Vayakhel - Israel's Source of Light

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with's never ending assistance in R Israel 5784 2024 this week's par is par and we also have we're going to read because we're going into Adar and we have to start giving our donations to the bdes to the Holy Temple which hopefully will be rebuilt so that we can bring our carbon P our daily offerings our shabas offerings our yti offerings and uh I'll just mention here that I've been for over 16 years nearing on 17 years to put out a share on the para every single week we've been doing theen podcast every single week for already at least two years consistently and uh over 150 uh editions of the Baken podcast so I would like to encourage you to go on to my website AR gold.com click the button that says donate and help us be able to continue to create these inspiring T hundreds of people are listening to this every single week and um we have to lift ourselves together rise together with words of Torah so we're going to speak about today and the med and I encourage you to go to AR gold.com donate button and uh help us make these the Torah to continue to be able to tremendous amount of time goes into working on creating recording editing uploading Etc and uh if you benefit from it I encourage you to donate says that b created he made the he made the arc the box it was a wooden box it was made out of at and it was covered on the inside on the outside with gold and placed inside of it was the the Lis the tablets the broken tablets the second tablets which had on them the Ten Commandments and the Torah which was written by Moshe renu and eventually completed at the end of the 40 years was placed inside of the Aron and it represents our the core of our relationship with hasm is place in the holy of holies into which only the co can go and only on one day yipper it's it's the essence of what the mishan is we've been speaking about the mishan we're going to have one more week next week to speak about the mishon but it's the essence of what the Tabernacle is it's the essence of our relationship with hem and the BK says that P created he made it right so as explained and point out even though it says they shall make it's plural but here the Torah singles out Bal it singles out his action in creating the an and him doing something on his own in a certain way and we're going to see what is that idea what did he do on his own and we're going to see what is the essence what is the essence of what Torah represents what the Aron represents and what the central theme of of Our Lives is supposed to be so says like this says in in the 119th chapter of King David gives us eight verses per letter of the 22 letters of the alphabet of the Hebrew alphabet and in each of these verses he speaks about the power of the Torah he speaks about the awesome light of the Torah and he says that in the beginning of your words you shine a light so that the fools can understand so what is the beginning of the words of Hashem that is speaking about where is the light that shines out to give understanding to those who are not so smart says that in the time when hasem created the world right so here we are talking about the Tabernacle which represents and parallels many aspects of creation so let's go back to creation and we're going to start to understand something about the the mishkan as well when created the world originally when created the world the entire world was just water and water he hadn't separated between the waters he hadn't created the heavens sh that the waters are there right in the clouds the the upper Waters the lower Waters and of course these are also spiritual Concepts not just physical Concepts but it was completely dark and the question is what did Hashem do first did hashm create the the light first and then create the heavens and the Earth or did Hashem first create the heavens and the Earth and then the light we have a is here the M brings rebud and and we're going to see hopefully we'll have enough time to see how bah and mosu had a difference of opinion which was similar to this exact m in regards the creation also in regards to the creation of the Mish and let's understand we're talking about hasem creating a light and as explain it's the oragon it's the hidden light which Hashem saves for the righteous or I would say on a deeper level it's the hidden light that hasem places in the Torah which creates the possibility for us to be righteous for us to be like God for us to become an exalted person an exalted human being not just an animal not just following our physical desires but an exalted higher person an Angelic human so Hashem created this light according to rabih Huda before he created the heavens and the Earth before he created anything physical in the in the in the Physical Realm first he created this light which was going to be something that's going to be infused secretly quietly into reality it would be saved for the righteous the righteous would light up their own lives with it and eventually in Al in the world to come which is here on this world by the way in the world to come the light will will shine so has created the light first before he created the world it's comparable to a King who wants to build a palace but the place where he wants to build a palace is very dark it's a darkened location and so before he builds his Palace a he sets up a whole system of Lights he puts up lanterns and and spotlights Etc so that the people who are going to build the palace will be able to see where they're going okay according to Huda the light was created first the light of the Torah preceded the the physical creation of the world interestingly and it says it very cursively the the understanding he says no the world was created first and then the light it's a it's analogous to a King who builds a palace and then puts lights into the palace and by the way it's important to understand that they don't have to be arguing because there's two different aspects of light there's a light that predates presages the world the physical reality then there a light as it fills up the world right because as we fulfill the Commandments we fill the world with light we bring light into the world we light up the world with a spiritual light okay so and the issue here the is not is not exactly whether there's light before or whether the light comes in after but it actually has to do with the itself because the similar understanding of the is in the beginning hasem created the heavens and the Earth Physical Realm was created first this is something