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R. David: Shabbat Shalom, everybody! It is February 28th. It is the 11th day of the month of Adar. It is, on the Jewish calendar, a special Shabbat called Shabbat Zachor.

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R. David: which literally is the Shabbat of Remembrance. It is a day that we, in particular, remember not just everything, although we always do.

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R. David: But the fact that there was a tribe called Amalek, that…

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R. David: kept trying to take down the Jewish people.

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R. David: They followed us from behind and took down our weakest.

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R. David: Their descendants are believed to be the source of Haman.

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R. David: of Purim fame, or Purim infamy.

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R. David: And the Haman slash… Amalek, Amalekite.

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R. David: sense that there are people who hate Jews, and hate Judaism, and hate learning, and hate spirituality, and hate anything that is not about them.

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R. David: is something that we are living with right now, for all the reasons you know, but perhaps one more.

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R. David: We usually don't talk about what's going on in the world, but this morning, there is war again between Israel and Iran.

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R. David: A lot is happening in real time.

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R. David: It is our obligation.

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R. David: To hold in prayer.

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R. David: For the safety and security of all people of goodwill.

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R. David: Precisely amidst the brokenness. Precisely amidst… The mess.

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R. David: When we say that Shekhina dwells amidst, which is part of our subject today, We must.

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R. David: therefore mean… That Sheena somehow wants to dwell precisely here, precisely now, precisely amidst.

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R. David: It is a profound challenge for people of spirit, however we define ourselves.

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R. David: But if we mean what we say when we say that all things ultimately are a spiritual unity.

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R. David: Then we… Must incline our hearts and our spirits.

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R. David: And our learning.

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R. David: Toward that principle that someday, someday please.

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R. David: It will be so on the ground.

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R. David: And not only in our aspiration and our imagination.

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R. David: So in that spirit, I'd like to dedicate today's learning

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R. David: to a just and worthy peace in the Mideast.

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R. David: To the principle that we seek peace.

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R. David: Wherever we can.

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R. David: And to all who need healing.

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R. David: We'll take a moment and let you put those names in the chat box.

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R. David: And then we'll open up.

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R. David: Our learning in a slightly different way today.

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R. David: If there are names that you wish to bring in for healing.

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R. David: Now's the time, please put them in the chat box.

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R. David: Susan and Nancy and the Nissenzweig family, Masha Huvia Butlea, Ellen Roof, Miriam… Bill, Raleigh, Donald Trump.

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R. David: James Halter.

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R. David: For all of them.

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R. David: And for our broken world.

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R. David: And for the flow of the holy amidst us.

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R. David: And for this Shabbat of memory.

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R. David: Baruchata Adonai, Elohenu malachaolam.

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R. David: Torah.

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R. David: Blessed are you, Adonai our God, eternal sovereign.

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R. David: Who sanctified us and guards me to vote.

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R. David: And commanded us to busy ourselves in words of Torah.

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R. David: But Shabbos, everyone, good Shabbos.

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R. David: Rabbi Rachel.

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R. Rachel: So I want to give credit to Susan Phillips.

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R. Rachel: Who is not here this morning, but hopefully may be able to join us.

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R. Rachel: She brought this poem to us this week, and we were both so immediately moved by it.

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R. Rachel: both as a doorway into this week's Parsha, And as a reminder of

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R. Rachel: the soul part of Soul Spa.

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R. Rachel: That while our learning may sometimes feel heady and intellectual, what we're really doing here is soul work.

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R. Rachel: And so, we're beginning today with this

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R. Rachel: poem to make a place for Torah.

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R. Rachel: Would anyone like to read?

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Diana Rico: I would love to read it.

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R. Rachel: Deanna.

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Diana Rico: Mmm.

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Diana Rico: To make a place for Tara.

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Diana Rico: Na'amah Shakad.

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Diana Rico: Translated by Melila Helner.

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Diana Rico: To make a place in my body for Torah.

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Diana Rico: So that she may enter and sit in me.

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Diana Rico: A cave.

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Diana Rico: And I will raise up a spring and a tree for her.

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Diana Rico: From so much longing and sweetness. So she will stay.

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Diana Rico: And then, my two hands will be as two springs.

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Diana Rico: My forehead will flow, illuminating. A golden bell and a pomegranate.

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Diana Rico: A golden bell and a pomegranate.

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Diana Rico: The most beautiful words.

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Diana Rico: Come and open up in my mouth.

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Diana Rico: A great river breathes in my insides.

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Diana Rico: I am drawn forth weeping.

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R. Rachel: Just let that sit for a moment.

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R. Rachel: And with that in our hearts.

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R. Rachel: We'll see how it informs the Torah we're about to read.

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R. David: Let's keep making space. We will stop periodically.

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R. David: And make space for quiet.

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R. David: And noticing.

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R. David: and flow.

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R. David: We are in the Torah portion.

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R. David: Where we're finishing up the first set of plans for the Mishkan, which we started last time.

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R. David: And next week, we have Parshad Kitisah.

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R. David: Which is something about a golden calf.

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R. David: So this is a bridge parsha.

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R. David: And there are no spiritual coincidences, are there?

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R. Rachel: Never.

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R. David: Never, never.

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R. David: So we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…

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R. David: snippets from Exodus 29 and Exodus 30.

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R. David: Let's do what we do.

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R. David: and make space.

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R. David: 5 liters, please.

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Meredith: Oh, my…

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Meredith: a regular assent offering in their generations at the opening of the tent of witnessing before Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh, where I will witness to you and speak with you there.

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Meredith: I will make myself known there to the children of Israel, and it will be sanctified by my glory.

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Meredith: I will sanctify the tent of witnessing and the altar, and I will sanctify Arun and his sons to Kohane me.

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Meredith: I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will be their God, and they will know that I am Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt to be my dwelling among them.

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Meredith: I am Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, their God.

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David Green: You will make an altar for burning incense, make it of acacia wood.

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David Green: It will be a square, 1 cubit long, and 1 cubit wide, and 2 cubits high.

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David Green: It's horns of one piece with it.

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David Green: Overlay it with pure gold, and its top, its sides all around, and its horns.

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David Green: Make a gold molding, For it all around.

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Deliah: Make two gold rings for it under its molding.

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Deliah: Make them on its two side walls on opposite sides. They will serve as holders for poles with which to carry it.

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Deliah: Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

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Joan Green: Put it in front of the curtain.

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Joan Green: That is over the arc of the witnessing.

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Joan Green: in front of the cover over the witnessing, where I will make known to you there.

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Joan Green: Our own will insensify it.

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Joan Green: with aromatic incense each morning. By morning, when he tens the lamps, he will insensify her.

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Joan Green: And when Aharon lights the lamps at twilight, he will insensify her by regular incense offering before Yudhav in their generations.

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R. David: One more…

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Marcia's iPad: Do not raise it. On strange intent.

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Marcia's iPad: Or a burnt offering, or a grain offering.

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Marcia's iPad: And… Do not pour a libation offering on it.

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Marcia's iPad: Once per year.

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Marcia's iPad: Ahabrum will kapair its horns with blood of the Kipurim sin offering. Kapair will be performed on it once per year in their generations.

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Marcia's iPad: It is… Holy of Holies to Yid-Heh Vapeh.

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R. Rachel: So what's calling out to us today?

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Deliah: What is cap… what is capere?

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R. Rachel: Great question!

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R. Rachel: You noticed that we chose not to translate that word.

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Iris Barten: Does that mean to cover?

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R. David: That is literally what it means.

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Marcia's iPad: Avaras? Kapair Lanu?

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R. Rachel: Excellent noticing! Kapirlanu, though, usually is… yes, that's a bit of our liturgy.

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Marcia's iPad: Thank you.

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R. Rachel: See, when we say it, it doesn't mean cover us, it means atone us.

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Marcia's iPad: Oh…

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R. Rachel: As in, yum…

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Marcia's iPad: looking forward.

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R. Rachel: Right? Forgive us.

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R. Rachel: Pardon us.

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Marcia's iPad: Caper Us.

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R. Rachel: So, here's a… here's a hyperlink.

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R. Rachel: To the days of all.

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Rachel Rudansky: The root of that word, part of Kipah?

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R. Rachel: No, I don't think.

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Rachel Rudansky: So really nice.

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R. Rachel: How is a different…

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Rachel Rudansky: Okay.

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R. David: Cop hair.

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Deliah: But we have Purim in here as the little… Kippur in.

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R. Rachel: Takipurim. Yeah, a couple of lines below that.

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R. Rachel: Right.

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R. Rachel: Kipurim.

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R. Rachel: as in Yom Kippur, can also be rendered as Purim.

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R. Rachel: Which is the origin of the teaching that Yom Kippur is actually a day that is like Purim.

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R. Rachel: Because for sure, when I think of Yom Kippur.

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R. Rachel: I think of groggers and costumes. Oh, wait.

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Deliah: Yeah, I know.

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R. David: Simply dress weird.

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R. Rachel: I do remember…

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R. David: I don't eat anything!

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R. Rachel: It was when my child was 6 and in gymnastics class, and his favorite outfit was a sparkly gold LeMay number.

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R. Rachel: He wanted to wear it to Yom Kippur.

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R. Rachel: Because… He had confused Kipoor and Purim.

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R. Rachel: He was very sad when I told him he could not wear a sparkly gold LeMay jumpsuit at Yom Kippur.

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R. Rachel: Alright, so we're finding some Yom Kippur resonances in this last paragraph. What else?

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Marcia's iPad: And here's the warning that's,

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Marcia's iPad: Aaron's sons are gonna get cooked.

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R. Rachel: Mmm.

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Marcia's iPad: And… 6'8".

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Marcia's iPad: Don't do this, don't… you know, very specific, Instructions.

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Marcia's iPad: I'm now… insensifying things.

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R. Rachel: Bring the wrong kind of incense, and God might become incensed. David and then John.

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R. David: Hi, yuck. Hi, yuck. Hi, yuck.

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David Green: I see at least 3 references to… In their generations, which.

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David Green: seem like they're kind of tacked on at the end, and I'm not really sure what that means. I don't know if it's significant or if it's just semantic, but…

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Marcia's iPad: Well, everything's significant.

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R. David: What do you think?

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R. Rachel: There's one there, there's one in the very first verse.

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David Green: First word, the end of the… of 9-10, and the end of 6-8, yeah.

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R. Rachel: Hmm…

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Deliah: I had a strange problem with use of the word them all the time.

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Deliah: Like, if we're buckets of God, and God created us, and God's gonna dwell within us.

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Deliah: It seemed more separate to me than I would like to feel connected to Divine.

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R. David: Hmm.

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R. Rachel: Thank you for that. Joan, you've got a hand up.

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Joan Green: Yes, I'm a little confused. The pic… the picture we saw

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Joan Green: Of the… of this structure that they were bid to build.

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R. David: Huh.

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R. Rachel: Picture we saw when?

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R. David: Oh, in services!

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Joan Green: No, well, yes.

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Joan Green: And, and a few… and a few minutes ago, maybe… It was on the… That was on the…

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R. Rachel: cover of James's book.

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Joan Green: Right, on the cover… What is that… isn't that a picture of what is being described?

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R. Rachel: So, no, this, this… This is an altar for burning incense.

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Joan Green: Okay.

