Shabbat-B'Shabbato – Parshat Pekudei
No 1514: 29 Adar I 5774 (1 March 2014)
AS SHABBAT APPROACHES
The Tabernacle of Testimony - by Rabbi Mordechai Greenberg, Rosh Yeshiva, Kerem B'Yavne
The sages have taught us, "Let the gold of the Tabernacle come to atone for the gold of the Calf."
Here is what Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook wrote about the month of Tammuz: "In every generation, the worship of the Golden Calf will surround the broken pieces of the Testimonial Tablets." This is quite a remarkable statement – are the Tablets shattered again in every generation because of the Golden Calf?
"Two wealthy people came into the world – Korach from Yisrael and Haman from the other nations. And both of them were removed from the world, since their riches were not a gift from the Holy One, Blessed be He, but rather wealth that they grabbed on their own." [Bamidbar Rabba Matot]. But how does one take something from the Holy One, Blessed be He, if He does not want to give it? The answer is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, provides every person with the resources that he or she needs in order to fulfill his appointed task in the world. When the person fulfills his mission and utilizes his possessions to perform his proper labor the wealth is appropriate for him, but when the money becomes a goal of its own and the person's objective is to gather as much money as possible, he is guilty of taking the money without justification. Money of this type will not remain in his possession.
"The same is true of the tribes of Gad and Reuven, who were very wealthy and who were fond of their money. They were therefore the first ones of all the tribes to be sent into exile. Why was this? It was because they parted from their brethren, because of their many possessions." [Bamidbar Rabba, ibid].
"One who desires lust will be separated" [Mishlei 18:1]. One who regularly is interested only in lust is seeking pleasure and is selfish, and he always suspects that another person who comes close to him wants to take something away. He is therefore not able to connect up with anybody else and remains alone. That is how the children of Gad and Reuven were separated from all the others, because they loved their own wealth. The Second Temple was destroyed because of unfounded hatred, and the sages taught us at the end of the Tosefta of Manachot, that "the people loved their possessions and hated each other." Love for wealth leads to hatred of people.
In a letter that Rav Kook wrote to his father-in-law, the "Aderet," he writes of his worry about the status of his generation. "I worry about what is written in Sifri for Haazinu, 'And its land was filled with gold and silver' [Yeshayahu 2:7] – this refers to three generations before the coming of the Mashiach." He was referring to the Midrash quoting the verse, "And Yeshurun became fat and kicked" [Devarim 32:15]. "They will be sent down in response to their satiation. And that is what you find before the days of the Mashiach. 'Yeshurun became fat and kicked.' This refers to three generations before the coming of the Mashiach, as is written, 'And its land was filled with gold and silver... And its land was filled with horses, with an endless number of chariots. And its land was filled with idols...' [Yeshayahu 2:7-8]." [Sifri]. This is a description of three stages of moral decay. The land fills with gold and silver, the wealthy people buy chariots and many other types of luxuries, and in the end the gold and the silver are transformed into idols. The result is unfounded hatred and divisiveness. And that happens in every generation. The worshippers of the "Golden Calf" lead to the shattering of the Tablets and the lofty ideals.
The way to mend this situation is to use gold and silver in a proper way, only as a means of serving G-d. And that is why the contribution to the construction of the Tabernacle is exactly half a Shekel. A Jew must never consider himself as being whole, he always needs to be completed with the help of his colleague. When a Jew donates half a Shekel to the Tabernacle, he is showing that he joins together with his colleagues in the service of G-d. And in this way he is able to atone for the worship of the Golden Calf and for the resulting divisiveness.
POINT OF VIEW
Schools are Obligated to Teach Moral Values - by Zevulun Orlev
Freedom of Expression for Teachers?
Recently, in reaction to a teacher in Kiryat Tivon who declared that the IDF is immoral and to the words of a Sheirut Leumi volunteer in Tzoran about the expulsion in Gush Katif, we have seen renewed interest in the controversy about the limits of political discussions in educational institutions. Just what is a teacher allowed or not allowed to say to the students with respect to controversial political issues? Because of the importance of this issue, the Ministry of Education has appointed a committee to deal with it.
Do teachers really have freedom of expression when they are performing their duties in the classroom, since this is considered one of the basic freedoms of democracy? There is no doubt that the parents have an unequivocal right to teach their children moral values, faith, and their own world outlook. The law revokes the privileges of parenthood only in extreme cases of physical or spiritual danger and not because of moral values of the parents. But what about school? The answer to this is connected to the essence of the educational system. It entails such factors as the limits of responsibility to form the personality, the behavior, the world outlook, the values, and the faith of the students, together with responsibility to the country, its Jewish heritage, and its democratic ideals.
Those who feel that the only purpose of the school system is to impart knowledge and teach facts, as is the accepted norm in universities, will claim that a teacher has no business getting involved in ethics. I am happy to say that such people are a tiny minority in our country. The vast majority of the people feel that schools have been established first and foremost to teach moral values, and that imparting facts and knowledge is only a secondary goal. They feel that it is necessary to set limits to the freedom of expression of the teachers in terms of morality and values, faith, and world outlook. According to this approach, school is not to be considered a university or to encourage a "Hyde Park" atmosphere.
