TERUMAH 1995

In the Torah portion Terumah we learn about two objects that had to be made from one solid piece of gold.  In this Torah portion we learn about the building of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, and about the appurtenances that were placed in it.  We learn about the menorah and we learn about the cover of the Ark which held the Ten Commandments.  The cover of the Ark which held the Ten Commandments had to be made of one piece of gold, and jutting out from this one piece of gold were two childlike images.  They had faces of children and they had wings soaring up to heaven.  This was placed directly on top of the Ten Commandments, and the rabbis all ask, why was it important that this ark cover be made of one piece?  They explain that it is very important that we give our children a clear message, and the clear message is that they have to live their lives by the Ten Commandments, that Judaism is a religion which demands that our children be moral and just and that we must do whatever we can to Insure that our children are raised based upon the Ten Commandments with their faces to each and their wings soaring up to heaven, that they should have ambitions to be G‑d-like in the sense that we are most G‑d-like when we are most human, when we help the poor, when we feed the needy, when we clothe the naked, when we uphold those who fall..  It is very important that parents do not give their children mixed messages.  Unfortunately, in America that is what has happened.  Children get mixed messages.  They do not know whether they should be Jews or no because sometimes their parents give them the impression it is not important to be Jews.  They also do not know whether it is Important to lead a holy life and a godly life when many times their parents mock it and when many times their parents make them feel that it is more important to have a good time than to spend time in shul and on religious pursuits.  If we want our children to grow up to be Jews we have to give them a clear message.  Unfortunately, many children receive a murky message especially from the first generation who used to tell their children, "Oh, go to the dance Friday night.  I'll go to shul for you."  Or, "Don't worry about giving charity.  I'11 give charity for you."  They, in effect, pushed their children into America society while they, themselves, kept the religion.  At other times parents are very upset when their children want to intermarry and they are upset because they cannot understand why the children got this idea while actually the parents, themselves, have never lived any distinctly Jewish life and we all believe in the equality of man, so what is it that really distinguishes a Jew from anybody else?  Unless you lead a life that is based on Jewish principles, what is there to distinguish you from a gentile neighbor, and why should you want to continue to be Jewish?

The menorah also had to be built from one block of gold to teach us again that the Torah's message is unique and special.  It is not just hammered out by taking an idea from here and there and soldering them together, putting them together.  The Torah is a unique way of looking at the world.  Unless we convince especially our children again that the Torah has a unique way of looking at the world, why should they uphold it?  Why shouldn't they assimilate?  Why shouldn't they say, well, the Torah is just another variation of a different idea?  If you teach your children that all roads to G‑d are equal, why should your child take the hardest road?  Let him take an easier road.  We all know that the Torah is unique and special.  The world has not learned everything it can learn yet from Judaism.  Therefore, the menorah had to be built out of one piece.
But there is another object which also had to be built out of one piece that is not mentioned in this Torah portion.  It is mentioned in the Torah portion Naso, and that was the bugle, the horn, that every leader used in order to assemble the people, to gather the people for joyous events and also to gather them together for war.  It was used to mobilized the people.  This horn also had to be built out of one piece.  The rabbis ask, why did this horn have to be built out of one piece?  What's so important about galvanizing the people and gathering together and making them work together either on joyous events or to prepare for war or to prepare to defend themselves against attacks?  What was important about that?

The rabbis say that it had to be out of one piece because that one piece was truth.  Unless you deal with truth the people will not believe you.  The people will not be mobilized, the people will not be willing to sacrifice, and, unfortunately, in our day there are so many different Jewish groups who are only interested in peddling their ideology.  They are not interested in truth.  They will corrupt the truth in order to further their own ideology.  We see that even in Israel today where there are certain groups who are putting forth their own ideology and they do not want to hear the other side.  They do not want to hear the truth.  They do not want to see what is going on.  In fact, we know with this peace process that Arafat does not want peace.  The very day he signed the Oslo agreement he went on Jordanian radio and said, "We are now beginning our 1974 plan which calls for the destruction of Israel piece by piece."  Recently he has declared that "we are all suicide bombers", and when his police had a graduation recently the head of his police said, "On to Bet than, on to Haifa, on to Yaffo."  He did not say on to Schem and on to Hebron.  The Arabs are not fooling us.  They are telling us exactly what they want, but we are fooling ourselves.  We have to listen to the truth, and there are very few people who are willing to listen to the truth.  The truth means that you should listen to people who will tell you whatever think based on the best of their knowledge.  Of course, there are many newspapers who also are very biased and they will not publish anything that does not reflect their viewpoint.  That's why we are fortunate today to have Yehuda Levy speak.  The "Jerusalem Post" is a newspaper which has all different kinds of opinions, who lets their writers express themselves the way they see the truth to be, and that is what we need: people who will tell us the truth the way that it should be, the way they see it.  It may not be the way we see it but they have to tell the truth the way they see it and let other people tell the truth the way they see it, and eventually we will be able to sort it out and come to some appreciation of the truth, but the bugle has to be based on one solid principle.  It has to be based from one block of gold, as the rabbis say, and that principle is truth.  Let us always hope and pray that we will be dedicated to the truth.  Even if the truth hurts, even if the truth proves that some of our ideology is wrong, even if the truth proves that we cannot follow through on certain things that we thought we could follow through on because unless we have the truth we will not be able to galvanize the people.  We will not be able to make the sacrifices that are necessary in order to cause the Jewish people to exist.  Without the truth we will not have the Jewish people gathered together even for joyous occasions.  Let us all hope and pray that we will only work for the truth because if we do not work for the truth we are doomed.  Man is so easily fooled.  We can rationalize.  The smarter you are the easier you can rationalize.  

I remember once when I went with a friend and he went to weigh himself on a scale.  After he got off the scale he looked very puzzled.  I asked why, if he was overweight.  He said, "Oh, no, I'm not overweight.  It's just that according to this scale I should be 6 inches taller."  This, of course, is a rationalization.  We all need truth.  Without truth and without the ability to listen to other people's truths we are going to be in a terrible situation.  Let us hope and pray that we will all appreciate the truth and that all our bugles will be made out of one piece and the piece will be the truth, the truth as each of us writers think it is and hopefully because we will appreciate the truth the Mashiach will come quickly in our day.  Amen.