clinton is aligned. Additional questions were asked of politicians and columnists David Brooks of the NY Times, Jeff Birnbaum and Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post, and Norman Ornstein of American Enterprise Institute, and each confirmed that each of the four candidates has rallied support from individuals about whom we have concern, either because of their political or religious alliances, while each of them has rallied support from individuals for whom we have respect. We are asked to judge the candidates with rigorous integrity and honesty, looking to their own communications as we make our decisions, and not to the press or remarks that are being made about them.

Finally, each rabbi was invited to meet with his or her Congressman or woman to speak about the issues I just summarized to you. I went to Representative Harry Mitchell’s office to meet with him, but unfortunately, he had been called to a vote on the FISA bill regarding surveillance, so I met with some of his staff members. I hope to hear back from Representative Mitchell in the near future.

What actions do we take to bring the light of our mishkan, of our temple, out to a wider beam in the world around us? I have highlighted a few important issues. Some we can do here in the congregation, as a congregation. Others require some research and letter writing. We can choose to do some of this as a congregation as well, if there is alignment with this concept. It takes focusing ourselves through our personal preparation, through our prayer and other rituals, to strengthen our focus on what is right and good. Then is takes action to bring that good to the world.

Chancellor Eisen’s final words to us were that as a Movement, we have been particularly lax in the work of tikkun olam, and that as a Movement, we must take this plunge in a substantial way. The public square is calling for us. Our voice is needed, now more than ever. Politician after politician implored us, telling us that messages from faith communities are valued much more highly than clergy or congregations can imagine, and that should we use our voices, they will be heard. It is our time to speak, to act. It is our time to shine out the light of our beliefs and our commitments, and work for a world that is just. Our light WILL be seen. And it WILL make a difference!