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R. Rachel: But it is also made out of wood and covered with gold, and has a molding around it, and has rings in it that you can stick poles through, so there's a lot of thematic, visual similarity. But this is not actually the arc that contained the tablets.

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Joan Green: Now that you've answered another question. I remember the description of the arc that

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Joan Green: was supposed to contain something, and I noticed in both descriptions That it's overlaid with gold, all around.

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Joan Green: And I got the feeling then, and I've got it now, That you can't open it.

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Joan Green: It's not a box, I had a feeling. Now, this explains why this would be simply an altar, a box shape.

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Joan Green: that you burn incense on.

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Joan Green: And it does not contain anything, if I am correct.

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R. Rachel: Not as far as I know.

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Joan Green: Right, but you're saying that.

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R. Rachel: But the Ark of the Covenant, which is what Is… has been mentioned before.

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R. Rachel: was a hollow item that held within it the tablets, the two… well, this hasn't happened yet, but when Moses comes down from the mountain with the tablets, the first set of tablets is gonna get shattered, then there's gonna be a second set of tablets. All of those are held in the… in the ark.

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Joan Green: Okay, so, thank you, thank God.

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R. Rachel: Iris, I see your hand.

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R. Rachel: What?

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Iris Barten: Yeah, thank you.

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Iris Barten: Back to the pair.

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Iris Barten: Because I'm feeling that the incense offering and the incensify is bringing the essence of the divine, the shehina.

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Iris Barten: And to make that space holy.

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Iris Barten: Because, for me, it means an offering which brings us closer to the divine. So I also feel there's a little bit of healing, maybe, with the cop hair, but…

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R. Rachel: Hmm… Love that. Alright, so I just heard a few things. One of them is…

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R. Rachel: The incense bringing us closer, something about Shefhina, right? I will dwell is… there's that, there's that root again.

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R. Rachel: And also, you said something about, about healing.

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Iris Barten: Yeah.

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R. Rachel: Or, or repair. He said, repair.

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R. Rachel: Corinne is asking in the chat what is… oh, thank you, James, this looks like a depiction of what the incense altar might have looked like.

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R. Rachel: Corinne asks, what's the different meanings and level of significance of incenses? What are they made of? What would be a strange one? That's a great question. I know that there are resources that list

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R. Rachel: all of the ingredients that went into the Ketorit, the temple incense, and the incense and the Mishkan, I don't remember offhand what those things are, but I can find out. Rabbi David, do you know?

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R. David: Unfortunately.

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R. Rachel: What do you… what do…

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R. David: Myrrh?

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R. David: Frankincense, and Bedellum.

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R. David: And one was never allowed to use it.

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R. David: For any purpose other than this, And one could not vary

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R. David: From what it was made of.

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R. David: So there was something about scent, a particular scent.

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R. David: That was associated with this spiritual function.

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R. David: That was very important.

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R. Rachel: And I want to add, per Corinne's question, we mentioned that Nadav and Avihu will bring strange incense, it's sometimes rendered strange fire.

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R. David: Aish Zahra.

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R. David: Right.

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R. Rachel: And there's… and there are volumes of…

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R. Rachel: Conversations about what exactly it was that they did, and what they did that was wrong, and we will probably get there.

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R. David: I think we have a record number of hands-on.

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R. Rachel: That's a lot of hair.

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R. David: Same time.

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R. David: So, something's happening right now.

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R. David: Cheryl, Marcia, Ellen, Ruth, Meredith on my screen.

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Sherrill Cropper: I… before I make my comment, can you tell me what that… you said it was frankincense, myrrh, and did you say galbanum?

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R. David: maybe it was Galbanum, Bedellum, I think… I think there's…

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Sherrill Cropper: Albanum is a common…

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R. David: Maybe that's what it is.

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Sherrill Cropper: You know, it's Egyptian.

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R. David: Tart. Okay. Tarts, tarts, spices.

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Sherrill Cropper: So… I… I was caught by… from 45, 47, God will dwell among us.

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Sherrill Cropper: In the tent of witnessing.

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Sherrill Cropper: Literally, with each of us.

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Sherrill Cropper: But are we actually allowed in there?

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R. David: Oh, yay!

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R. David: Great question. Gorgeous question. Who goes in the Holy of Holies? Who goes in there?

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Sherrill Cropper: Yeah, only the can…

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Marcia's iPad: Yeah, one.

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R. David: Kohane. Only the Kohane. I will sanctify Aharon and his sons to Kohaim me.

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R. David: Anyone have the translate, the literal translation of Kohane? It ain't just a last name.

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Sherrill Cropper: Is it, like, to priestify, or…

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R. David: Well, that's our word, right?

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Sherrill Cropper: Yeah.

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R. David: a Kohen is a priest, but what is the thank you,

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R. David: you know, frankincense, you know, myrrh was in there for some, you know, there's a bunch of ways to understand it. Thank you, Rachel, in the chat box. Le Cahain…

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R. David: Is literally to serve.

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Marcia's iPad: Mmm.

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R. David: That's it.

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R. David: to serve.

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R. David: So we can understand this In a lot of different ways.

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R. David: Do we have modern kohanim?

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R. David: What did it mean to be with them when you couldn't go there?

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R. David: Profound question, Cheryl.

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Sherrill Cropper: Unless it meant that…

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Sherrill Cropper: He imbued the Kohen with his essence so that the Kohen went out amongst the people, and thereby the people would feel connected to God.

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R. David: like it.

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Sherrill Cropper: But it doesn't… It's not enough for me.

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R. David: No.

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R. David: Remember, this is Judaism 101.

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Marcia's iPad: Hmm.

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R. David: This is the ancient, ancient, ancient first substratum when our people did not have.

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R. David: Laws, not so much.

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R. David: prayer. They didn't have a word for spirituality. We didn't have a word for psychology. I mean, all… it's like, if fish could talk, they probably wouldn't have a word for water.

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Sherrill Cropper: Well, it almost also makes sense because,

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Sherrill Cropper: Later on, when God does present.

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Sherrill Cropper: The spirit in front of the people.

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Sherrill Cropper: at Sinai.

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Sherrill Cropper: they flip out. So, this might have been like, let me go a little slowly. I'm anthropomorphizing God right now. Okay. Take it a little slowly with them by imbuing the Kahain.

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Sherrill Cropper: As my representative, and see how that works out.

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R. David: Gorgeous.

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Marcia's iPad: Gorgeous.

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Marcia's iPad: I'm…

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R. David: Gorgeous.

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Marcia's iPad: Cheryl and I are thinking along the same lines.

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Sherrill Cropper: What a shock.

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Marcia's iPad: I don't know, with some Vulcan mind melt. It is Holy of Holies to Yide-Heh Vampi.

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Marcia's iPad: So… There's no temple, right?

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R. David: Yep.

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Marcia's iPad: And this just reminds me of, the Itzpitzer Rebbe?

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Marcia's iPad: who was bringing Judaism to the people.

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Marcia's iPad: out of the hands of the rabbis, but talking to the people in a way they could understand, because if this is the Holy of Holies, and it's being carried around by the people in their midst, this is radical.

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R. David: Yes, it is.

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R. David: Yes, it is. This is not just smells and bells, this is not just arts and crafts. There's something going on here.

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R. Rachel: And it is almost certainly the origin of smells and bells.

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R. Rachel: Right? All of the incense and the majesty that we may associate with that kind of Catholic ritual

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R. Rachel: Roots back to here.

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R. David: Yep, absolutely. Ellen Ruth, and then Meredith, and then maybe we have a few things to point out.

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ert: I… I'd like… to be grounded a little bit, historically, I'd like to understand how… what I'm…

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ert: learning here applies to where my Judaism is now, so how… how did this evolve? When did this way of being, in terms of being Jewish.

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ert: Evolved into something different.

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R. David: Great question, Meredith, Ellen Ruth. So, this was Judaism 101.

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R. David: When we reached the land of Israel, this was still the Holy of Holies, and that's what was done. Then there was a temple.

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R. David: Then there was a temple, and some of these practices transferred to the temple.

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R. David: When the temple was destroyed in 586 before the Common Era.

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R. David: For 70 years, we were, quote, in exile in Babylon. A second temple then was built when we returned, and some of these practices returned then. After the destruction of the second temple in the year 70 of the Common Era, the whole thing is gone.

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R. David: And Judaism needs to be reinvented.

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R. David: away from the physicality of place, and the physicality of physical offering, and the physicality of, the ritual sacrifice, the smells and bells, all the things. And that is where prayer

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R. David: liturgy…

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R. David: and other home observances began to take over because there was no choice. The temple didn't exist anymore. So what would take its place?

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R. David: That was at a pivot point in Jewish history.

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R. David: And we have been living into that pivot for about 2,000 years.

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R. David: And everything that Judaism now is can trace, in some way.

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R. David: sometimes directly, sometimes, you know, how did we travel the desert for 40 years? We kind of went like this all over the place, but it can trace some way

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R. David: Back to what Torah is telling us.

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R. David: Otherwise, it's a new religion.

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R. David: There needs to be backwards compatibility of some kind.

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Marcia's iPad: Institutional memory.

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ert: The thing that's going on for me is, when I've been in a Greek Orthodox church, and they're waiving the scent, it really takes me to another level, spiritually. So I'm kind of… Where do you think they all got?

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R. Rachel: of our ancestral product.

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ert: synagogue, that's not… that's not happening.

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ert: And maybe we should bring it back.

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R. David: Right? Right. And meanwhile, you go to synagogue, and oh my gosh, what is that perfume you're wearing? And oh my gosh, why… what are you smelling like? It's a lot of modern Western sensibility doesn't roll there. And yet.

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R. David: mainly the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox rites have some understanding Still, that the smell Descent is really important.

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R. David: to activate something in us. Where does Judaism still have scent?

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R. David: As something we do.

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R. David: Thank you.

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R. David: Abdallah. Absolutely.

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R. Rachel: That's right.

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R. David: Absolutely.

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Sherrill Cropper: May I share something here?

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R. David: Sure.

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Sherrill Cropper: Scent has been discovered.

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R. David: And then Meredith.

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Sherrill Cropper: Oh, I'm sorry, Meredith, but, on this, scent has been found to be more than just in our nostrils. They literally have found scent capacity along all of our skin. And, you know, like, I was talking for years about how,

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Sherrill Cropper: essential oils, you know, they're absorbed through our skin, it's the largest organ of the body, and its job is to keep things out and allow things in. So, it makes total sense to me.

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Sherrill Cropper: that we would do that. I wish we had more scent going on in… in services. I happen to really get transported, as Ellen Ruth just said, when I have those scents that I associate with holiness.

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R. David: A little spiritual catnip. Right, right, right. Meredith.

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R. Rachel: The purpose of the scent at Havdalah is to re… is to awaken the soul, lest we faint as Shabbos is ending, when the extra soul of Shabbat is being lifted away.

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Sherrill Cropper: That's so cool.

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R. David: Very sweet.

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R. Rachel: It's spiritual smelling salts. Alright, sorry, Meredith.

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Meredith: Listen, I was, really focused also on the olfactory awakening.

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Meredith: So, the incense kind of helps us…

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Meredith: to embody, you know, at some level, what's going on. And I have very vivid memories of going into a church in Spain with this huge bowl.

