The Light of Creation is Eternal

Tetzaveh

Exodus 27:20-30:10

Précis: The parasha continues with a description of ritual items in the Tabernacle, including oil for the lamp, priestly clothing, the ephod, breastplate, robes, plate, and miter. Aaron and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar are designated as Priests and are consecrated with sacrifices and ceremony. The parasha concludes with a description of the daily sacrifices and incense to be offered at the Tabernacle.

Exodus 27:20 “And you will command the Israelite people to bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to burn regularly.”

This week’s reading makes a change from how the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and its equipment are to be made to how they are to be used in worship. As a kind of recapitulation of creation, God’s first command is to light a “ner tamid” (usually translated as “eternal light” because its oil was replenished every day, and kept burning all of the time).

“Light” has great prominence in the Bible. Light is called“good” in the Creation story. The most terrible plagues in the Exodus from Egypt take place in darkness. Midrash (Exodus Rabbah 36:2) suggests that God doesn't need light in the Mishkan, but that the ner tamid is for human beings so that "you can return light to Me as I give light to you."

Today, the ner tamid in our sanctuaries serves as a visible reminder that we are linked to the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and to the Temple in Jerusalem. Both were at the center of our ancestors’ worship. But perhaps even more important, since all of Creation began with light, the ner tamid is an ever-present reminder of the blessings of God’s on-going creation in which we play a part.

It's all about "us."

Terumah

Exodus 25:1-27:19

Précis: As the Israelites continue their journey through the wilderness, God tells Moses to ask the people for gifts to build the Tabernacle. “Terumah” (voluntary donations) of fine metals, yarns, skins, and woods are offered by the People. God gives Moses precise instructions as to the interior and exterior construction of the mishkan (tabernacle). Specific items include an altar for burnt offerings, curtain (parochet) to separate the main room from an inner sanctum, elaborate candlesticks, incense burners, and other tools. There will be a special Ark to be placed in an area called the Holy of Holies to house the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Precise measures are given for all spaces as well as specific materials designated for the composition of the mishkan.

Ex. 25:10-11 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold - overlay it inside and out - and make on it a gold molding round about.”

In a discussion of this verse, Nahama Leibowitz reminds us that the rabbis made good use of grammar as an important source of interpretation of the text. When the Torah commands the creation of the various ritual items used in the mishkan, the text uses a singular verb form (“You shall make”). When it comes to the fashioning of the Ark, God orders that “They shall make an Ark” (using the third person plural verb form).

The mishkan itself and the ritual items were visible to the People as the Priests went about the public rituals of Temple worship. The Ark, however, was hidden from sight, even though it contained the most holy of items, the tablets of law (which I’ve previously described as the Jewish People’s “mission statement”). Only the High Priest approached the Ark, and only on Yom Kippur. It remained hidden and invisible to all others. What is the connection between public/private and singular/plural?

One traditional commentary suggests that “They” means the entire Jewish People, to suggest that Torah is something in which every member of the People must take part, as opposed to the ritual tools, which were created and used by individuals.

In our modern world, our congregations are often decorated with stained glass and handsome ornaments to beautify our public, sacred spaces. Like the talented individual craftsmen of the Bible, the sanctuaries and ritual items we use today have been created by inspired individual artists. Inside the modern sanctuary, however, there remains an unseen core: our mission of fostering the teachings of our tradition and the mandate to work for a better world. This is an unseen task which we must do together. It’s a “third person plural” responsibility.