that the talk about here but there's another way of understanding it in the beginning of hm creating the heavens and the Earth there was darkness in the world the first thing that he did in his creations of the Heaven and the Earth was to say let there be light and then he created the other things okay that's how understands things that the when the PK mentions creation of Heaven and Earth it's not saying that that was created first it's just saying that in the process of creating Heaven and Earth first created the light that's how understands it says no says first the heavens and earth were created it doesn't mean that there wasn't anything preceding that but the are not talking about this um primordial light according to the M says just such a beautiful analogy for us asks he says I heard that you love Med you love you you have a deep understanding of mish I want to understand where or how where did this light come from that hasem created where did it come from so answers hasem put on a Talis Hashem wrapped himself in a Talis of light in a garment of light and he caused The World To Shine from from beginning to end there was a light as it were Hashem puts on a garment of course a garment is something which can protect us from the elements but it's also something which protects protects the The Observer from seeing things that they shouldn't see right when we wear clothes it's to cover up our physicality it's to cover up our animal nature and to allow us to be higher so Hashem covers himself means for us He makes himself accessible in a certain way because we can't look at hashem's light hashem's light is is so bright and so huge and so powerful that if we would look at hashem's light we would disappear our existence would would just disappear we have no we have no existence in the light of Hashem it's like turning on a a flashlight in the middle of the day so Hashem covers up his light but he's shining the light of hem is shining through the Talis it's shining through this covering and that light that Hashem allows through so to speak is the light that surrounds the entire world from the beginning to the end it's a we say thises we're going to say it soones is Monday hem uses light as as a as a garment covers himself with a garment of light and then Hashem hangs the heavens like a like a [Music] curtain he takes the light he he infuses the light into this garment and then he puts the Garment as it were this is a mush of course these are all analogies hasem uses that light he uses that Garment of light to create the world that's the heaven so now coming back to the P which we started with the p which says that the beginning of your words give us light from the way that hasem created the world according to RAB Huda says Hashem first creates light and then creates the world and we see that in the P Hashem first first wraps himself in a garment of light and uses that light to create the world so the righteous try to emulate Hashem if God when he creates the world does it in a certain way or expresses to us in a certain way communicates to us that this is how he did it so there's a reason why we need to know that and the righteous the people who are sadim who are trying to emulate God trying to bring God's light into the world they say well let's try to do it the same way if we're getting involved in something let's try to do it the same way we find that hasem says to MOS to make the Mish and mosha communicates that to so says what should I do first and as explain there's two different uh two different ways of the Torah expresses how the Mish is to be built at the very beginning it says it seems to indicate in the beginning of of the command in Paras chuma to first it says make the first it says to make the the ark but later on it seems to indicate in other Pim that what should be made first is the mishon itself first you build the structure and then you put the ark inside of the structure what do you do first so it's not clear so I don't know if we're going to get to it but the mes you know is going to go on to say and it's a famous thing that Moshe said build the build the structure first said but but originally hasm said to build the Arin first so what do we do first so balah understood balah was able to Inuit it from the way Hashem created the world originally what did Hashem create first he created the light created the light of the Torah he created the light of spirituality that was first and that would surround and Encompass all of reality and yes it would come in after the world is created and yes it would fill the world but first the light was created outside of it and then hashm made a space within that light so to speak a space of Darkness that would ultimately be filled but but B says we should make the Orin first Orin one of the explanations of the word Orin is or it's from a language of of light CU it contains light it's the essence of our relationship with Hashem it's the light that Hashem prepared from before the AR needs to be created first the the encasing the box which will hold the Torah that has to be made first that is the expression of the of the light just like Hashem created the light first so to that which contains the light and is going to um be a vehicle for the light to be to be given over to the Jewish people so that they can emulate God it also has to be done first has to be created first okay so this is this is a beautiful mush a beautiful idea a beautiful deep concept the Torah is light the Torah is our relationship with Hashem the Torah is that which is from before before Hashem even brought any in the world into existence there was a a recognition there was a before hasem created any human being to have a relationship with him there was already a relationship think about it in terms of Love person is waiting for their child to be born the there's a sense of love for a child that's unborn yet that's not yet born hasem expressed his love through the Torah expressed an interest in a relationship with his Creations before the Creations were created and that's expressed in bal's statement bal's wish bal's understanding just like it was in creation it's true also in the creation of the mishon let's see a little further the next piece in the the PK says in Mish in Proverbs 9:9 give give to the wise person and the wise person will become more wise what does this mean the says that Hashem commanded Noah when he took the animals onto the ark he said take two pairs a pair of each of the impure animals but take seven pairs of the pure animals why what's the first thing that Noah does when