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Meredith: It was like this thing that dropped down from the ceiling, full of incense, and it was really quite,

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Meredith: quite something.

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Meredith: So, I just, you know, I was just struck by how we're invited in on so many levels.

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Meredith: And that the olfactory is… one of them. So, that's all. Nothing… nothing earth-shattering here. Just…

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Rachel Rudansky: Personally, I think you can carry your own scent, and I do, so even though convention in contemporary times eliminates it, I'm burning frankincense all the time in my house.

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Rachel Rudansky: Could I please ask a question that's…

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R. David: Hang on, Rachel, Iris is in next, and then Rachel, and then we want to show you two things.

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Iris Barten: So, I'm… I'm thinking that in the first… part.

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Iris Barten: where I don't know is introducing

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Iris Barten: God self hash-Vah-Hay, I will be what I will be.

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Iris Barten: To me, that's part of the…

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Iris Barten: Learning, obviously, and having a better sense of that relationship, because it's not going to be static, it's going to be fluid, and

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Iris Barten: We're invited, I think, to also have our own way of being what we will be, to change and grow and have more spirituality coming forth.

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R. David: Yeah.

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R. Rachel: Yup.

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R. David: Yeah, thank you. There was a question.

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Rachel Rudansky: Yes, please. I wanted to go over the word for curtain.

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Rachel Rudansky: I'm interested…

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R. David: Rocha.

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Rachel Rudansky: And, the Hebrew. Could we just look at that, please?

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R. David: Yup.

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R. David: Yup.

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R. David: Haparochat.

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Rachel Rudansky: Papa Rochet, okay.

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R. David: If you have a synagogue where there is a curtain over the ark, you open the doors, and then there's some sort of fabric.

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R. David: That is a direct link.

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R. David: to this.

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Rachel Rudansky: And the pa… Because in the beginning, on 27,

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Rachel Rudansky: 21, for example, it's La Parroget.

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R. David: to the parachut.

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Rachel Rudansky: Oh, two, and this one…

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R. David: Versus the.

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Rachel Rudansky: The parochet. Okay, thank you very much, sorry.

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R. David: Yep, all good. Hebrew grammar.

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R. David: So, a couple of things we want to… go ahead.

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R. Rachel: Parukhit, can I note that the letters?

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R. Rachel: The three middle letters, if you reorder them.

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R. Rachel: you get… Copper.

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R. David: That's something I had never seen before.

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R. Rachel: So there's a connection between the parochet and kapara?

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R. Rachel: In some way.

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R. David: A covering, essentially.

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R. Rachel: Toning, covering, yeah.

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Rachel Rudansky: Thank you.

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R. David: revealing.

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Rachel Rudansky: I knew there was something with that curtain. Thank you very much.

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R. David: Concealing and revealing, there it is again. So, a couple things we want to make note of.

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R. David: And the first one is this word witnessing that keeps coming over and over and over and over.

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R. David: The tent of Witnessing. Ohel Moed.

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R. David: In many translations, it will be rendered as the tent of meeting.

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R. Rachel: Doesn't mean meeting.

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R. David: It doesn't mean meeting, it's not even close.

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R. David: It literally is the tent of making witness.

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R. David: Which begs the question.

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R. Rachel: Who's witnessing, and what are we witnessing?

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R. David: Yeah.

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R. Rachel: What would it even mean to witness God?

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R. David: Which is a really big question… oh, I don't know.

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R. Rachel: Stay tuned for next week.

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R. David: Today.

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R. Rachel: also today.

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R. David: When the world is a mess.

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R. David: What does it mean to witness God?

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00:36:02.660 --> 00:36:06.110
R. David: And even more, the next line.

416
00:36:11.120 --> 00:36:17.239
R. David: where God says, God, Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh, where I will witness to y'all.

417
00:36:18.420 --> 00:36:22.509
R. David: What does it mean to say that God is witnessing to us?

418
00:36:26.790 --> 00:36:28.900
R. Rachel: to bear witness? To…

419
00:36:30.750 --> 00:36:31.480
R. David: Joan.

420
00:36:33.100 --> 00:36:43.619
Joan Green: I've always… I've always noticed this word, having to do with other religions mainly, but I… my sense of it is that

421
00:36:44.410 --> 00:36:54.499
Joan Green: When you bear witness, you receive a message, or a… an understanding of something that you didn't have before.

422
00:36:55.380 --> 00:37:03.479
R. David: Yeah… Essentially, it's… It's another way of saying revelation.

423
00:37:07.190 --> 00:37:09.110
R. David: Consciousness shifting.

424
00:37:09.830 --> 00:37:16.599
R. David: Feeling, thinking, being… sensing becoming in a way that we weren't before. So there's number one.

425
00:37:17.940 --> 00:37:36.710
R. David: Number 2 is the next bit here. So, God is gonna make holy, sanctify the tent, and the altar, and Aaron, and his sons, and then God, therefore, will Shehino, God will dwell in the children of Israel, I'll be their God. They will know that I am Yod-Heh-Vab-Heh, their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt.

426
00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:39.670
R. David: Lischach Nibetocham.

427
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:42.160
R. David: Mushakhain!

428
00:37:42.160 --> 00:37:43.840
R. Rachel: There's Shefhina within them.

429
00:37:44.650 --> 00:37:46.240
R. David: The Shechina within them.

430
00:37:48.240 --> 00:37:49.949
R. David: But it's even more than that.

431
00:37:51.490 --> 00:37:54.830
R. David: Literally, to be my dwelling.

432
00:37:55.400 --> 00:37:58.900
R. David: The shachain would be to dwell. Lesachni…

433
00:37:59.680 --> 00:38:03.210
R. David: With that yod at the end, the Shakhdi.

434
00:38:03.550 --> 00:38:07.169
R. David: to be MY dwelling.

435
00:38:08.060 --> 00:38:09.440
R. Rachel: But to who?

436
00:38:09.850 --> 00:38:14.790
R. David: Who is God's dwelling?

437
00:38:18.240 --> 00:38:23.980
R. David: Yeah! And how do we become God's dwelling?

438
00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:32.689
R. David: I will be their God, and they will know, there's something about knowing here that I am who I am.

439
00:38:33.230 --> 00:38:37.469
R. David: who brought them out of the land of Egypt.

440
00:38:38.220 --> 00:38:44.020
R. David: in order To be my dwelling among them.

441
00:38:46.450 --> 00:38:49.030
R. David: This is not an accident.

442
00:38:49.270 --> 00:38:55.969
R. David: Where are we in the Jewish calendar right now? We're coming up on the second of three full moons.

443
00:38:56.640 --> 00:39:05.069
R. David: The first one was Tubisvat, the second one's gonna be Purim. Watch early next week, we've got a heck of a lunar eclipse coming. And then the third one is Passover.

444
00:39:06.150 --> 00:39:13.999
R. David: By knowing that the divine is our source of liberation, And living that way.

445
00:39:17.770 --> 00:39:18.790
R. David: God.

446
00:39:20.230 --> 00:39:22.310
R. David: We become God's dwelling.

447
00:39:22.930 --> 00:39:24.950
R. David: We become God's dwelling.

448
00:39:25.800 --> 00:39:26.790
R. David: not?

449
00:39:28.550 --> 00:39:36.700
R. David: the Mishkan. Not the altar. Not the temple. Not that. Us. We.

450
00:39:37.710 --> 00:39:45.019
R. David: This is radical. We're setting up arts and crafts, we're doing all of these things, but it ain't so God could dwell there.

451
00:39:46.050 --> 00:39:46.630
R. Rachel: Nope.

452
00:39:47.050 --> 00:39:48.750
R. David: So God can dwell here.

453
00:39:51.790 --> 00:39:52.900
R. David: Ellen Ruth.

454
00:39:53.240 --> 00:39:54.330
R. David: And then we have one more.

455
00:39:54.330 --> 00:39:55.649
R. Rachel: And then, can we move to texts?

456
00:39:55.650 --> 00:40:02.330
ert: I'm… I'm always struck… I'm always struck with, I will be their God.

457
00:40:03.060 --> 00:40:15.749
ert: It's… it's like God is… everybody's God. So, when I read that, it feels so…

458
00:40:15.890 --> 00:40:20.549
ert: limiting and a bit confusing, if you could say something about that.

459
00:40:20.630 --> 00:40:21.439
R. David: Very briefly.

460
00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:26.690
R. Rachel: I would say instead, This is like, imagine God saying, I'm gonna be your friend.

461
00:40:26.900 --> 00:40:37.650
R. Rachel: That doesn't mean God doesn't… that God isn't somebody else's friend. This is God saying, I'm gonna be in a relationship with you. You're the person I'm talking to right now. You and I are connected.

462
00:40:38.100 --> 00:40:40.819
R. Rachel: That doesn't mean I'm not connected with him or her.

463
00:40:41.040 --> 00:40:43.160
R. Rachel: But this is our connection.

464
00:40:43.330 --> 00:40:47.269
R. David: Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai of Zohar fame said this.

465
00:40:49.900 --> 00:40:52.619
R. David: God says we are to be God's witnesses in the world.

466
00:40:53.200 --> 00:41:00.849
R. David: If we are God's witnesses in the world, then it's as if God's in the world. Great. If we are not God's witnesses in the world.

467
00:41:01.190 --> 00:41:06.259
R. David: He continues, then, as it were, it is as if God is not in the world.

468
00:41:06.470 --> 00:41:13.439
R. David: God may be our God, but it's not about that. This is not about a statement of beingness, it's a statement of experience.

469
00:41:13.990 --> 00:41:16.190
R. David: And you will know that I'm your God.

470
00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:19.499
R. David: And you will live like Adam your God.

471
00:41:19.960 --> 00:41:22.620
R. David: And you will be my dwelling place in the world.

472
00:41:23.880 --> 00:41:30.490
R. David: Otherwise, it's arts and crafts. Otherwise, it's a story. Otherwise, it's happening to somebody else.

473
00:41:34.800 --> 00:41:37.970
R. Rachel: I see Corinne's hand, and then I would love to take us into Torah.

474
00:41:38.120 --> 00:41:38.920
R. David: Yup.

475
00:41:39.700 --> 00:41:41.760
Corinne: There's one more stop.

476
00:41:42.300 --> 00:41:55.809
Corinne: To put it in human words, without us, like, God feels like it's a void, it's an empty place, it, like, seems to me, it contracts, or God contracts and He withdraws.

477
00:41:57.370 --> 00:41:58.170
R. David: Yup.

478
00:42:00.030 --> 00:42:01.490
R. David: Exactly that.

479
00:42:02.750 --> 00:42:05.270
Corinne: So you would say God is not here, then?

480
00:42:05.820 --> 00:42:09.229
Corinne: If we don't connect with God.

481
00:42:09.230 --> 00:42:15.340
R. David: As if. That's why Shimon Bar Yochai said, as if. Kiv yachol, as it were.

482
00:42:15.680 --> 00:42:22.309
R. David: God always is. But it's like, what, you know, if a tree falls in a deserted forest, does it make a sound?

483
00:42:24.880 --> 00:42:31.189
R. Rachel: I think of the teaching that says that God created creation in order to be in relationship.

484
00:42:32.920 --> 00:42:33.590
R. David: Yeah.

485
00:42:34.370 --> 00:42:35.160
R. David: Yeah.

