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שבת שלום - פרשת תרומה

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Click play to watch the video shiur by Rav Yosef Kaminetsky

News and Notes

Rabbi Uri Cohen and his wife Yocheved will host this week's "in-shabbat" and will be spending Shabbat with the students in the Yeshiva. It promises to be an uplifting and enlightening Shabbat and we look forward to spending shabbbat with Rabbi and Mrs. Cohen. A special thank you to Daniel and Lori Esses of Bet Shemesh for hosting the Friday night Oneg this week. Welcome back to our Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Scott Kahn, who returns for Shabbat from a very successful week long recruiting trip in the United States. Rabbi Kahn's presence in the yeshiva was missed and we're thrilled to have him home. And finally, Mazal Tov to alumnus Tonny Schwarzmer upon his marriage to Tzivia Gassel. Mazal Tov to Tonny's parents and the entire mishpocho. The wedding took place yesterday - Thursday - in Yerushalayim. May the new couple merit to build a Bayit Ne'eman Be'Yisrael.

The Lesson of the Ark Poles
By Rabbi Pesach Wolicki

In this week's parsha G-d commands Moshe to build a Mishkan - a portable temple - and everything in it. The central item in the Mishkan is the Aron - The Ark of the Covenant. The procedure for the construction of the Aron contains the following instruction.

"Cast four gold rings and place them on [the Ark's] four corners, two rings on one side, and two rings on the other side. Make poles of acacia wood and cover them with gold. Place the poles in the rings on the sides of the ark so that the ark can be carried with them. In the rings of the ark must the poles remain. They must not be removed from them." (Shemot 25:12-15)

Like the other objects in the Mishkan such a the Menorah and the table, the Aron had poles for transporting it from place to place. Unlike these other objects, the poles of the Aron were not ever allowed to be removed from the Aron.

A number of commentators offer explanations for this unique law. Rabbi S. R. Hirsch focuses on the symbolic importance of the poles as tools for carrying the Aron.

"The poles, the means of carrying the Ark, symbolically represent the command and mission to carry the Ark and its contents, if it becomes necessary, away from the precincts of its present position. The command that these means of transport may never be lacking is to emphasize in our minds the fact that from the very beginning it must be made clear that this Torah and its mission is in no way bound or confined to the place or existence at any time of the Temple and Sanctuary." (S.R. Hirsch Sh. 25:15)

For Rav Hirsch, the poles represent the portable nature of the Torah. The Aron contains the Torah. The Torah transcends time and space. This transcendence is the secret of the Torah's eternity. When the People of Israel are in exile and the Temple is destroyed, the Torah is not lost. The Torah travels with us into exile and is with us wherever we go.

Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky similarly focuses on the Aron as bearer of the Torah when discussing the poles.

"It seems to me that the reason [for the prohibition from removing the Aron's poles] is that the Aron is a symbol of the Torah and the poles are those who support those who study [Torah]. The Talmud states, 'Rabbi Yochanan said: Anyone who fills the purse of [i.e. financially supports] a Torah scholar merits to sit in the heavenly Yeshiva." (Pesachim 53b) i.e. the supporters receive merit when [the supported scholars] study. For this reason the Torah hinted at this [by stating] that even at a time when the Aron does not need the poles [when it is not being transported] nevertheless, they should not be removed and they are as one object with the Aron." (Emet leYaakov Sh. 25:15)

Like Rav Hirsch, Reb Yaakov focuses on the Aron as symbolic of the Torah. Rav Hirsch sees the poles as a sign of the Torah's transcendence over time and space. Reb Yaakov sees the poles as symbolic of the supporters of Torah. The prohibition from removing the poles proclaims that Torah scholars and their supporters are inseparable. Their merit is equal.

There is another symbolism that the Aron carries. The full name of the Aron is "The Ark of the Covenant." The Ark represents the covenant between G-d and Israel. The two tablets are contained within it. These tablets are much more than the text that is written on them. The two tablets are the reminder that G-d spoke to us at Sinai. Likewise, the two Cherubs that sit atop the Aron represent the relationship between G-d and Israel.

"Rav Ketina said: When Israel would make the festival pilgrimage [to Jerusalem], the curtain [of the Holy of Holies] was drawn for them, they were shown the Cherubs that intimately attached to each other, and they [the leadership] said to them, 'See your affection before the Omnipresent One. It is like the affection of a man and woman.'" (T.B. Yoma 54a)

As an expression of the covenantal relationship between G-d and Israel, the Aron, its contents, the Cherubs atop it, and even the poles play an important role.

The Book of Kings records the scene when the Aron was first placed in the Holy of Holies after the completion of the first Temple. "The Kohanim brought the Ark of the Covenant of G-d to its place, the Sanctuary of the house, to the Holy of Holies, beneath the wings of the Cherubs. For the Cherubs spread their wings on the place of the Ark, and the Cherubs covered the Ark and its poles from above. The poles were extended so that so that the tips of the poles were perceptible from the Holy to the front of the Sanctuary, but they could not be seen on the outside; and there they remained to this day." (Kings I 8:6-8)

The Talmud explains: "'The poles were extended': is it possible that they were not touching the curtain? Thus it states: 'the tips of the poles were perceptible.' If they were perceptible, does this mean that they ripped through the curtain and stuck out? Thus it states 'but they could not be seen on the outside.' How so? They pushed against the curtain and jutted and were similar to two breasts of a woman [beneath her clothes]." (T.B. Menachot 98a)

When the Aron was placed in the Holy of Holies, the poles were then pulled forward toward the entrance to the Holy of Holies so that they extended further on the front side than on the back side. The effect was that the ends of the poles jutted into the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies and the Holy - the chamber immediately outside the Holy of Holies. Tosafot (12th and 13th cent.) comments: "the poles jutted and were seen as two breasts of a woman to show [G-d's] affection for Israel." (Tosafot ibid 98b)

The Aron was almost never seen by human eyes. Once a year, on Yom Kippur the Kohen Gadol would enter the Holy of Holies. Other than that one day, the Aron was never seen. The opening of the curtain on the festival mentioned above allowed one to see the Aron from a distance. The curtains of the Holy and the Holy of Holies were opened so that those standing in the courtyard of the Temple could peer straight through the Temple and see the Aron. Such events were few and far between. The Aron remained behind a curtain and was almost never seen. Despite this, it could still be perceived. Because the poles jutted and bulged the curtain of the Holy of Holies, although one could not see the Aron, one could see the bulges in the curtain made by the poles of the Aron.

The Aron could not be seen, but one could see evidence of its presence. How much like our relationship to G-d? We never get to actually see G-d. When we do it is only a brief moment from afar. Nevertheless, despite the fact that G-d is hidden from view, evidence of his presence is always perceptible from behind the curtain. The poles jutted through the curtain "to show [G-d's] affection for Israel," - to let us know that although we may not see Him, our covenant remains intact. He is always with us.