A thought on Parshas Terumah
"...v'asisa shulchan atzei shittim..."
"...and you will make a table of acacia wood..." (25:23)
The table in the Mishkan was made of acacia wood, the Torah emphasizes, and it had precise dimensions and limited functions. One wonders why there is such emphasis on a "table" which is such a commonplace piece of furniture. What was its meaning, seeing that it had such a significance in the construction and operating of the Mishkan, and later on in the Bais HaMikdash? If it was intended as a sanctified object in those sacred places, why was it even referred to as a "table", given the very mortal and mundane connotations of that word? Nobody ate anything off that table, nor sat down at it! And if it was just a "table" in the sense that it was needed as a thing to put other things on, why such emphasis on how it was built and what it was made of?Rabbeinu Bachya starts with what he refers to as "the midrashic approach" (the scholars to date have not located his source for this; it may be an original interpretation) that the acacia wood, shittim, hints with its four root letters at Shalom, Tova, Yeshua, Mechila - Peace, Good, Salvation, Forgiveness - which point to the higher metaphysical functions which are served by a shulchan. Somehow, a table can be a catalyst for peace, goodness, salvation and forgiveness. How is that?
He builds a premise, based on the words of our sages, that the relationship between the sacred Temple, and this table, is to teach us that as long as we have the Temple and serve HaShem there, we are promised that peace and good, salvation and atonement will be HaShem's blessings for His people. When we live during times such as our own days in exile where we cannot serve HaShem in the ideal form of sacred avoda, then a person's table becomes his sanctified place.
If he invited the needy and the hungry to his table, and his meals are intended that he and his family and guests praise HaShem and sustain themselves in order to better function as Torah observing Jews, then the table will also be a catalyst for peace, good, salvation and forgiveness. A table is a portable, conditional altar. It is intended for sanctified use.
He then cites a "custom of the righteous ones in France." Rabbeinu Bachya lived in Spain and had heard that great and pious Jews in France had the practice of having their dining room tables broken down, after their deaths, and constructed into coffins in which they would be buried! He writes that this was to demonstrate that, after life, one takes nothing with him or her into the next world other than their history of living a life of charitable care with others. Whatever good one did with their table will accompany them and display the degree of merit which they attained. (The Sifsei Cohen commentary on the Rabbeinu Bachya adds that this is hinted in the four letters of our word Shulchan: Shamor L'kvura Chesed Nedivosecha - saved for burial your kind offerings!)
When we invite guests (including our own family), when our family table is a center for peace and goodness, we hasten the ultimate salvation, and we are assured Divine grace and compassionate forgiveness. Let us work towards those goals this Shabbos, creating our table into a shulchan.
Good Shabbos. D Fox
"...and you will make a table of acacia wood..." (25:23)
The table in the Mishkan was made of acacia wood, the Torah emphasizes, and it had precise dimensions and limited functions. One wonders why there is such emphasis on a "table" which is such a commonplace piece of furniture. What was its meaning, seeing that it had such a significance in the construction and operating of the Mishkan, and later on in the Bais HaMikdash? If it was intended as a sanctified object in those sacred places, why was it even referred to as a "table", given the very mortal and mundane connotations of that word? Nobody ate anything off that table, nor sat down at it! And if it was just a "table" in the sense that it was needed as a thing to put other things on, why such emphasis on how it was built and what it was made of?Rabbeinu Bachya starts with what he refers to as "the midrashic approach" (the scholars to date have not located his source for this; it may be an original interpretation) that the acacia wood, shittim, hints with its four root letters at Shalom, Tova, Yeshua, Mechila - Peace, Good, Salvation, Forgiveness - which point to the higher metaphysical functions which are served by a shulchan. Somehow, a table can be a catalyst for peace, goodness, salvation and forgiveness. How is that?
He builds a premise, based on the words of our sages, that the relationship between the sacred Temple, and this table, is to teach us that as long as we have the Temple and serve HaShem there, we are promised that peace and good, salvation and atonement will be HaShem's blessings for His people. When we live during times such as our own days in exile where we cannot serve HaShem in the ideal form of sacred avoda, then a person's table becomes his sanctified place.
If he invited the needy and the hungry to his table, and his meals are intended that he and his family and guests praise HaShem and sustain themselves in order to better function as Torah observing Jews, then the table will also be a catalyst for peace, good, salvation and forgiveness. A table is a portable, conditional altar. It is intended for sanctified use.
He then cites a "custom of the righteous ones in France." Rabbeinu Bachya lived in Spain and had heard that great and pious Jews in France had the practice of having their dining room tables broken down, after their deaths, and constructed into coffins in which they would be buried! He writes that this was to demonstrate that, after life, one takes nothing with him or her into the next world other than their history of living a life of charitable care with others. Whatever good one did with their table will accompany them and display the degree of merit which they attained. (The Sifsei Cohen commentary on the Rabbeinu Bachya adds that this is hinted in the four letters of our word Shulchan: Shamor L'kvura Chesed Nedivosecha - saved for burial your kind offerings!)
When we invite guests (including our own family), when our family table is a center for peace and goodness, we hasten the ultimate salvation, and we are assured Divine grace and compassionate forgiveness. Let us work towards those goals this Shabbos, creating our table into a shulchan.
Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 2:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home