486
00:42:35.590 --> 00:42:38.379
R. David: This is a bad experience. Last piece.

487
00:42:39.300 --> 00:42:50.070
R. David: We've got the curtain, we've got Aaron insensifying, you know, all of that. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, Yaktirena.

488
00:42:53.470 --> 00:42:57.270
R. David: Or intensify her. Who's her?

489
00:42:57.730 --> 00:42:58.790
R. David: Where's her?

490
00:42:59.490 --> 00:43:00.679
R. David: Where's a herb?

491
00:43:01.460 --> 00:43:02.919
R. Rachel: Well, there's a her in that hay.

492
00:43:03.390 --> 00:43:07.019
R. David: Well, there's a her in that… well, okay, but what's her?

493
00:43:07.130 --> 00:43:11.740
R. Rachel: Right, grammatically, the word is saying her, but there's no reference to her.

494
00:43:13.340 --> 00:43:14.530
R. David: There's no her here.

495
00:43:14.530 --> 00:43:15.970
Marcia's iPad: Is it Shahuna?

496
00:43:16.350 --> 00:43:17.850
R. David: Well, that's the question, isn't it?

497
00:43:19.370 --> 00:43:26.669
R. Rachel: I mean… I sure think so, but… But the text doesn't say!

498
00:43:28.920 --> 00:43:32.149
R. David: This is another one of those moments where grammar's very cool.

499
00:43:34.050 --> 00:43:40.530
R. David: When… it should say, when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he, Aaron, will insensify them.

500
00:43:41.980 --> 00:43:44.989
R. David: But that's not what it says.

501
00:43:46.210 --> 00:43:48.290
R. David: So, who is the her?

502
00:43:48.720 --> 00:43:51.289
R. David: whom Aaron is insensifying.

503
00:43:53.960 --> 00:43:58.749
R. David: We're gonna have to leave that to your imagination.

504
00:44:00.930 --> 00:44:02.180
R. David: You're welcome.

505
00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:03.420
Marcia's iPad: Wow.

506
00:44:03.420 --> 00:44:04.960
R. David: Right, right, we don't know.

507
00:44:05.830 --> 00:44:07.040
R. David: Okay!

508
00:44:07.560 --> 00:44:11.260
R. David: So let's talk about this whole smells thing.

509
00:44:14.390 --> 00:44:17.390
R. David: Why is this happening at all?

510
00:44:19.190 --> 00:44:21.449
R. David: And we started talking a little bit about

511
00:44:21.740 --> 00:44:26.100
R. David: The different senses, and now activating sense.

512
00:44:26.270 --> 00:44:28.760
R. David: The sense of scent, sorry.

513
00:44:30.130 --> 00:44:35.869
R. David: Stein Saltz is a modern commentator, think of him like modern Rashi for our purposes here.

514
00:44:36.300 --> 00:44:43.559
R. David: when Aaron cleans out the lamps, what's happening is Yesterday night, There was the menorah.

515
00:44:43.560 --> 00:44:45.440
R. Rachel: We have an oil lamp with a wick in it.

516
00:44:46.050 --> 00:44:46.680
R. David: Yup.

517
00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:48.279
R. David: Oil burns out. And it goes out.

518
00:44:50.050 --> 00:44:50.929
R. David: And it goes out.

519
00:44:50.930 --> 00:44:51.499
R. Rachel: You gotta clean it.

520
00:44:51.500 --> 00:44:58.860
R. David: Great, gotta clean it, prepare new Wix, and then insensify Her. Okay, that's the shot.

521
00:44:59.360 --> 00:45:03.270
R. David: That's literally what is imagined to have happened. Okay, great.

522
00:45:04.130 --> 00:45:05.810
R. David: The CLIA car.

523
00:45:06.140 --> 00:45:09.330
R. David: Has some very nifty things about this.

524
00:45:11.060 --> 00:45:13.650
R. David: And we're gonna go slowly here.

525
00:45:14.010 --> 00:45:16.049
R. David: And make space.

526
00:45:16.090 --> 00:45:18.319
R. Rachel: Because so much of this.

527
00:45:18.320 --> 00:45:21.420
R. David: is about… base.

528
00:45:22.840 --> 00:45:26.589
R. David: We're gonna read this one, and take some time.

529
00:45:27.210 --> 00:45:32.980
R. David: Alright, so put yourself there. Put yourself in the place Where…

530
00:45:33.240 --> 00:45:36.759
R. David: Something is coming to shift your awareness.

531
00:45:40.680 --> 00:45:41.960
R. David: Welcome, Susan.

532
00:45:43.020 --> 00:45:46.650
R. David: The living God commanded to make incense altar.

533
00:45:46.760 --> 00:45:51.860
R. David: Which lifts smoke and a pleasing aroma to God.

534
00:45:52.840 --> 00:46:00.449
R. David: To atone for the human spirit that also rises up like incense smoke.

535
00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:08.039
R. David: And must be perfumed with the myrrh and frankincense of good deeds.

536
00:46:08.190 --> 00:46:11.170
R. David: From Song of Songs. Stop there.

537
00:46:12.920 --> 00:46:22.289
R. David: Can you experience your human spirit that also rises up like incense smoke and must be perfumed with good deeds?

538
00:46:26.110 --> 00:46:29.120
R. David: It's poetry. I see a few of you going like this.

539
00:46:30.170 --> 00:46:36.819
R. David: And a few of you leaning in, and a few of you, you know, eyes blazing over a little bit.

540
00:46:41.860 --> 00:46:46.360
R. Rachel: I love the idea that our good deeds are the fragrance we offer up to God.

541
00:46:48.060 --> 00:46:49.490
R. Rachel: It's just gorgeous to me.

542
00:46:50.110 --> 00:46:52.749
R. David: Our lives become the incense.

543
00:46:55.120 --> 00:46:57.909
R. Rachel: And everywhere we go becomes the altar.

544
00:46:58.140 --> 00:46:58.770
R. David: Boom.

545
00:46:59.510 --> 00:47:03.840
R. David: for instruction, God put in our hearts.

546
00:47:04.020 --> 00:47:17.560
R. David: The instruction for how to do this, which is the next chapter. Grind some… grind fine some of the incense spices, and we're going to be told what they are. Alluding to the soul that is the finest of the fine.

547
00:47:18.030 --> 00:47:25.069
R. David: Which, even so, needs atonement to elevate it to its source.

548
00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:32.349
R. David: How many of you have ever felt like your soul is being ground up?

549
00:47:32.590 --> 00:47:33.800
R. David: Fine.

550
00:47:35.970 --> 00:47:38.909
R. Rachel: Not always a comfortable feeling, for the record.

551
00:47:39.950 --> 00:47:48.480
R. David: If the incense could talk, what would it say? To the pest, to the mortar and pestle that's grinding it up? Stop hitting me!

552
00:47:54.680 --> 00:47:58.409
R. David: The measurements of this altar prove the point.

553
00:47:59.700 --> 00:48:12.859
R. David: One cubit long, one cubit wide. Single cubits, one, one cubit, one, to atone for the soul that is called Muchad, unique also from the Hebrew word for.

554
00:48:13.370 --> 00:48:14.599
R. Rachel: One, one.

555
00:48:16.300 --> 00:48:17.030
R. David: But…

556
00:48:18.410 --> 00:48:27.649
R. Rachel: Look at how this… this measurement, right? 1 cubit by 1 cubit, it's like, you know, it's a direction, make it 3 meters by 3 meters.

557
00:48:28.490 --> 00:48:29.860
R. Rachel: But here, it's not

558
00:48:30.410 --> 00:48:39.970
R. Rachel: a meaningless measurement with a tape measure. It's the one represents the oneness, the uniqueness of each of us.

559
00:48:41.720 --> 00:48:43.609
R. David: The soul is unique.

560
00:48:44.070 --> 00:48:44.900
R. Rachel: is one.

561
00:48:45.240 --> 00:48:47.320
R. Rachel: Just as God is one.

562
00:48:48.270 --> 00:48:50.530
R. David: Just as the Holy Blessed One is one.

563
00:48:50.690 --> 00:48:55.749
R. David: So is the soul unique. Okay, so God is one, we are one, each of us is one.

564
00:48:56.860 --> 00:49:07.360
R. David: But this altar was 1 by 1 by 2 in height, and 2 cubits in height. For the human spirit rises from its place in body.

565
00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:09.819
R. David: To its place supernally.

566
00:49:10.130 --> 00:49:14.720
R. David: There are two In this understanding levels.

567
00:49:14.930 --> 00:49:17.530
R. David: There's the sole we access here.

568
00:49:18.040 --> 00:49:20.380
R. David: And there's the wholeness.

569
00:49:26.290 --> 00:49:31.179
R. David: The time of its incensing, Is morning and evening.

570
00:49:31.580 --> 00:49:33.769
R. David: For the soul enters in the morning.

571
00:49:34.630 --> 00:49:38.710
R. David: We wake up, we got our soul back, to use spiritual language.

572
00:49:40.210 --> 00:49:42.439
R. David: And that's equivalent of youth.

573
00:49:42.670 --> 00:49:45.679
R. David: The time of the rising of her son.

574
00:49:48.560 --> 00:49:54.750
R. David: Morning light. And in the evening, she returns to her parent, as in the days of her youth.

575
00:49:56.130 --> 00:50:00.790
R. David: How many of us feel like things go bump in the night and we want to be protected?

576
00:50:03.340 --> 00:50:06.199
R. Rachel: It's the journey of a day, it's also the journey of a life.

577
00:50:06.510 --> 00:50:07.350
R. Rachel: Right.

578
00:50:07.850 --> 00:50:08.739
R. David: Right? And of course…

579
00:50:08.740 --> 00:50:12.990
R. Rachel: The beginning of a life is like sunrise, and the end of a life is like sunset.

580
00:50:13.550 --> 00:50:18.090
R. David: we move from Agency to vulnerability, also, right?

581
00:50:18.490 --> 00:50:21.959
R. David: You're here, you choose to be, and then you lay down at night.

582
00:50:23.280 --> 00:50:23.960
R. David: Hmm.

583
00:50:24.680 --> 00:50:28.530
R. David: May her exit be like her entrance, without sin.

584
00:50:29.150 --> 00:50:32.490
R. David: The incense comes when he cleans the lamps by the morning.

585
00:50:33.070 --> 00:50:35.390
R. David: And in the evening, when he lights the lamps.

586
00:50:35.640 --> 00:50:38.160
R. David: The appearance of evening and morning

587
00:50:38.490 --> 00:50:42.760
R. David: is real. Literally, in Hebrew, it's truth here, but I think real.

588
00:50:43.140 --> 00:50:49.750
R. David: connotes more what we're saying, because it explains from Proverbs one of my favorite lines.

589
00:50:49.750 --> 00:50:51.170
R. Rachel: Me too.

590
00:50:51.170 --> 00:50:54.559
R. David: N'er Elohim Nishmat Adam.

591
00:50:55.080 --> 00:50:58.240
R. David: The lamp of God is the human soul.

592
00:50:59.160 --> 00:51:01.389
R. David: The lamp of God.

593
00:51:01.640 --> 00:51:02.920
R. David: is the human.

594
00:51:03.070 --> 00:51:04.120
R. David: Soul.