he gets off of the he comes out of the the comes out of the boat he brings sacrifices why the word v means to build a m an altar but it also can mean V can also mean a of of understanding he used his intuition and he said why did hasem command me to bring so many more pure animals obviously hasem wanted me to understand something hasem did not say explicitly to no that he should bring these animals as carbonis as sacrifices but when you give a wise person a hint he understands the hint because a wise person hears he doesn't just hear the the surface level understanding of whatever is in front of him he hears and he understands the depth he hears and he understands the implication okay gives another example not going to get into it but then it talks about we find that when said to create the M he says to Moshe make the Mish and then Moshe says to to make the Mish says what is this Tabernacle what is this place listen to this when we think about Mish we think of the Tabernacle we think of corbus we think about sacrifices excuse me when we think about we think about sacrifices notice what we say every single day at the end of sounds like it's a different topic let your B be built and give us a portion in your Tyra what does this have to do with that it's not a mistake it's not a mistake my friends and it's not a mistake here that the M says Hashem M explains to what is the mishon the purpose of the mishon is God's divine presence is going to be there and he's going to teach the Jewish people the Torah the Torah is the is the instruction manual for Life the Torah is the relationship that we have with Hashem what it looks like that's what the Mish is about that's what the B is about when we think about what are we missing oh we have is we have a land of Israel we have a we can dive in there what are we missing we're missing the we're missing the sense of being here with us and we're missing the Tyra we don't have open manifestation clear instructions of course we have our M we have our Traditions but we don't have clear answers to exactly what hasem expects from each and every individual we want n we want prophecy we want the the the direct and open clear instructions of Hashem that's only where it's only in the Tabernacle it's only in the bik that's what says the this is the place of hashem's divine presence this is the place where teaches us Torah so says where is this Torah given where do we place where where is the Torah going to be placed where is the what is the physical location excuse me which most represents the Torah mosha says we're going to first make a tabernacle we're going to make a the The Arc of the Covenant inside of that Arc we're going to place the Torah so says look that's that's not the proper honor to Accord the Torah if the Torah is the essence of our relationship with Hashem if the Torah is placed in the ark which is plac in the holiest place in the mishon it's it's it doesn't make sense that we're going to make the Tabernacle first and then the but heard something very deep he he said he that what is the purpose of the Mish he he he heard from moshu the the not just this is place of this is place of carbonis this is the place of of this is the place of the manora he didn't hear that he heard what is the essence of the mishon what is the core what is the what is the purpose of it the core is the Torah the core is our relationship with hm the core is the light that shines in the center in the holiest place in the holy of holies it's that container which contains the L the box which holds in it the Ten Commandments unbelievable that's the light it's the light of hashem's original creation before he created anything else says look maybe Hashem like Hashem created the world first and then brought in the light but says no but s says no Hashem first creates the light then creates the world then brings in the light so we have to create the Box first we have to first create the Ark of the Covenant that has to come first and this brings up in my mind this brings up the statement of the Madre Adam althar of Nar who says that when it comes to our commitment to Torah when it comes to our relationship with hem the relationship is the first thing it's not like and it's really what we say it's really what CL says in receiving the Tor say they say we will do it and then we'll listen meaning the first thing is that I'm committed to my relationship with hem first thing is that there's this light that I want to receive that's the first first thing before there's any before we even understand how I have this relationship how I interact with hm the first thing is that there is a relationship and it's a relationship of love it's a relationship of light and it's contained inside of that AR which has on it the two angels which face each other and represent Hashem and cl and the love between them that's where we start that's where the mishkan starts that's why B because he said this it says even though others were also making it but it it's called on his name it's called bal's ark why because he understood that the ark is the essence of the mishon he understood he heard from m his words that the beginning of everything is the relationship the beginning of everything is the light the beginning of everything before you build any physical structures before you even understand what it says in the Torah the beginning of everything is that there is a Torah that there is a light there is a relationship with Hashem that's where it starts I want to bless you and I want to ask you to bless me Hashem should help us that we should be able to recognize this this awesome concept we should appre apprciate the power of Torah the light of Torah how powerful it is how awesome it is before we can have a mish before we can have AEM wants us to know that's what's being expressed here he wants us to know that he loves us and he wants a relationship with us and before we can even build anything before we can have a base on before we can have a we need to know that we need to have a relationship that's all it's about that's what the Bas English is about that's what the mishkan is about that's what the whole Torah is about it's about a relationship with Hashem a connection to him and that connection that coming together that holy of holies is the light that Hashem created before anything that he created in the world and we have the ability to access that Hashem shall help us to understand that and to be able indeed to access it thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com 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