by Rabbi Avi Billet
In one of Rabbi Norman Lamm’s sermons, he shared a question posed by Radba”z (Rabbi David ben Zimra) regarding the Ark in our synagogue. Towards the end of the book of Shemos (40:20) we are told that Moshe took the Luchos (tablets) and placed them inside the Aron (Ark). Maimonides codifies that we are to make a special place for the Torah, and just as the original Aron held the Luchos, our Aron holds our Torah.
The question then becomes rather simple. If we are mimicking the Aron in the way we keep our Torah, then we should imitate it in every way possible! The Aron was laid on the floor. It was a box with a cover. The Luchos were laid flat within it (this placement gets into a larger question of what was the actual shape of the Luchos – were they tablets as we imagine or were they cubic squares?)
And so the question: Why is our Aron more of a closet, with doors, and the Torah placed in a standing, upright position?
Radbaz gives 3 answers, which Rabbi Lamm in turn interpreted homiletically.
The 3 answers:
1. The Luchos were to serve as testimony (edut), as symbols – they were not intended for reading. As an example, the text of the Luchos are in the Torah – what need have we to read from the Luchos when a Torah is much more accessible? Which highlights the point of distinction, that the Sefer Torah was meant for reading and for instructing. The Torah is therefore upright, ready for immediate use.
2. There is a tradition that the Luchos were able to be read from either side one approached them. (Talmud Shabbos 104a) Thus, even though engraved on one side, their message could be read from any direction. Their placement, therefore, didn’t matter, as they could be read no matter which way a person came to them. A Torah, in contrast, can only be read from the side it is written on, and the direction in which it was written. And so it stands, the text facing the congregation (even if rolled), so it is ready for immediate consultation, reading and study.
3. A shul is primarily a place for Tefillah (prayer), while the Mishkan which housed the Luchos was primarily a place of revelation and sacrifice. Therefore, since we come to shul and stand facing the Aron, the Torah within it must stand and face us. It is a mutual and reciprocal honor exchanged by the Torah and its admirers.
Rabbi Lamm’s homiletics focused, through the first answer, on the Torah being a living document, not just a symbol that is “there” that we “can point to” that we “value” while having nothing to do with it. It must be viewed as a guide, one we consult with (the word Torah comes from the same root as the word Morah and Horaah – words which mean teachers, parents, guidance) in order to live the most meaningful life it presents to us. The requirement to study, to ask questions, to seek a Jewish response to any issue in life, is upon every Jew to aim for, all the time, and is never limited by age or stage of life. Not only to school children, students in yeshiva or seminary, or those who have dedicated their lives to the ”profession” of Torah study. It is for all of us.
His second message is the idea that the transmission of Judaism doesn’t automatically happen through osmosis, through just being able to see the Luchos from any perspective. Without making the effort to study the Torah directly, it doesn’t last - not in an individual, and certainly not as a heritage to a next generation.
And finally, based on the verse in Shmuel - ki m’khabdai akhabed – the idea of having reciprocal respect is only beneficial to both parties. We honor the Torah? All that it represents and stands for will come back to be our own honor.
Each message is important. But we can take it a step further when we consider the honor we know we have for the Torah deeply embedded in our hearts.
Any time a Torah almost falls or someone lifting the Torah has a slip-up, even if the Torah doesn’t fall, or if it is caught by someone “spotting” it, energy gets sucked out of the room. Maybe it’s because some people are not in the mood to fast (following the tradition that the falling of a Torah is a trigger for an impromptu fast day), or maybe because we have this profound respect for the Torah, ingrained in our hearts, that tells us that a falling Sefer Torah is tragedy.
To demonstrate that respect: We kiss the Torah. Those who hold it, especially when dancing with it, might often enough hug the Torah. We raise it up high in different contexts. We point to it when we say “And this is the Torah that Moshe placed before the children of Israel.” Certainly all the trimmings point to a reverence we may or may not be able to put into words.
In a way, Rabbi Lamm’s overall message was that we must take the symbol of how the Torah is presented to us, standing, ready, available for study, and not let that image get lost on us through our focusing on the way it rests. We must take it from its setup into our own action. And never look at it merely as a symbol, but not a living guide to our lives.
The Torah doesn’t just give us mitzvos between ourselves and God and between ourselves and our fellow man. The Torah teaches us economic systems, political systems, agricultural rules, how to use our time, how to manage a calendar (as noted by the special parsha this week – HaChodesh), as well as how to deal with all kinds of social upheaval, concerning many types of people who choose to undermine a particular society and accepted way a community functions.
Our challenge is when we limit our delving into the Torah to the Torah reading we hear in shul on Shabbos, for that is just the surface! We must scratch far beneath the surface to get to a deeper appreciation of how the life we have chosen for ourselves (or may have been chosen for us, but we’ve kept it up!) is informed in every way by the Torah we hold so dear.
I recently read a story of a rabbi who was so fed up with the talking in his shul during Torah reading that he wrapped up the Torah in the middle of the reading, put it in the Aron, and instructed the Baal Tefillah to move on with Mussaf. It had such a profound impact on his congregation that the talking stopped and the Torah reading became a model of decorum.
Thankfully we do not have that challenge in our shul during Torah reading. But the Torah decries mistreating someone else. It rails against Lashon Hora. It has nothing but contempt for those who ruin the life experience of others. It prevails upon us to focus on our care for our fellow human being even more than it demands obeisance to God. God is forgiving for slights against His honor. He is far less forgiving towards the hurt some of His children cause to His other children.
Let us embrace the Torah as given to us – not only have it ready to be studied, but stand in awe when we undertake to study it, and dig deeply to see how much it informs so many aspects of the lives we live, as we aim to constantly apply it to our lives in new ways.
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