Hello dear friends
I’m leading a one-day workshop at ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal’s Kallah! Join me from July 3 – 9 as we tap into our souls, bathe in meditative sound, and explore how Science and Torah connect and collide. You won’t want to miss this!
Learn more about the one-day workshops (including mine!) at www.aleph.org/kallah/workshops
What mask will you wear this Purim? Will it hide or reveal your inner essence?!
What is the value in mystery, in Hiddenness? Should we hide, or brightly shine our innermost magical essence?
This coming week we will celebrate the holiday of Purim, and in the Torah these weeks we read of the Mishkan. In this week’s parashah, Tetzaveh we add a ner tamid, an eternal flame. What could Purim and the Mishkan have in common: They both teach us the same thing: about Hiddenness and Revealing.
Rav Hisda taught his daughters (Shabbat 140b) to be modest, withholding parts of their beauty to create mystery and desire, by holding a hidden pearl in his hand! And yet… enforced modesty certainly can be a tool of oppression. Shall women instead wear their sexuality on their sleeve as freedom of expression: Where does the balance lie?
Are you an extrovert or an introvert -On zoom do you reveal or conceal your image? What is the difference? Perhaps extroverts display their innermost thoughts to others.
Einstein said: The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.
I’m a big fan of the first Harry Potter book. Harry Potter is first found hidden in the cupboard under the stairs, his power frightening to his muggle Aunt and Uncle they abuse him. His brilliance and power emerge from humility. The evil Voldemort’s power is also hidden in…. oh I don’t want to spoil. Secrets in families destroy, repressed dreams wound. What happens to a dream deferred? asks the poet, Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun, or does it fester…? We learn both from Torah of the Mishkan and the book of Esther that hiddenness must be balanced by revealing our brilliance
The Mishkan is the traveling spiritual home of the wandering Israelites. It contains beautiful things outside – brilliant tapestries and a menorah. In that way it is like the homes in Daniel Pinkerton’s story, the big orange splot! It also contains beautiful things within: golden articles,including two cherubs/ Keruvim surround the golden arc of the covenant in the center, the Holy of Holies. Opinions differ as to what they looked like, but they were graven images of figures human or animal. So….How do the arc of the covenant and the golden Keruvim differ from the golden calf? Perhaps because the arc and keruvim are hidden, only to be seen once a year by the cohen hagadol! And it is not even those golden items that are sacred but the invisible spaces between them. The space between them is rich with the relationship between G*d and us. When we behave in holy ways towards one another, they turn toward one another and embrace! The spaces between particles of the universe like me and you, are where Shechinah, The Holy Indwelling presence is activated. And that word Shechinah is related to “Mishkan”
We have built a Mishkan so that our hidden Divine beloved can dwell amonst us.
There are so many places of Hiddeness in these words of the Mishkan whose design fills the second half of Shemot. The Torah herself is likened in the Zohar to a hidden princess. https://kavvanah.blog/2016/03/ because her deeper meaning teases and evades us. Even Moshe himself must mask, returning from his second trip up to Sinai so aglow he must veil.
In the Purim story also much is hidden. Esther herself is a beauty who is hidden in the land of Shushan. G*d’s name is hidden, not found in the book. The edict to destroy the Jews is at first hidden from Esther, everything is hidden from the bumbling king. Even the name Esther is from the root word Nistar: hidden. and hidden in Nistar is Nes, Miracle!
So much of our hearts (and those of others) and the universe itself is hidden to us, but we know they are real! Our emotions such as love and fear, are often hidden. Hiddenness and mystery can be stunningly beautiful
But this hiddenness must be balanced. Esther’s shyness is balanced as her power must be revealed, as Harry Potter’s magic is. What balances the hiddenness of the Holy of Holies? The menorah and and stunning tapestries revealed in Terumah last week, the eternal flame, revealed in this week’s parashah, Tetzaveh provide that balance. Built in the likeness of a tree, made of hammered gold, the menorah blazes as do the colors of the materials of the Mishkan. The Mishkan design revealed on Moses’ Second Sinai perhaps shows G*d’s willingness to meet B’nei Yisrael where they are at: Build Me a sanctuary, not so I can dwell in it, but amongst you!
Science reveals to us that the universe is built on fractals: repeated patterns in nature from the tiniest to the grandest scales Science can reveal the hidden and sublime realities of our word: from quarks and atoms to cells and galaxies: it’s all amazing. Midrash Tanchumah (source below) says the Mishkan design is likened to the creation of the universe itself. Tetzaveh reveals outer clothing of the Cohen Gadol, and that G*d spark of B’nei Yisrael (Or HaChaim above) And the eternal flame (proverbs 20:27) can be the G*d spark within us: our innermost beauty and power. Rav Kook says the design of the Mishkah provides structure for the ways we can connect to the sublime Divine, bridging those fractals of Holiness!
The mishkan is both the design of the universe, and of the hidden chambers of our souls.
Our Dreams and visions
may be Hidden from view
let them weave a beautiful tent
where our souls can be true
Come with me to that canopy
made of stardust and light
we can become whole
in sublime design of the soul
We yearn to Carry our Dreams
through the journey of years
But how can they survive
through the all the fears?
Cut the cloth from love,
Measure out seams with care
cast jewels of joy on the breast plate
and light an eternal flame
Our Dreams and visions
may be Hidden from view
let them weave a beautiful
tent where our souls can be true
Come with me
to that canopy
made of stardust and light
we can become whole
it’s sublime design of the soul
But off on the side
is a dark & fearful room
Hurt, anguish emptiness and gloom
Into that place let the golden tree of life bloom
If we can embrace that place too,
a soft gentle breeze blows right through
to fan our ner tamid to blazing blue
and yellow and purple and scarlet hues.
Helps us know what’s hidden
is really true, is a spark of You Oh Holy One!
Dedicated to my chevrutah for this drash: Kathilyn Solomon and Jessica Litwak
Miryam's Space 