{"id":2194,"date":"2014-02-07T11:50:35","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T17:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/?p=2194"},"modified":"2015-01-14T15:32:23","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T21:32:23","slug":"sure-it-would-be-nice-to-study-torah-but-i-have-so-little-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/?p=2194","title":{"rendered":"Sure it would be nice to study Torah. But I have so little time …"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"aron_kodesh\"1. “THEY SHALL MAKE FOR ME A TEMPLE \u2026 MAKE AN ARK (FOR THE TABLETS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS) \u2026 TWO AND A HALF BY ONE AND A HALF BY ONE AND A HALF \u2026 (25:8-10)<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was after the Exodus. The Jews are traveling through the desert.<\/p>\n

And they build a Temple. With a menorah. An altar.<\/p>\n

And the Ark. Containing the Ten Commandments.<\/p>\n

The Torah tells us the exact size of each one.<\/p>\n

And Jewish tradition sees a lesson in these details.<\/p>\n

\u2026 Because it seems a little strange.<\/p>\n

How each of the measurements uses whole numbers: \u2018x\u2019 by \u2018y\u2019 by \u2018z\u2019.<\/p>\n

Except the Ark.<\/p>\n

\u2026 It\u2019s all fractions. 2\u00bd by 1\u00bd by 1\u00bd.<\/p>\n

Why do it that way?<\/p>\n

The answer is that the Ark held the two tablets of the Torah. And there\u2019s a message here.<\/p>\n

\u2026 About Torah study.<\/p>\n

Because sometimes we say to ourselves:<\/p>\n

\u2018Sure it would be nice to study Torah. But I have so little time.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s the point of starting now? After all these years?<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s face it. I can\u2019t possibly learn all there is to know.<\/p>\n

So why even start?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2026 It may sound reasonable.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n

Because the measurements of the Ark tell us something.<\/p>\n

\u2026 That it\u2019s important to start. To do what we can.<\/p>\n

Because the Torah has so much wisdom.<\/p>\n

So much to teach us about everyday life.<\/p>\n

That even if we won\u2019t get the whole thing. We\u2019ll get a fraction.<\/p>\n

\u2026 And the fractions are valuable.<\/p>\n

And they add up.<\/p>\n

2. “MAKE AN ARK … IN THE ARK PLACE THE TESTIMONY (THE TEN COMMANDMENTS) … MAKE TWO GOLDEN CHERUBS … AND THE CHERUBS SHALL BE HAVE THEIR WINGS SPREAD UPWARDS \u2026 AND THEY SHALL FACE ONE ANOTHER. (25:10-20)<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s got to be one of the most mystical Mitzvahs in the Torah.<\/p>\n

In the holiest part of the Jewish Temple \u2026 right on top of the Ark with the Ten Commandments \u2026 there were two golden cherubs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s mystical. But Jewish tradition also brings it down to earth.<\/p>\n

Explains its symbolic meaning with a very powerful lesson.<\/p>\n

\u2026 The Cherubs \u2013 on top of the commandments \u2013 were a reminder to us of what it means to be holy.<\/p>\n

That it\u2019s not just about “wings pointing upwards”.<\/p>\n

About the \u2018laws between man and G-d.\u2019 Prayer. Study. And rituals.<\/p>\n

\u2026 It\u2019s also very much about how we deal with others.<\/p>\n

“And they shall face one another.”<\/p>\n

Because holiness is also about how we look at someone else.<\/p>\n

The smile. The love and compassion. And the friendship that shows on our face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. “THEY SHALL MAKE FOR ME A TEMPLE \u2026 MAKE AN ARK (FOR THE TABLETS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS) \u2026 TWO AND A HALF BY ONE AND A HALF BY ONE AND A HALF \u2026 (25:8-10) It was after the Exodus. The Jews are traveling through the desert. And they build a Temple. With a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-chicago-torah-network-shabbat-fax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2194"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2768,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}