Parshah Summary – P’sha
The parshah opens with Moses taking a census of the Children of Israel. Each person who is counted must contribute a makhazit hashekel – a half shekel of silver to the Sanctuary. Instructions are also given regarding the making of the Sanctuary’s water basin, anointing oil and incense. The “wise-hearted” artisans Betzalel and Aholiav are singled out as possessing hokhmat halev – “wisdom of the heart” – and are placed in charge of the Sanctuary’s construction.
Moses does not return when expected from Mount Sinai. The people lose faith, and make themselves a golden calf to worship. Hashem grows angry and proposes to destroy the errant nation, but Moses intercedes on their behalf. Moses descends from the mountain carrying the “tablets of the testimony” engraved with the Ten Commandments. But when he sees the people dancing about their idol, he breaks the tablets, and destroys the golden calf. He pleads with God: “If You will not forgive them, blot me out from the book that You have written.” Hashem forgives them, but says that the effect will be felt for many generations, and as they continue their journey, Hashem will not be with them; only an angel will accompany them. But, Moses pleads with Hashem to continue to accompanying them on their journey to the promised land. Moses prepares a new set of tablets himself (as opposed the first set which were inscribed by God). On the mountain, Moses is also granted a vision of the “Thirteen Attributes of Compassion.” When Moses returns, his face is so radiant that he must cover it with a veil, which he removes only to speak with Hashem and to teach Torah to the people.
Torah of Awakening
וְעָשִׂ֜יתָ כִּיּ֥וֹר נְחֹ֛שֶׁת וְכַנּ֥וֹ נְחֹ֖שֶׁת לְרׇחְצָ֑ה וְנָתַתָּ֣ אֹת֗וֹ בֵּֽין־אֹ֤הֶל מוֹעֵד֙ וּבֵ֣ין הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ וְנָתַתָּ֥ שָׁ֖מָּה מָֽיִם׃ “You shall make a basin of copper between the Tent of Meeting and the (outer) altar, and you shall put water there.” - Shemot (Exodus) 30:18, Parshat Ki Tisa
A hasid asked Rabbi Mikhal, “In Pirkei Avot (“Sayings of the Fathers” from the Mishna), we read:
אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם, הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר מִכָּל מְלַמְּדַי הִשְׂכַּלְתִּי... Who is wise? One who learns from every person, as it is said: ‘From all my teachers have I gained understanding…’ (4:1) “Why does it not say ‘One who learns from every teacher?’” Rabbi Mikhal explained: “The master who pronounced these words is intent on making clear that we can learn not only from those whose occupation it is to teach, but from everyone and everything. Even from one who is ignorant, or wicked, you can gain understanding about how to conduct your life.” A friend of mine used to earn a living as a handy person, doing light plumbing, carpentry, and so on. For a while, the jobs were easy for her. But one day, she was asked to do a job that baffled her. Instead of revealing that she had no idea how to fix the whatever-it-was, she accepted the job, went home, watched instructional videos about it on YouTube, then went back the next day and did the job; but that was just the beginning. After that, she began taking on more and more complex jobs. Her work became her school. There’s an analogue here to meditation: Just as the basic point of work is to receive physical sustenance in the form of livelihood, so the basic point of meditation is to receive spiritual sustenance – the inner nourishment that flows from Presence; that is, the practice of freeing consciousness from its ordinary identification with form. The most direct way to gain maximum benefit from meditation is to remove all distractions and simplify your life as much as possible. Do what you need to do to eat and have basic necessities, then devote your time and energy to your avodah, your meditation practice. But that would be analogous to taking only the easy jobs you already know how to do. Just as you could get paid the maximum amount by focusing all of your energy on working, rather than learning new skills, so too you will gain the maximum depth by focusing solely on your Jewish meditation practice and not spending time and energy on other life pursuits. But if it’s not enough to merely to get the sustenance, but rather you want to learn and grow in your ability to stay connected to the dimension of Presence even in the midst of life’s complexities, then distractions are not really distractions anymore; they are what you need to train. They are not a waste of time, they are your helpers on the path of becoming spiritually masterful. People tend toward one side or the other. Some resist the Eternal dimension available through meditation, preferring to stay busy and accomplish things. Others tend toward the other direction, seeing the drama of life as a distraction and withdrawing into solitude. Both are perfectly valid expressions of different kinds of personalities. And yet, even though these two personal inclinations are opposed to one another, they’re actually two sides of one coin. The inner sustenance that flows from solitude wants to express Itself; it wants to connect with life and sanctify it, which means to live in the world with Presence, with wisdom and love. בֵּֽין־אֹ֤הֶל מוֹעֵד֙ וּבֵ֣ין הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ – between the Tent of Meeting and the (outer) altar… The late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M Shneerson z’l, taught that the outer altar represents the transformation of ordinary life into a spiritual practice. The inner sanctuary represents your avodah – your meditation which is already a spiritual practice. How do we transform the ordinary into the sacred? We can do it by bringing any of the middot – any of the qualities of the Thirty-Two Paths of Presence to whatever we happen to be doing. And of all the Paths, the Path of ל Lamed, that is, the path of curiosity and learning from whatever the moment has to teach, is a wonderful place to begin (again and again), because with the Path of ל Lamed, we open ourselves to discover all the other paths which we might learn in any particular moment; the Path of ל Lamed can function as a “master path” in a sense. וְעָשִׂ֜יתָ כִּיּ֥וֹר... וְנָתַתָּ֥ שָׁ֖מָּה מָֽיִם׃ – You shall make a basin…and you shall put water there… This is why the kiyor – the water basin – is stationed between the inner and the outer. No matter whether we are engaged in meditation or in ordinary life, we need to inwardly “cleanse” our intentions so that the bright, egoless innocence of spontaneous curiosity can shine forth. How do we do that? כִּ֣י תִשָּׂ֞א אֶת־רֹ֥אשׁ בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם֒ – When you count heads of the Children of Israel according to their numbers… Being “counted” means being part of community life, part of the chaotic push and pull of multiple agendas and intentions… וְלֹא־יִהְיֶ֥ה בָהֶ֛ם נֶ֖גֶף בִּפְקֹ֥ד אֹתָֽם׃ – so that no plague may come upon them when they are counted… This life becomes a “plague” if your deepest being, that bright, egoless innocence of spontaneous curiosity, gets covered up and obscured. This can happen simply through the chaos of noise and stress, or it can happen through the domination of ego, that separate self that needs to be right, that needs to “already-know.” יִתְּנ֗וּ כׇּל־הָעֹבֵר֙ עַל־הַפְּקֻדִ֔ים מַחֲצִ֥ית הַשֶּׁ֖קֶל זֶ֣ה – This is what everyone who is entered into the counting shall give: a half-shekel… Everyone, rich and poor alike, give the half-shekel. Why? Because our unique self (represented by the letter ה hei) which we bring to the task at hand is only “half” the equation. The other half, which we all can bring equally, is the openness – what we might call “beginners mind” – that is, innocent curiosity, the willingness to learn. Every time we sit down and meditate, we give up our expertise. In every meditation session, we start at the beginning, so to speak; we open ourselves to learn, again, how to meditate. In meditation, we all (again) become equal. When we bring this “beginners mind” to our daily tasks, together with our conditioned expertise and unique offerings (as represented in Parshat Terumah), the two halves come together; the moment becomes Whole, and our inner and outer lives become One…
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