This week's parsha highlights details of the procedures done in the Mishkan. Instructions are given to light the lamps and then burn the incense simultaneously.
Rav Soloveitchik states "the Burning of the incense and the lightning of the lamps are merged into one mitzvah. The lighting of the candles represents knowledge, clear understanding (connected to our sense of sight) . The incense represents the mysterious the emotional. The cloud of incense is intangible" (connected to the sense of smell) .
This verse is an intersection of the intellectual and the emotional, the known and the unknown. These apparently contradictory themes are required to be brought together in the service of God.
To get a true taste of God we must engage all our senses simultaneously. To eat without smelling and seeing the food would be an incomplete meal.
Next week is Purim. Every year when we read the Megillah we encounter the struggle with Haman. The difficulty and seeming contradiction when reading the Megillah is that we are required to hear every single word, but we also have a tradition to make noise by booing and yelling during Haman's name. The intellect colliding with the emotion.
Every year we must reign in our outbursts and control our emotions combining specific moments of intense noise combined with pristine silence.This combination is difficult, often the noise spills over into the required quiet time or the fear of making too much noise puts a damper on the outpouring of emotion. Both must be combined into the single Megillah service.
Serving God as the Priests did in the Temple and reading the Megillah with attention and emotion are difficult. As the Rav puts it, religion does not offer an escape from reality, but rather provides the ultimate encounter with reality. It suggests no quick fixes, but rather demands constant struggle in order to attain spiritual growth. As the Rav so memorably put it, "Kedusha (sanctity) is not a paradise but a paradox."
Rav Soloveitchik states "the Burning of the incense and the lightning of the lamps are merged into one mitzvah. The lighting of the candles represents knowledge, clear understanding (connected to our sense of sight) . The incense represents the mysterious the emotional. The cloud of incense is intangible" (connected to the sense of smell) .
This verse is an intersection of the intellectual and the emotional, the known and the unknown. These apparently contradictory themes are required to be brought together in the service of God.
To get a true taste of God we must engage all our senses simultaneously. To eat without smelling and seeing the food would be an incomplete meal.
Next week is Purim. Every year when we read the Megillah we encounter the struggle with Haman. The difficulty and seeming contradiction when reading the Megillah is that we are required to hear every single word, but we also have a tradition to make noise by booing and yelling during Haman's name. The intellect colliding with the emotion.
Every year we must reign in our outbursts and control our emotions combining specific moments of intense noise combined with pristine silence.This combination is difficult, often the noise spills over into the required quiet time or the fear of making too much noise puts a damper on the outpouring of emotion. Both must be combined into the single Megillah service.
Serving God as the Priests did in the Temple and reading the Megillah with attention and emotion are difficult. As the Rav puts it, religion does not offer an escape from reality, but rather provides the ultimate encounter with reality. It suggests no quick fixes, but rather demands constant struggle in order to attain spiritual growth. As the Rav so memorably put it, "Kedusha (sanctity) is not a paradise but a paradox."
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