595
00:51:05.060 --> 00:51:12.739
R. Rachel: When we're in a dark place, we kindle a light to help us see. When God is in a dark place.

596
00:51:13.260 --> 00:51:15.719
R. Rachel: God kindles us.

597
00:51:16.420 --> 00:51:18.330
R. Rachel: We're the light.

598
00:51:18.670 --> 00:51:19.719
Marcia's iPad: Near?

599
00:51:20.200 --> 00:51:20.850
R. David: Yep.

600
00:51:20.850 --> 00:51:22.130
R. Rachel: The Nair, yup.

601
00:51:22.460 --> 00:51:23.330
R. David: That's right.

602
00:51:23.330 --> 00:51:26.949
R. Rachel: Each of our souls is a nair, a candle.

603
00:51:27.220 --> 00:51:27.880
R. Rachel: For God.

604
00:51:27.880 --> 00:51:31.100
R. David: Hadleek.

605
00:51:31.560 --> 00:51:32.210
R. Rachel: Mayor.

606
00:51:32.210 --> 00:51:32.930
R. David: Mayor.

607
00:51:35.550 --> 00:51:40.069
R. David: So morning is the time to clean God's lamp, the human soul.

608
00:51:40.310 --> 00:51:50.219
R. David: To improve our deeds and cleanse ourselves of all the rust and the dust and the ash and the meh, it's essentially a tiny little mini morning Yom Kippur every day.

609
00:51:52.460 --> 00:51:58.029
R. David: And evening, the time of one's sunset, is the time of the soul's ascent to her source.

610
00:51:59.130 --> 00:52:06.949
R. David: Incense comes to atone for the soul, so her departure from the world may be without sin, just like its entrance.

611
00:52:07.660 --> 00:52:12.310
R. David: Let's be very clear that no one is talking about Elizabeth Arden making the world better.

612
00:52:14.330 --> 00:52:21.570
R. David: No one is talking about eau de toilette and making the world better, just by spritzing. No one's talking about that here.

613
00:52:22.250 --> 00:52:24.759
R. David: This now becomes highly symbolic.

614
00:52:25.990 --> 00:52:32.570
R. David: And the symbolism matters only to the extent that we Give it life.

615
00:52:36.990 --> 00:52:38.800
R. David: So let's take a second, let it…

616
00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:43.229
R. David: Let it shine, let it percolate, let it smell us.

617
00:52:44.250 --> 00:52:46.119
R. David: And then I'm curious what comes.

618
00:53:05.370 --> 00:53:07.699
R. David: Make a space for Torah.

619
00:53:08.800 --> 00:53:10.150
R. David: So she can flow.

620
00:53:24.110 --> 00:53:25.520
R. David: What wants to come?

621
00:53:29.950 --> 00:53:30.900
R. David: Deanna.

622
00:53:31.230 --> 00:53:34.660
R. David: You write, this might be the most beautiful Midrash I've ever heard.

623
00:53:36.640 --> 00:53:37.990
R. David: We were hoping so.

624
00:53:39.750 --> 00:53:41.160
R. Rachel: Lands that way with us, too.

625
00:53:41.540 --> 00:53:45.519
R. David: what's… What are you finding meaningful here?

626
00:53:51.690 --> 00:53:57.409
Diana Rico: For me, it's a… how do I say this? A concretization?

627
00:53:58.250 --> 00:54:01.489
Diana Rico: Not the right word, but… I can't think of another one.

628
00:54:03.200 --> 00:54:10.230
Diana Rico: A physical… a physical manifestation or a physical picture of a spiritual experience.

629
00:54:10.960 --> 00:54:17.389
R. David: of a very profound spiritual experience. I just love it. It's so beautiful, every word of it.

630
00:54:17.860 --> 00:54:18.420
R. Rachel: Hmm.

631
00:54:20.040 --> 00:54:21.589
Diana Rico: I'm very moved by it.

632
00:54:27.600 --> 00:54:31.610
R. David: And every symbol, therefore, is only a symbol.

633
00:54:31.910 --> 00:54:34.609
R. David: Only a symbol. Think the menorah.

634
00:54:35.430 --> 00:54:37.289
R. David: Which we just got done cleaning.

635
00:54:37.740 --> 00:54:40.429
R. David: It's not about… the thing.

636
00:54:41.520 --> 00:54:42.900
R. Rachel: It's about that.

637
00:54:42.940 --> 00:54:44.540
R. David: It's about the soul.

638
00:54:44.680 --> 00:54:51.269
R. David: And how the thing is a concretization of an actual experience, of being lit.

639
00:54:52.820 --> 00:54:56.809
R. David: Be of knowing that we are the Lamp of God.

640
00:54:58.660 --> 00:55:00.170
R. David: And living that way.

641
00:55:00.940 --> 00:55:06.080
R. David: And sometimes getting burned up, and getting schmutzy, and needing to be cleaned out.

642
00:55:06.620 --> 00:55:10.940
R. Rachel: In fact, always getting schmutzy and needing to be cleaned out.

643
00:55:11.500 --> 00:55:15.329
R. David: Because that's what wicks do, they burn down your gut, right?

644
00:55:15.330 --> 00:55:16.190
R. Rachel: Nope, this…

645
00:55:16.330 --> 00:55:16.900
R. David: Yeah.

646
00:55:19.700 --> 00:55:24.080
R. Rachel: That the maintenance work of regular spiritual life

647
00:55:24.570 --> 00:55:28.440
R. Rachel: Is you wake up in the morning and you clean out the ash so you can…

648
00:55:28.630 --> 00:55:34.260
R. Rachel: Begin again, aware of the pure soul that was always already there.

649
00:55:37.150 --> 00:55:37.900
R. David: Yes.

650
00:55:39.000 --> 00:55:44.030
R. David: Others, thank you for that, Deanna. Others, what if anything, wants to come here?

651
00:55:56.860 --> 00:55:57.660
R. David: Joan.

652
00:56:00.440 --> 00:56:05.200
Joan Green: This feels like a communication with your best self.

653
00:56:11.990 --> 00:56:14.670
Joan Green: ever, ever, ever…

654
00:56:14.920 --> 00:56:16.410
R. David: Ever happening.

655
00:56:16.490 --> 00:56:17.740
Joan Green: Continuing.

656
00:56:17.740 --> 00:56:18.840
R. Rachel: Hmm…

657
00:56:19.250 --> 00:56:27.570
Joan Green: If… if being godly… Is another way to say you're doing it all right.

658
00:56:28.880 --> 00:56:35.340
Joan Green: Then, this sense of… Sweet smoke is your connection.

659
00:56:40.920 --> 00:56:44.340
R. David: As a pastoral theologian, I know,

660
00:56:44.640 --> 00:56:48.640
R. David: sometimes speaks of, you know, take out the word God.

661
00:56:48.970 --> 00:56:52.420
R. David: And put in the phrase, ideal support.

662
00:56:54.600 --> 00:57:00.059
R. David: The support you most yearn for, the… and not just a reflection of ourselves.

663
00:57:01.160 --> 00:57:06.990
R. David: The highest of the high, not from a sense of distancing, But a sense of most.

664
00:57:07.680 --> 00:57:12.940
R. David: Because the word God sometimes is so loaded and freighted that it gets in the way.

665
00:57:13.900 --> 00:57:15.810
R. Rachel: Well, I always put an asterisk on it.

666
00:57:19.660 --> 00:57:20.240
R. David: Yeah.

667
00:57:20.530 --> 00:57:21.690
R. David: Ellen Ruth.

668
00:57:22.280 --> 00:57:24.200
R. David: And then if there's nothing else, we're gonna move on.

669
00:57:24.200 --> 00:57:28.520
ert: Who wrote this piece? Can you tell us a little bit about that person?

670
00:57:29.600 --> 00:57:31.410
R. David: Rachel, you want to say a word?

671
00:57:31.670 --> 00:57:32.830
R. Rachel: Sure.

672
00:57:33.370 --> 00:57:42.379
R. Rachel: I'm… I want to make sure I get my dates right. So, Cleiacar was published originally in 1602.

673
00:57:42.990 --> 00:57:49.599
R. Rachel: By Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Lundschitz, which is a.

674
00:57:49.600 --> 00:57:51.470
R. David: not have been able to say Lundschutz.

675
00:57:51.470 --> 00:57:58.639
R. Rachel: That's… well, that's why I looked it up. But he is typically called the Klee Yakar. This is the name of his most famous work.

676
00:57:58.870 --> 00:58:04.580
R. Rachel: Kl yakar means, precious… precious vessel.

677
00:58:06.390 --> 00:58:13.990
R. Rachel: It's a, and it was written after he recovered from serious illness.

678
00:58:16.770 --> 00:58:21.930
R. Rachel: And a lot of it was originally written as sermons that he delivered and then wrote down.

679
00:58:22.940 --> 00:58:23.180
ert: Oh.

680
00:58:23.420 --> 00:58:25.990
R. Rachel: But the year 16… around 1600.

681
00:58:27.960 --> 00:58:35.159
ert: So… Him recovering from a serious illness and writing that.

682
00:58:35.470 --> 00:58:40.910
ert: That gives me much more of a visceral experience of what he's saying.

683
00:58:40.910 --> 00:58:41.710
R. David: because he…

684
00:58:41.710 --> 00:58:42.730
ert: Probably.

685
00:58:43.750 --> 00:58:49.600
ert: Actually did what he was writing about to recover from his illness.

686
00:58:49.600 --> 00:59:02.419
R. David: Yup, or as, as some have said, that which gives light must endure burning.

687
00:59:03.280 --> 00:59:04.270
R. David: Victor Frankl.

688
00:59:04.560 --> 00:59:07.789
R. Rachel: I see James's hand, and James hasn't spoken, and then I would…

689
00:59:07.790 --> 00:59:11.419
R. David: And then Cheryl. Cheryl's there, and then we're gonna move forward, yeah.

690
00:59:14.100 --> 00:59:16.330
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): So you referred to the menorah

691
00:59:16.900 --> 00:59:21.249
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): As being symbolically, a physical manifestation of the soul.

692
00:59:22.740 --> 00:59:28.049
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Strangely enough, I did not go into this when I wrote my thing on Teruma last week.

693
00:59:28.960 --> 00:59:31.210
R. David: We had to say something you didn't say.

694
00:59:32.350 --> 00:59:35.700
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Well, yeah, but I'm thinking about it, and it's like, you know, there's some interesting…

695
00:59:36.600 --> 00:59:43.199
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): metaphor right there. Not just with the menorah and the flame, but consider that

696
00:59:43.640 --> 00:59:47.280
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): In each of the branches on the outside, they point toward the center.

697
00:59:47.820 --> 00:59:48.150
R. David: Yep.

698
00:59:48.150 --> 00:59:51.090
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Which is alignment and orientation.

699
00:59:51.090 --> 00:59:51.710
R. David: Yup.

700
00:59:52.240 --> 00:59:58.729
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): And, well, the number 7, and the 7 Sephirot, the Kabbalah.

701
00:59:59.240 --> 01:00:03.260
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): I mean, there's just… there's all kinds of little things like that that I didn't even…

702
01:00:03.460 --> 01:00:04.420
R. David: Yeah, James…

703
01:00:04.420 --> 01:00:06.470
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): myself now, I wish I'd have thought about this last week.

