We know that the weekly Torah readings are synchronised to coincide with events in the calendar. Can we perhaps find a connection to this week’s portion and the impressive eclipse that is ‘scheduled’ for Friday 20th March 2015! Let me share with you something I wrote for the once-in-twenty-eight-years blessing that was last made on the sun on Erev Pesach April 8th 2009!
The opening verse of the Book of Vayikro reads, “He (Hashem) called to Moshe and Hashem spoke to him from the tent of Meeting, saying”. We know that in actual fact the Voice of Hashem emanated from between the cherubs atop the ark. The reference in our verse to “the Tent of Meeting” comes to teach us that the voice of Hashem was only heard in the Tent of Meeting but no further. Not because His voice was quiet – on the contrary we find that the Voice of Hashem was “powerful, majestic and would break cedars”, but rather the sound from the voice of Hashem would stop upon reaching the end of the Tent of Meeting.
Why this happened is for another discussion, but the underlying message that is being conveyed is of particular relevance to us today – even when we are not privy to have Hashem speaking to us from the Tent of Meeting. As we will explain, the voice of Hashem can still be heard – but just as we see that His voice could only be heard within the Tent of Meeting so too the voice of Hashem speaking to every one of us can only be heard in our ‘contemporary’ Tent of Meeting.
The Talmud tells of a jewel that hung at the neck of our forefather Avraham; anyone who would gaze at it would be cured of their illnesses. When Avraham died Hashem took the jewel and hung it on the orbit of the sun. The Talmud concludes that because of this we find that sunshine helps to alleviate illnesses.
The Akeidas Yitzchok (c.1420 – 1494) explains: when the Talmud speaks of illnesses this includes non-physical illnesses. A person can be a cripple in body but mentally he can be happy and satisfied with life. Whereas there are people who are physically healthy but emotionally and mentally they are cripples. Real health is in the mind; how you deal with any physical ailments. When we speak of Avraham curing people by looking at the jewel on his neck we are also being told that the he would heal people of their spiritual illnesses. People were looking for meaning in their life, and with the promulgation of monotheism which Avraham started – people began to have meaning in life. They were cured of their illness, life became purposeful for them. With the idea of a One all-encompassing G-d who ultimately can only do good, people began to truly live. No obstacle was seen as such, they could train themselves to look for the good in everything, and life was beautiful no matter how challenging.
Rabainu Bachay (1255-1340) adds that this is alluded to in describing the jewel as hanging at his neck. The neck is where the throat of a person is contained; this is where the voice of a person emanates from. This is exactly how Avraham would heal people; by speaking to them about the truth. As King Solomon said in Proverbs, “a soothing tongue is a tree of life”. The words of Avraham were literally a source of life to the spiritually deficient generation that he lived in.
How did Avraham come to discover Hashem? We know that it was through contemplating G-d’s work, by looking at the creation. In particular we are told that he considered the sun and the other celestial creations, and understood that such precision could only be as a result of a creator. My uncle Rabbi Stephen Baars showed me an amazing video of the first space mission to circumnavigate the moon – Apollo 8, December 1969. As the rocket came around the moon, the earth was viewed in a way that had never been seen by mankind before. Spontaneously the astronaut who was reporting back to earth, burst forth with the first words of the Bible, “In the beginning G-d created…..” The awesomeness of creation was so apparent to him, he saw G-d staring at him in the face. Now unfortunately a picture of the earth taken from outer space doesn’t awaken us to the fact of a Creator, but then it did.
When Avraham died and the jewel was hung on the orbit of the sun, this means that we can discover Hashem through looking at the world just like Avraham did.
Based on this we can gain insight into the words of the Talmud that says, “Were it not for the sound produced by the sun, the sound of the roman crowds would be heard throughout the world. And were it not for the sound of the roman crowds, the sound of the sun would be heard throughout the world”. The sound of the sun – the voice of those who learn from the sun like Avraham did, and then go on to preach the truth to the world, has the ability to silence the voice of the crowds of the world who wish to live in denial of a Divine Creator of the Universe. Or in the words of the Medresh – an “Innkeeper to run the inn”.
Seeing Hashem through the world is Hashem speaking to us, but as soon as we cease to focus on this, then in creeps the sounds of the crowds who live in denial. Our ‘Tent of Meeting’ in 2015, where Hashem resides much like He did in the Tabernacle, is during the time we take out to contemplate Hashem. This can be done in one of two ways; either through studying the natural world and seeing the precision or through learning, understanding, and listening to Hashem’s voice through his Torah. But when we step away from this – from our ‘Tent of Meeting’ then the voice will no longer be heard. If we don’t make time to listen to the voice then we all we will hear is the babble of mankind – living without meaning.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov.