The Basics of Unity: Security, Economics, and Culture
Our existence as a sovereign state depends on our ability to work together in realms that will help to guarantee our future. As far as I am concerned, there are three areas: security, economics, and culture. Remove one of them and you may weaken the basis for our existence and even lead to destruction. We note the following about these three factors. Security – If not enough people participate, being ready to sacrifice their lives for the defense of the country, we are in existential danger of losing a future war. Economics – If we cannot collect taxes, we will not be able to maintain government systems, such as those supplying water, electricity, food, education, health, welfare, housing, and military resources. Culture – If we don't maintain a broad consensus about the Jewish-Zionist ethos, the fact that Israel is the national state of the nation of Yisrael, a commitment to the democratic form of government, Jewish identity, and a single language – matters might disintegrate to such an extent that the Jewish home may be lost.
The task of the educational system is to teach a world outlook, values, and faith to its students, in order to guarantee the achievement of the above three principles. No teacher is allowed to veer away from them at all, and in these matters there is no freedom of expression. What takes precedence instead is the right of the Jewish nation and the State of Israel to exist, over and above any individual rights or freedoms. School is not the UN and not even the Knesset. Therefore, there is no room in the educational system for anybody who teaches that one should avoid serving in the IDF and refuse to pay taxes, thereby undermining the foundation of the Zionist-Jewish-democratic ethos. There is no need for a public committee to set the limits. The Law of the Goals of Government Education (which I had the privilege of updating in the year 2000 as Chairman of the Education Committee in the Knesset) establishes clear limits in these matters.
Education by Law!
To clarify matters and in the interests of brevity, I will take as examples four out of the eleven sections of the law.
(1) To teach a person to love other people, to love his nation and his land, to be a faithful citizen of the State of Israel, to honor his parents and his family, and his heritage, his cultural identity and his language. (2) To instill the principles of the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel, and the value of the state as a Jewish and democratic country, and to develop a respectful attitude towards human rights, basic freedoms, democratic principles, observance of the law, the culture and the outlook of others, and to educate towards the ideas of striving for peace and tolerance in relationships among men and among nations. (3) To teach the history of Eretz Yisrael and the State of Israel. (4) To teach the Torah of Yisrael, the history of the Jewish nation, the heritage of Yisrael and the Jewish traditions, to impart the awareness of the Holocaust and Jewish courage, and to teach honor and respect for others.
This law prohibits teachers from disseminating propaganda and attempting to influence the students to vote for a specific political party, but there is no limit placed on education for faith and a world outlook. A teacher should not feel that he is a messenger who is free to do as he pleases, no matter what his opinions and political positions are. In his role as a teacher, he is a messenger of the public, obligated to teach the students in Israel as required by the Law of the Goals of Government Education, which will serve to guarantee our future. He is required in line with government policy to fulfill the national goals. Education does not entail the politics of guile and "tricks." In education, it is impossible to flee from the obligation to teach on the basis of a moral vision.
We must therefore demand from the Ministry of Education that they make a show of public courage, without blinking an eye. The Ministry must demand unequivocally that the teachers fulfill their proper positive role in educating the students in a way that is faithful to the nation, the State, and the Jewish heritage. The limits are clear, and all that remains for the new committee is to fill in the details, including a detailed operating plan and the sanctions to be imposed for noncompliance.
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A note from Rabbi Yisrael Rozen: I ended last week's article by stating that the raw materials of the Tabernacle were from the realms of the mineral and the animal, but not from the vegetable realm. Many readers corrected this statement. In fact, I was referring only to the quoted verse, but even this verse includes "linen."
LET YOUR WELLSPRINGS BURST FORTH
"Do not Spare any Empty Vessels" - by Rabbi Moshe Shilat, Director of "The Torah of Chabad for Yeshiva Students"
"And one woman from among the wives of the prophets called out to Elisha, saying, 'Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know very well that your servant feared G-d. And the creditor has come to take my two children as slaves." [Melachim II, Chapter 4].
In one of his shortest and most exciting essays, the Elder Rebbe explains the words of Elisha to the wife of the prophet, when she complains that he died and left her in abject poverty, with many debts, and that the creditors have come to take her children away as slaves ("Short Articles," page 136).
The weeping is a cry of the soul. Every soul is "one woman," who is united with her husband – the Holy One, Blessed be He. It is called "one of the wives of the sons of the prophets," because the achievements and clinging to G-d that the soul experienced in the Garden of Eden are close to the level of a prophet. When the soul was dressed in the body, it moved farther away from the Living G-d, and it therefore yells out to the Holy One, Blessed be He, "Eli-Sha" – "My G-d, turn to me and help me!" "My husband has died" – the holy flame within me ("eishi," my flame, is similar to "ishi," my husband) has died. The evil inclination, who is the creditor (where the word "nosheh" is related to forgetting), which causes me to forget the Divine, has come to take away my two children – to take control of my love and my fear (the spiritual traits are called "children," offspring of the mind) and to transform them into strange lusts, into worldly matters.
"And Elisha said to her, what can I do for you? Tell me what you have in your house. And she said, your maidservant has nothing in the house except for a vial of oil."
Eli-Sha, the Holy One, Blessed be He, replies to the soul, "After you have delved so deeply into the depths of the impure shells, how can I help you? Tell me what you have in your house. What forces have remained holy to G-d and are not under control of the evil inclination?"
"And she said, Your maidservant has nothing." I have no forces of holiness left, for the evil inclination has taken them all away from me. "Except for a vial of oil" – all I have left is a vial of pure oil, the essence of the soul which remains hidden in an internal spark within the heart.
"And he said, go and borrow vessels for you from the outside, from all of your neighbors. Take empty vessels, do not spare any."
"Go and occupy yourself with Torah and the mitzvot, which are the garments of the soul." That is what how the Rebbe interprets this verse. "Do this even though the vessels are empty, that is, perform them at first even without love or fear."