704
01:00:06.470 --> 01:00:09.039
R. David: So, go have fun with that.

705
01:00:09.040 --> 01:00:12.919
R. Rachel: As David Green observed to me earlier, the partial will come around next year.

706
01:00:14.230 --> 01:00:19.340
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): well, yeah, but I gotta write something different next year, now I gotta go back and change what I wrote, because it's like…

707
01:00:19.540 --> 01:00:25.850
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): there's so much good stuff there. I didn't even… I haven't really considered that level of symbolism in the menorah itself.

708
01:00:26.290 --> 01:00:26.810
R. David: Yeah.

709
01:00:27.260 --> 01:00:28.030
Marcia's iPad: Yeah.

710
01:00:28.030 --> 01:00:31.690
R. Rachel: It's almost fractaline in how rich it is.

711
01:00:31.860 --> 01:00:32.500
James Nerlinger (Cincinnati, Ohio USA): Huh.

712
01:00:33.640 --> 01:00:35.820
R. David: Cheryl, and then we're gonna…

713
01:00:35.820 --> 01:00:38.130
R. Rachel: We're gonna move, because we've got some places to move to.

714
01:00:38.130 --> 01:00:47.309
Sherrill Cropper: Could you go back for a minute to the other one? And I apologize, I was a little distracted here, so it may have been brought up already, but…

715
01:00:47.600 --> 01:00:57.160
Sherrill Cropper: may have been brought up already, but, please let me know. I'm a little confused, as to why

716
01:00:58.200 --> 01:01:00.480
Sherrill Cropper: We need scents…

717
01:01:01.770 --> 01:01:11.000
Sherrill Cropper: to ride our souls up in atonement. Okay. If this is… if this is good deeds, that it's accompanying

718
01:01:11.180 --> 01:01:13.759
Sherrill Cropper: I'm curious about that.

719
01:01:14.000 --> 01:01:19.129
R. David: Okay, so the CLIA car is moving away from scent, literally.

720
01:01:19.640 --> 01:01:21.530
R. David: And making it more metaphorical.

721
01:01:21.530 --> 01:01:34.219
R. Rachel: Saying that instead of burning incense now, our mitzvot are the incense that floats up to provide a rayach nichoach, a pleasing scent to God.

722
01:01:34.430 --> 01:01:37.779
R. Rachel: And if you're saying, why atonement if we're doing good deeds?

723
01:01:38.120 --> 01:01:41.619
R. Rachel: Because we always need to make atonement for something.

724
01:01:41.620 --> 01:01:47.639
R. David: Not like this atonement. Atonement like cleaning out. Just generally cleaning.

725
01:01:47.640 --> 01:01:48.850
Sherrill Cropper: Oh, okay.

726
01:01:48.850 --> 01:01:57.950
R. Rachel: Every morning, you gotta clean out the pipes so that God's blessing can flow, and every day, I probably screw something up that I need

727
01:01:58.150 --> 01:02:01.419
R. Rachel: Tick I can be pulled for it.

728
01:02:01.610 --> 01:02:15.060
Sherrill Cropper: That's absolutely true, however, then it wouldn't necessarily say our good deeds. So, because it said our good deeds, it doesn't say a mixed bag.

729
01:02:15.440 --> 01:02:20.030
Sherrill Cropper: of our good and our bad, requiring atonement. Ratonement was a strange word.

730
01:02:20.030 --> 01:02:30.739
R. Rachel: No, it's not that the good deeds require atonement, it's that everyday human beings need to become… we need to become at one.

731
01:02:31.470 --> 01:02:32.180
Sherrill Cropper: Okay.

732
01:02:32.410 --> 01:02:46.030
R. Rachel: We need to, at one with God, and the way we do it used to be by burning incense, and now is by doing mitzvot, and the sweet smoke of our mitzvot rise up and… and…

733
01:02:46.490 --> 01:02:48.190
R. Rachel: Carry us with it.

734
01:02:48.360 --> 01:02:49.010
R. Rachel: Right.

735
01:02:49.150 --> 01:02:53.509
Sherrill Cropper: Or if you're Rachel… or if you're Rachel,

736
01:02:54.590 --> 01:02:59.750
Sherrill Cropper: Deanna or myself, you're still rising up the sense.

737
01:02:59.750 --> 01:03:01.830
R. Rachel: Yes, some of us still burn incense, but…

738
01:03:01.830 --> 01:03:10.579
R. David: And… and… but it's for a reason. It's not because we want to smell like Elizabeth Arden. It's… it's that there's something about the senses

739
01:03:10.730 --> 01:03:13.430
R. David: That helped to shift us.

740
01:03:13.970 --> 01:03:22.039
Sherrill Cropper: Yes, but I have to just say, I'm feeling a little bit like I want to defend Elizabeth Arden, not her in particular, her.

741
01:03:22.040 --> 01:03:23.400
R. David: Okay, so, so, so bear with me.

742
01:03:23.400 --> 01:03:27.139
Sherrill Cropper: No, no, no, we're gonna keep moving. Because… since…

743
01:03:27.430 --> 01:03:27.870
R. David: We're going.

744
01:03:27.870 --> 01:03:30.329
Sherrill Cropper: Real stuff! Two hours.

745
01:03:30.330 --> 01:03:32.160
R. Rachel: That's literally where we're going.

746
01:03:32.160 --> 01:03:34.660
R. David: Cheryl, Cheryl, we're gonna go there right now.

747
01:03:34.660 --> 01:03:36.290
Sherrill Cropper: Physical thing that happened.

748
01:03:36.290 --> 01:03:40.430
R. David: It is! It is, and we want to go there now.

749
01:03:40.430 --> 01:03:42.959
Sherrill Cropper: We shouldn't negate any. We shouldn't negate any sense.

750
01:03:42.960 --> 01:03:46.839
R. David: We're not, we're not, we're not, we're about to do the exact opposite. Iris is on there.

751
01:03:46.840 --> 01:03:50.930
R. Rachel: Even though both of our synagogues have sent free policies, and that's a different matter.

752
01:03:50.930 --> 01:03:51.590
R. David: Iris.

753
01:03:51.590 --> 01:03:52.559
Iris Barten: Thank you.

754
01:03:52.900 --> 01:04:06.959
Iris Barten: when we clean out our lamps, I think it's a way of being humble and having some humility before we receive our soul back, because we are living and sending up all these wonderful mitzvot, but we're still human.

755
01:04:07.070 --> 01:04:09.769
Iris Barten: So, I feel it's like humility.

756
01:04:09.770 --> 01:04:15.270
R. Rachel: I love that. Morning is the time to clean out the circuits and begin again.

757
01:04:15.270 --> 01:04:19.489
R. David: We are about to present to you something that could be a 6-month course.

758
01:04:19.740 --> 01:04:22.720
R. Rachel: And maybe someday it will be, but today is not that day.

759
01:04:22.720 --> 01:04:24.740
R. David: But today's not that day.

760
01:04:25.010 --> 01:04:26.339
R. David: Here's the quickie.

761
01:04:26.850 --> 01:04:29.809
R. David: There's a sensory repertoire.

762
01:04:30.630 --> 01:04:34.530
R. David: involved in the Mishkan, the tabernacle.

763
01:04:35.080 --> 01:04:43.309
R. David: We've got sight, we've got taste, things get eaten, there's sounds, bells, and calls, and…

764
01:04:43.850 --> 01:04:50.779
R. David: this hearing, and now we're gonna have smell. So there's something important about the all

765
01:04:50.940 --> 01:04:54.510
R. David: Senses aspect of what's going on here.

766
01:04:57.760 --> 01:05:09.790
R. David: In Genesis, Isaac Yitzrak, smells Yaakov's clothes and believes… But he's Aesop.

767
01:05:12.680 --> 01:05:18.459
R. David: And he blesses him, saying, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that Adonai has blessed.

768
01:05:21.160 --> 01:05:27.100
R. David: Of this, Rashi says, Yitrak smelled? What did Yitrak smell?

769
01:05:27.240 --> 01:05:29.320
R. David: The scent of…

770
01:05:29.320 --> 01:05:29.750
R. Rachel: Eden.

771
01:05:29.750 --> 01:05:30.960
R. David: Eden.

772
01:05:32.930 --> 01:05:35.490
R. David: like the Garden of Eden.

773
01:05:38.470 --> 01:05:40.519
R. David: Why is this relevant?

774
01:05:44.560 --> 01:05:48.929
R. David: There is a transporting nature.

775
01:05:49.210 --> 01:05:50.570
R. David: of scent.

776
01:05:53.670 --> 01:05:57.279
R. David: If I smell my mom's chicken soup.

777
01:05:58.170 --> 01:06:05.579
R. David: something aligns, and I'm in a particular space. If you want to sell a house, what do you do?

778
01:06:06.800 --> 01:06:09.069
R. Rachel: You bake cookies in the oven.

779
01:06:09.070 --> 01:06:10.259
R. David: Cookies, or bread.

780
01:06:10.260 --> 01:06:11.509
R. Rachel: Or something, yep.

781
01:06:11.510 --> 01:06:17.720
R. David: Right, right, right, right. There's something transportive about scent.

782
01:06:18.630 --> 01:06:23.650
R. David: And the… The apotheosis of that.

783
01:06:24.020 --> 01:06:27.040
R. David: is… Don Aden, the Garden of Eden.

784
01:06:30.550 --> 01:06:36.400
R. David: They're in a mystical way that words fail me to describe.

785
01:06:38.790 --> 01:06:49.550
R. David: when something profound happens spiritually, and I yearn for words, I might say, it's like the smell of gonaden.

786
01:06:51.740 --> 01:06:53.039
R. Rachel: The Garden of Eden.

787
01:06:53.250 --> 01:06:56.379
R. Rachel: By the way, as a scent, we can't possibly actually know.

788
01:06:58.360 --> 01:07:02.130
R. Rachel: It's… it's… it's that for which… it's the…

789
01:07:02.640 --> 01:07:07.770
R. Rachel: the healing for which we most yearn somehow is inherent in that scent.

790
01:07:07.770 --> 01:07:08.310
R. David: board.

791
01:07:08.310 --> 01:07:21.940
R. Rachel: the Targum Yanatan is gonna come along and say, the smell of my son is like the smell of the incense that will someday be offered in the Mishkan, in the mountain of the House of the Sanctuary.

792
01:07:21.940 --> 01:07:24.920
R. David: Which will be called a field that God blessed?

793
01:07:26.100 --> 01:07:28.470
R. Rachel: In which God's Shekinah will dwell.

794
01:07:30.860 --> 01:07:34.139
R. Rachel: Right, so Yisk is not only getting a…

795
01:07:34.410 --> 01:07:42.150
R. Rachel: Ascent of Eden from the time before time. He's also getting a foreknowledge of what will happen in the temple

796
01:07:43.180 --> 01:07:45.150
R. Rachel: Centuries, millennia later.

797
01:07:45.380 --> 01:07:45.870
R. David: Yeah.

798
01:07:46.050 --> 01:07:47.450
R. David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

799
01:07:47.450 --> 01:07:53.849
R. Rachel: In which God's Shekhina will dwell, and that's gonna take us to our next subject, which is dwelling.

800
01:07:53.850 --> 01:07:59.159
R. David: dwelling. We'll get there in a second. Very quickly, because we are running out of time, Joan and Ellen Room.

