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March 2, 2001/Adar 7, 5761, Vol. 53, No.22
Family transmits essence of Judasim
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Terumah/Exodus 25:1-27:19
What is the most crucial institution or vehicle for the proper transmission of our Jewish faith and traditions? Is it the synagogue, the study hall, the Jewish community center, charitable organizations, or none of the above?
Let us study the details of two of the major accoutrements of the desert sanctuary - the menorah and the holy ark, two sacred objects which are to be found in synagogues even today - to discover the answer.
The menorah is not only one of the most decorative and universally displayed objects of traditional Jewish art, but it is the official seal of the modern State of Israel. The sanctuary menorah, as described in this week's Torah reading, had the shape of a golden tree whose trunk extended into six branches, three on each side.
The ark was the repository for the tablets of stone which contained the Ten Commandments. A golden cover was placed over and above the ark, from which two cherubs were hammered out on either side.
The cherubs looked at each other, and God communicated with Moses from between the two cherubs.
Rashi cites the Midrash: "They had the form of the face of a young child." (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Sukkah, p. 5b)
We have seen that the menorah is a golden tree, symbolically reminiscent of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. The first couple had been banished from the primordial garden, and humanity had been prevented from eating of the tree of eternal life, because Adam and Eve had sinned by partaking of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.
The ultimate goal of Torah - also referred to as a tree of life in Proverbs as well as in our liturgy - is to re-fashion our imperfect world into the Garden of Eden, to enable a perfected humanity to finally eat the fruit of the tree of eternal life.
This ultimate feat can only be achieved when sexual purity will be restored, when familial love rather than extra marital lust will be normative human behavior.
Our sages insist that the cherubs on the ark "had the form of the face of a young child." A young child symbolizes purity, innocence, whole-heartedness. The physical embrace of such male-female winged beings express love without lust, sexual unity that enhances family rather than sexual depravity that destroys family.
Undoubtedly, the family can tragically degenerate into crippling destructiveness and pathological dysfunction. Nevertheless, our religious tradition holds great store in the importance and ultimate potential of family as the matrix from which a perfected society will one day emerge; therefore, Sabbath, festival, life-cycle and family purity rituals laws, all aim to protect, strengthen and deepen the most positive family ties and relationships.
Dysfunctional family - Adam and Eve blaming each other for their own weaknesses - produces the first murder (Cain and Abel); unified family - when the hearts of the parents turn to the children, and the hearts of the children to the parents - will herald national and world redemption.
The sacred objects of the desert sanctuary teach us that the most important vehicle for the transmission of our tradition is the institution of family. This is the message of the menorah and the holy ark cover, the golden tree and the cherubs. Only by nurturing family purity and unity will we succeed in protecting Torah and properly utilizing it to perfect all of society.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of Efrat, Israel.
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