Shabbat Forshpeis
A Taste of Torah in Honor of Shabbat
PARSHAT TERUMAH
THE ARK: ITS VERY STRUCTURE SYMBOLIZES
THE UNIQUE NATURE OF JEWISH LAW
FEBRUARY 7-8, 2003/ 6 ADAR I 5763
Each of the holy objects in the Tabernacle
had symbolic meaning. The very structure of the Ark (Aron) in which the Torah was placed, (Exodus 25:10-22) teaches much about the process of Jewish law (halakha).
The Ark was made up of three boxes. The outer and inner boxes were gold, while the middle was wood. While gold is inanimate, rigid and unbending, wood grows and has the capacity to bend with the wind. What this teaches is that like the inner and outer gold boxes, halakha has its limits. But within these limits, halakha, like wood, has some flexibility.
In other words, Jewish law is not monolithic. Within rigid guidelines there may be opposite opinions. But the power of halakha is that two positions, even if antithetical, may be correct in the spirit of "both views are the words of the living God." (Eruvin 13b)
On the sides of the Ark were staves (poles) by which the Ark was carried. This teaches us that the Torah applies in every place and in every time. In other words, Torah is not stagnant; based on its Biblical foundation and the thirteen principles for developing the law-halakha continues to evolve.
We can then understand why the holiday of Shavuot, unlike all other festivals, is not Biblically tied to a historical event. Nowhere in the Torah is it linked to the events on Mt. Sinai. This may be because Jewish law is forever being given. A declaration pronounced by the Rambam in the 12th Century and a decision found in Rav Moshe Feinstein's response in the 20th Century, are all manifestations of the continuum of Torah.
There is one other part of the Ark that deserves mention. At the top was the cover (kaporet) upon which were the keruvim, two figures looking like child-angels. For me, the keruvim symbolize that halakha is not a computer-like system which operates irrespective of the individual and his or her problem. Seeing children emits in all of us feelings of mercy and sensitivity. So, the figure of the child-like face atop the Ark teaches that Jewish law is a living structure that takes into account the situation.
Commenting on the expression emet le-ameto (literally, true to the truth), the Gaon of Vilna notes that emet is knowing the law; while ameto is recognition of the circumstances. A decisor of Jewish Law must not only be erudite in the Halakhic text, but also must have an understanding of life itself.
No wonder then, when we return the torah to the Ark, we proclaim that the Torah is the "Tree of Life." Note, the Torah is not referred to as the Tree of Knowledge-because knowledge alone is not enough to comprehend Torah. One also requires deep insights into life itself, and the recognition in the words of the Proverbs that "its [the Torah] ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace." (Proverbs 3:18)
Thus, the message of the Ark goes beyond the specifics of how it was constructed. It speaks to some of the central messages of Jewish law itself.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Avi Weiss
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