801
01:07:59.160 --> 01:08:10.230
Joan Green: The, the, to me, the point is that whatever the scent is, that it's the alteration of one's.

802
01:08:10.430 --> 01:08:11.380
R. David: Yes.

803
01:08:11.380 --> 01:08:15.030
Joan Green: self, that is the important thing here, and so…

804
01:08:15.620 --> 01:08:21.270
Joan Green: Yeah, it's experiential that is perhaps,

805
01:08:23.479 --> 01:08:30.600
Joan Green: Inspired by a different… a different atmosphere, which is being created by the smell.

806
01:08:30.609 --> 01:08:37.629
R. David: Yeah, that there's something fully alive when we smell. People who have had COVID who temporarily lose their sense of smell.

807
01:08:37.949 --> 01:08:42.059
R. David: Life is not… it's like watching TV in black and white.

808
01:08:42.659 --> 01:08:45.459
R. David: There's something that radically changes in the mind.

809
01:08:46.669 --> 01:08:55.029
R. David: the fact of our capacity to bring the old factory, it reaches us in a different way. It actually bypasses the rational faculty.

810
01:08:56.709 --> 01:08:58.999
R. David: Which is why we buy the house with the cookies.

811
01:08:59.159 --> 01:09:01.469
R. David: Yeah. Ellen Ruth, last thing on this.

812
01:09:01.660 --> 01:09:08.010
ert: I'm playing with words, and I just noticed that the word ascent.

813
01:09:08.220 --> 01:09:11.970
R. Rachel: Has the word scent in it. Beautiful. Gotta love it.

814
01:09:11.970 --> 01:09:13.409
R. David: Inglis. Gotta love English.

815
01:09:13.410 --> 01:09:14.130
R. Rachel: Lovely.

816
01:09:14.370 --> 01:09:23.009
ert: Gotta love English. And there's… And then, when we were talking about atonement before…

817
01:09:23.349 --> 01:09:28.499
ert: I kept on hearing the word tone in atonement.

818
01:09:28.999 --> 01:09:36.949
ert: And each of us have a tone That is being ascended, ascented.

819
01:09:36.950 --> 01:09:37.590
R. David: Hmm.

820
01:09:37.590 --> 01:09:45.810
ert: To the divine, the tone of who we are in the word atonement, looking at that world slightly differently.

821
01:09:45.810 --> 01:09:54.490
R. David: Yep, thank you. So, last comment on this, and then we're going to spend whatever time we have left on dwelling. Why are we talking about atonement at all?

822
01:09:57.610 --> 01:10:05.569
R. David: I mean, we have our days, and things get burned, and we need to clean it out, and all the things, but why are we talking about atonement in the flow of Torah?

823
01:10:06.470 --> 01:10:08.700
R. David: Why is this here now?

824
01:10:15.500 --> 01:10:16.939
Marcia's iPad: Put us on a runway.

825
01:10:17.670 --> 01:10:18.510
R. David: 4…

826
01:10:20.310 --> 01:10:22.910
R. Rachel: Anybody remember what we said was gonna happen next week?

827
01:10:25.010 --> 01:10:26.370
R. Rachel: I'll give you a clue.

828
01:10:26.510 --> 01:10:28.160
R. Rachel: Red.

829
01:10:29.270 --> 01:10:30.400
Joan Green: Golden Care.

830
01:10:30.580 --> 01:10:31.130
R. David: Yeah.

831
01:10:32.020 --> 01:10:32.830
Corinne: Yeah.

832
01:10:33.150 --> 01:10:33.820
R. David: Yeah.

833
01:10:34.090 --> 01:10:40.450
R. Rachel: Boy, it's sure a good thing that we have instructions on how to atone, because we are about to blow it big time.

834
01:10:41.000 --> 01:10:45.320
R. David: We are about to commit, if Judaism had an original sin, this is it.

835
01:10:46.470 --> 01:10:50.669
R. David: So Torah is doing a little prequel for The Golden Calf.

836
01:10:52.550 --> 01:10:56.379
R. David: Let's talk about dwelling, Rabbi Rachel. You want to talk about dwelling?

837
01:10:56.780 --> 01:10:57.460
R. David: Let's dwell.

838
01:10:57.460 --> 01:11:05.830
R. Rachel: Well, Debbie Young Summers is a contemporary rabbi, and she points out that the name Shekinah is in some way rooted in today's Parsha.

839
01:11:06.360 --> 01:11:12.560
R. Rachel: Because we have variations on this promise that God will dwell among us if we build the Mishkan.

840
01:11:12.960 --> 01:11:17.690
R. Rachel: And as we in this room already know, Mishkan shares a root with Shekhina.

841
01:11:18.120 --> 01:11:20.990
R. Rachel: And we keep hearing about Shekinah dwelling in the Mishkan.

842
01:11:21.700 --> 01:11:29.029
R. Rachel: The question she poses is, without the temple, the Mishkan or the temple, can God still dwell with us?

843
01:11:29.830 --> 01:11:35.479
R. Rachel: Is the… is the place that we're building necessary? And if so, what do we do when we ain't got it?

844
01:11:35.790 --> 01:11:37.589
R. Rachel: Somebody want to read Pierque a vote?

845
01:11:39.930 --> 01:11:41.479
R. Rachel: We can help you with the names.

846
01:11:43.810 --> 01:11:46.610
R. David: Or you can… or you can just say, person.

847
01:11:46.610 --> 01:11:48.410
R. Rachel: Yeah, go for it, go for it, Rachel.

848
01:11:48.700 --> 01:12:02.359
Rachel Rudansky: Yes, Rabbi Halafta Bandosa of Kefar Hanania said, when 10 sit busy with Torah, Shekinah resides among them.

849
01:12:02.360 --> 01:12:09.339
Rachel Rudansky: As in Psalm 82, 1, quote, God stands in the congregation of God.

850
01:12:09.340 --> 01:12:22.360
R. David: Meaning to say, later on, we're gonna have the spies, the scouts, and 10 of the scouts said, hey, you can't go in there, they're huge! We're like grasshoppers to them! And those 10

851
01:12:22.790 --> 01:12:26.889
R. David: Are now going to be redeemed as the 10 that makes a minion.

852
01:12:27.830 --> 01:12:29.100
Rachel Rudansky: Keep going.

853
01:12:29.300 --> 01:12:33.539
Rachel Rudansky: Again, God stands in the congregation of God.

854
01:12:33.960 --> 01:12:37.630
Rachel Rudansky: How do we know even for 3?

855
01:12:38.990 --> 01:12:46.560
Rachel Rudansky: As in Psalm 821, quote, in the midst of three, Judges, God judges.

856
01:12:46.570 --> 01:12:50.970
R. David: Because a minimum court back then was 3.

857
01:12:50.970 --> 01:12:58.040
R. Rachel: kind of bait dean to this day is 3. So, in the midst of judges, they said, well, they had to have met 3 judges, because

858
01:12:58.330 --> 01:13:07.620
R. Rachel: Judge is plural, just… it's like a gaggle of geese, it's a trio of judges. So in the midst of 10, she is there, in the midst of 3, shehinas there.

859
01:13:07.620 --> 01:13:16.059
R. David: And for those of you who are lawyers, if you go before a court in the British Commonwealth, what do you call the court?

860
01:13:17.380 --> 01:13:18.580
R. David: It's not your honor.

861
01:13:21.030 --> 01:13:22.419
R. David: It's my lord.

862
01:13:24.500 --> 01:13:28.789
R. David: It's not a J… but this is where it comes from. Elohim, my Lord.

863
01:13:29.200 --> 01:13:33.890
R. David: You would… it's… yeah, it's not a pun, it's for real. Keep going.

864
01:13:36.300 --> 01:13:39.969
Rachel Rudansky: Again, in the midst of three judges, God judges.

865
01:13:40.930 --> 01:13:48.030
Rachel Rudansky: How do we know even for two? As in Mall 316? What is the mall, please?

866
01:13:48.030 --> 01:13:49.310
R. David: Malachi.

867
01:13:50.080 --> 01:14:00.310
Rachel Rudansky: Then they, quote, Then they who have awe of God spoke one with another, and God hearkened and heard.

868
01:14:00.480 --> 01:14:04.299
R. David: Therefore, any two together can bring God. Alright, keep going.

869
01:14:04.660 --> 01:14:18.120
Rachel Rudansky: How do we know, even for one, as in Exodus 20, 21, quote, even in every… in every place I memorialize my name, I will come to you and bless you.

870
01:14:18.120 --> 01:14:27.770
R. David: Any one person can do it, so Sheena can dwell with 10. Sheena can dwell… we shortened it. You know, there's 5 in there, 3, 2, 1…

871
01:14:30.250 --> 01:14:36.719
R. David: same shechina? Are these the same god? Is it the same dwelling? Is it different levels? What, what…

872
01:14:38.380 --> 01:14:40.339
R. David: Why do we care about any of this?

873
01:14:42.940 --> 01:14:44.090
R. David: What are we thinking?

874
01:14:50.830 --> 01:14:55.760
R. David: Sanhedrin has something to say. This is from Talmud. This is Midrash.

875
01:14:56.710 --> 01:14:57.740
R. David: Who wants it?

876
01:14:57.950 --> 01:15:01.579
R. David: Let's see if it… let's see if it helps us. Who hasn't had a chance to read and wants to?

877
01:15:08.120 --> 01:15:08.630
R. David: somewhere.

878
01:15:08.630 --> 01:15:10.719
R. Rachel: Who has had a chance to read and wants to.

879
01:15:14.900 --> 01:15:15.570
R. Rachel: Thanks, Deion.

880
01:15:16.410 --> 01:15:23.359
Diana Rico: The emperor said to Rabban Gamliel, You say that Shekinah dwells anywhere there are ten.

881
01:15:23.470 --> 01:15:27.520
Diana Rico: How many divine presences are there?

882
01:15:28.060 --> 01:15:30.030
Diana Rico: Sorry, did you want to say something?

883
01:15:30.030 --> 01:15:37.040
R. Rachel: I just… I love the sarcasm of that. Alright, so God is any place there at 10. How many gods are you talking about?

884
01:15:37.040 --> 01:15:38.870
Diana Rico: Revised?

885
01:15:38.870 --> 01:15:42.040
R. David: Emperor. Who's the emperor, by the way? Just so we know.

886
01:15:44.780 --> 01:15:45.990
Diana Rico: I don't know.

887
01:15:45.990 --> 01:15:53.410
R. David: Anyone… okay, so, Sanhedrin, this is happening in the days of… right after the destruction. Who are we talking about here?

888
01:15:54.290 --> 01:15:55.310
R. David: It's Vespasian.

889
01:15:56.400 --> 01:15:57.929
R. David: It's a Roman emperor.

890
01:16:00.160 --> 01:16:05.250
R. David: having a theological dust-up with Rabban Gamliel.

891
01:16:05.250 --> 01:16:07.200
Diana Rico: It's not Constantine, is it?

892
01:16:07.450 --> 01:16:08.620
R. David: No, much later.

893
01:16:09.750 --> 01:16:11.050
R. David: Vespasian.

894
01:16:14.140 --> 01:16:16.270
R. David: I think. Keep going, so…

895
01:16:16.270 --> 01:16:19.329
R. Rachel: So he says, how many shehinas are there?

