|
שבת שלום - פרשת בהעלתך
|
|
Video Shiur
|
|
Click play to watch the shiur by Rav Scott Kahn about Pesach
|
|
News and Notes
|
The entire Yeshiva celebrated with Rabbi Moshe Lichtman, Yitzi Zisblatt, and Ari Roth upon their completion of Masechet Sanhedrin on Monday. They have been working on this project since Elul, and have impressed everyone not only with the fact that they completed the masechet, but also with the tremendous knowledge and understanding of Sanhedrin they have displayed. Mazel tov!
This past Tuesday, Rabbi Alan Rosenbaum of Davka software gave a fascinating presentation demonstrating various Torah computer research tools and other Torah related software.
And finally, a big mazel tov to our madrich, Daniel Krentzman, who received his kabalah (official certification) in shechitah this week. Daniel is also a sofer STa"M, and a very important presence in the yeshiva. He plans to spend this summer working as a shochet in the United States Midwest.
|
Gavriel the Angel and the Menorah
By Rabbi Pesach Wolicki
This week's parsha opens with a description of the making of the Menorah - the candelabra of the mishkan. "This is how the Menorah was made; smithed from gold, from its base until its flowers it is smithed, according to the vision which G-d showed Moshe, so he made the Menorah." (Bamidbar 8:4)
Rabbi Yaacov ben Asher - the Ba'al Haturim - comments as follows. "According to the vision' [heb. ka'mareh] is the numerical equivalent [gematriya] of 'according to Gavriel'[ke'Gavriel]'. This teaches that Gavriel showed [Moshe] the image of the Menorah." In other words, when G-d wanted Moshe to know how to fashion the Menorah, He sent the angel Gavriel - or Gabriel - to show him.
Angels are messengers of G-d. They represent G-d's specific interactions with this world through distinct attributes. For example, when someone is healed of an illness we would say that the person was healed by the angel Rafael. Rafael is the healing power of G- d in the form of a specifically directed spiritual energy. G-d is a complete and utter unity. For G-d, as He is, to interact with this world on a specific level is nearly impossible. To carry out specific actions in this world, G-d displays individually distinct traits. These traits on their own are not G-d, they are only individual attributes of G-d. An angel is a being that manifests a specific attribute of G-d in this world.
Keeping this in mind, we must ask what we are meant to learn from the statement of the Ba'al Haturim that Gavriel taught Moshe how to make the Menorah.
Gavriel and Fire
The Ba'al Haturim's statement is based on the following passage in the Talmud. "Rabbi Hiya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Gavriel girded himself like a craftsman and showed him the work [fashioning] of the Menorah." (Menachot 29a) Rabbi Shlomo Eidels - the Maharsha - comments: "For Gavriel is the angel of fire (see Yoma 21a and Shabbat 118a) and he was involved in the work of fire with the Menorah of fire."
There are numerous passages in the Talmud that associate Gavriel with control of fire. This would certainly be consistent with the fashioning of the Menorah which obviously has a lot to do with fire. A closer look at a number of Talmudic passages about Gavriel reveal another side to this angel.
The Talmud relates that when Abraham was a young man he was sentenced to death by King Nimrod for being a monotheist anti-pagan. He was thrown into a fiery furnace. It was Gavriel - the angel of fire - who saved him. (Shabbat 118a) Gavriel was the angel sent to carry out the destruction of Sodom and Gemorrah. (Bava Metzia 86b) When Tamar was wrongfully accused of harlotry by Yehudah, it was Gavriel who protected and preserved the evidence of the justice of her case. (Sotah 10a) It was Gavriel who ensured that Mordechai's saving of King Achashverosh was recorded in the King's memoirs. (Megilah 16a)
From these and other passages (see also Sanhedrin 19b, Shabbat 56b) Gavriel emerges as an angel concerned with justice. He protects the wrongfully accused from unjust punishment, punishes the truly guilty, and seeks to ensure just reward for those who deserve it. In Kabbalistic terms, Gavriel occupies the left side - associated with the attribute of gevurah, i.e. strength or judgment.
Why the Menorah?
Based on the above, we can suggest that the lesson of Gavriel's association with the Menorah is one of justice. The Menorah's purpose is to give light. Light is symbolic of truth and clarity of understanding. The message of the Menorah - the penultimate symbol of the Jewish people - is of the importance of truth and justice. The purpose of Judaism is to reveal truth in this world. This truth is revealed both to the individual who studies Torah and practices Judaism, as well as to the world that learns the principles of justice and honest intellectual reasoning from Judaism.
It is Gavriel's job to ensure that justice prevails and that truth is vindicated. This is what is meant when our sages teach that it is Gavriel who teaches us how to make the Menorah.
|