896
01:16:19.880 --> 01:16:25.480
Diana Rico: Rabban Gamliel summoned the servant of the emperor and gave him a whack.

897
01:16:26.730 --> 01:16:33.310
Diana Rico: Raban Gamliel said to him, Why did you allow the sun to enter the house of the emperor?

898
01:16:33.480 --> 01:16:37.280
Diana Rico: The servant said, the sun rests upon all the world.

899
01:16:37.370 --> 01:16:54.369
Diana Rico: Rabban Gamliel said, And if the sun, which is one of 10,000 attendants that are before the Holy Blessed One, rests upon all the world, all the more so does the Shekinah of the Holy Blessed One rest upon the world.

900
01:16:58.380 --> 01:16:59.799
R. Rachel: Feel bad for the servant.

901
01:17:02.390 --> 01:17:03.370
R. David: Whack.

902
01:17:05.510 --> 01:17:08.470
R. David: So why, then, do we need any of this?

903
01:17:11.480 --> 01:17:15.870
R. David: If Shechina rests upon the world all the time, why do we need this?

904
01:17:16.050 --> 01:17:18.789
R. David: Or another… another way of putting it.

905
01:17:18.970 --> 01:17:22.240
R. David: What does God need with a starship?

906
01:17:24.020 --> 01:17:25.720
Marcia's iPad: Reminders!

907
01:17:26.270 --> 01:17:27.509
R. David: Reminders, what else?

908
01:17:31.930 --> 01:17:39.120
R. David: This is core, we gotta get this. Because if we don't get this, nothing else about Judaism actually makes sense, intuitively.

909
01:17:41.110 --> 01:17:52.499
R. David: What does divinity need with structures and systems and rules and places and smells and bells and all of this?

910
01:17:53.110 --> 01:17:54.530
R. David: Joan, you're unmuted.

911
01:17:54.880 --> 01:17:57.210
Joan Green: You have to have a way to relate to it.

912
01:17:57.390 --> 01:17:58.110
R. David: Understood.

913
01:17:58.110 --> 01:18:02.200
Joan Green: Words… words and thoughts are our way.

914
01:18:03.140 --> 01:18:08.640
Joan Green: And they give us… these words are meant to,

915
01:18:08.850 --> 01:18:16.999
Joan Green: Induce us to have a sense of what it means to have Let's say, a higher order.

916
01:18:17.410 --> 01:18:18.729
Joan Green: a better way.

917
01:18:20.790 --> 01:18:22.250
Joan Green: to strive.

918
01:18:23.430 --> 01:18:25.600
R. David: So that we can experience.

919
01:18:27.680 --> 01:18:29.789
R. David: So that we can experience.

920
01:18:30.910 --> 01:18:34.449
R. Rachel: Alright, David, will you scroll up just a bit, just to get the last line of…

921
01:18:34.970 --> 01:18:41.489
R. Rachel: I don't think we have time to do this whole one from Shabbat, but I just want to note where this passage ends.

922
01:18:42.250 --> 01:18:57.720
R. Rachel: the whole discourse about how we… what language do the angels speak? And the punchline is, well, we don't… we don't need to speak Aramaic or go through the angels when we're sick, because if someone is sick, Shekinah is with them.

923
01:18:57.950 --> 01:19:01.440
R. Rachel: If someone is sick, Shekinah is sitting by their bedside.

924
01:19:02.480 --> 01:19:06.450
R. David: They're already having an experience that shifts them out of ordinary consciousness.

925
01:19:08.090 --> 01:19:09.680
R. David: Out of ordinary routine.

926
01:19:09.880 --> 01:19:12.439
R. Rachel: And God is right there.

927
01:19:12.440 --> 01:19:14.640
R. David: And God is right there.

928
01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:20.240
R. David: This piece, we're gonna skip it, it's a famous bit about how Shekinah is with us in exile.

929
01:19:21.040 --> 01:19:30.290
R. David: Sheena is with us all the time. Shekhena is with us amidst war. Shehrina is amidst us in today's news. Shekinah is amidst us.

930
01:19:31.460 --> 01:19:37.539
R. David: We commend it to you, we use it periodically, it'll come back.

931
01:19:43.190 --> 01:19:48.199
R. David: Rabbi Rachel, keeping in mind that we have 5 minutes, what do you think is most important?

932
01:19:48.200 --> 01:19:50.640
R. Rachel: Yeah, I'm looking.

933
01:19:51.380 --> 01:19:52.959
R. David: You wanna do the Tonkhuma?

934
01:19:53.270 --> 01:19:56.620
R. David: Honestly, I think.

935
01:19:56.620 --> 01:20:01.219
R. Rachel: I think maybe just a bit of this, Yaakov Medan, and then we'll…

936
01:20:01.220 --> 01:20:02.199
R. David: And then, and then we'll answer.

937
01:20:02.200 --> 01:20:03.950
R. Rachel: To our own conversation.

938
01:20:03.950 --> 01:20:04.360
R. David: Okay.

939
01:20:04.360 --> 01:20:08.769
R. Rachel: So, he's another contemporary who asks, alright, so what is the shechina, and why does it matter?

940
01:20:09.400 --> 01:20:15.849
R. Rachel: And he brings these verses that show us God walking among us, God walking with us.

941
01:20:16.900 --> 01:20:19.519
R. Rachel: And he says, the meaning of the presence of Shefhena

942
01:20:20.600 --> 01:20:30.869
R. Rachel: is Shekhina is how we live the teaching, I place God always before me. I keep God always before me. God's presence is always…

943
01:20:31.230 --> 01:20:32.549
R. Rachel: with me.

944
01:20:32.710 --> 01:20:35.739
R. Rachel: what I'm aiming toward and moving toward.

945
01:20:36.370 --> 01:20:42.039
R. Rachel: This is not the portion of just the especially pious, not just the people who look really religious.

946
01:20:42.330 --> 01:20:48.270
R. Rachel: This is an everyday feeling that we can have in the world. God walks among us.

947
01:20:48.470 --> 01:20:53.280
R. Rachel: And there is fullness in the reality of our lives that stems from that.

948
01:20:53.670 --> 01:20:54.130
R. David: Yeah.

949
01:20:54.130 --> 01:20:59.930
R. Rachel: then we can feel God's presence among us, within us, before us.

950
01:21:01.770 --> 01:21:10.760
R. Rachel: All of which can be Betochainu, right? Beto Cham, within them, among them. When we feel that Godness

951
01:21:11.010 --> 01:21:18.810
R. Rachel: In us and with us, That's what makes our lives full. That's how we experience that sense of fullness.

952
01:21:18.810 --> 01:21:20.270
R. David: And wholeness.

953
01:21:20.750 --> 01:21:22.970
R. Rachel: And that's the whole point of our path.

954
01:21:23.580 --> 01:21:24.100
R. David: Yeah.

955
01:21:24.750 --> 01:21:31.240
R. David: And I think maybe the last piece, Rabbi Rachel, is particularly relevant now.

956
01:21:32.230 --> 01:21:36.869
R. David: Yeah, given today. Yeah, so here's the thing, everybody, huddle in.

957
01:21:37.920 --> 01:21:46.400
R. David: We do not have the physical Mishkan, we do not have the physical smells and bells. Right now, we are 15 people in little Zoom boxes.

958
01:21:49.320 --> 01:21:56.659
R. David: There are times in our lives When the sacred is concealed.

959
01:21:57.200 --> 01:21:59.020
R. David: even eclipsed.

960
01:21:59.360 --> 01:22:01.460
R. David: Or at least, so it feels.

961
01:22:03.590 --> 01:22:07.820
R. David: There's a really… Fun confluence coming.

962
01:22:09.370 --> 01:22:12.350
R. David: The Book of Esther is about…

963
01:22:12.740 --> 01:22:19.559
R. David: God, but God doesn't make a physical appearance. God, the word God does not appear in the Jewish book of Esther.

964
01:22:20.910 --> 01:22:23.309
R. David: And there's a lot of danger for the Jews.

965
01:22:23.570 --> 01:22:34.109
R. David: And yet, somehow, it turns out okay. Esther's name is really Hadassah, but she goes undercover and takes on the name Esto.

966
01:22:34.270 --> 01:22:36.500
R. Rachel: Which might mean hidden.

967
01:22:37.180 --> 01:22:41.070
R. David: Esther, Esther, Mistav, it's all hiddenness.

968
01:22:42.780 --> 01:22:56.080
R. David: Esther, Sheena, the Divine Feminine. This Purim, there's going to be a total lunar eclipse. Literally, Shekinah, the moon symbol of Shekhina, will be eclipsed.

969
01:22:58.840 --> 01:23:00.690
R. David: There's a war on right now.

970
01:23:00.690 --> 01:23:01.360
R. Rachel: Check.

971
01:23:01.870 --> 01:23:08.689
R. David: There's a war on, and a lot feels eclipsed. And in this week's Torah portion.

972
01:23:09.960 --> 01:23:13.480
R. David: It's the only one between now and the end.

973
01:23:13.610 --> 01:23:19.350
R. David: Where Moses, the name Moses, doesn't even make an appearance not once.

974
01:23:21.490 --> 01:23:25.390
R. David: It's… and this Torah portion usually aligns with Purim.

975
01:23:26.740 --> 01:23:32.650
R. David: We're gonna be off by a couple days. So, would someone with all of that like to read the Women's Torah commentary?

976
01:23:34.310 --> 01:23:36.809
R. David: Because it goes to where we started today, yeah.

977
01:23:38.400 --> 01:23:43.610
ert: Most years, this Torah portion is read during the week preceding Pura.

978
01:23:43.750 --> 01:23:49.400
ert: The connection between the Parsha and Purim is not immediately apparent.

979
01:23:50.050 --> 01:23:51.710
ert: I can't pronounce that word.

980
01:23:51.710 --> 01:23:54.220
R. David: Tetsabad, the name of this week's Torah portion.

981
01:23:55.150 --> 01:24:08.160
ert: is filled with exacting details about the assembly of the priestly garments and the ritual role Aaron and his sons are to perform as anointed priests.

982
01:24:08.640 --> 01:24:13.499
ert: The Book of Esther is a melodramatic tale of threat.

983
01:24:13.680 --> 01:24:23.839
ert: Intrigue, and ultimate redemption through plot trust and the reluctant heroism of a beautiful queen.

984
01:24:24.520 --> 01:24:36.160
ert: While the plots and purposes of these texts are vastly different, each in its own way, ask us to confront an absence

985
01:24:38.260 --> 01:24:56.610
ert: Ziva is the only Parsha from the beginning of the book of Exodus until the end of Deuteronomy, where the name of Moses does not appear. And Esther is one of only two books of the Bible

986
01:24:56.610 --> 01:25:00.050
ert: Where the name of God does not appear.

987
01:25:00.250 --> 01:25:08.540
ert: These absences are causes for abundant commentary in each individual case.

988
01:25:08.940 --> 01:25:17.070
ert: But the relationship between the two texts seemed to receive only passing mention.

989
01:25:17.520 --> 01:25:24.810
ert: What insight can this parallel Presence of absence convey.

990
01:25:27.880 --> 01:25:30.149
R. David: Sometimes the sacred is hidden.

991
01:25:32.160 --> 01:25:35.689
R. David: Sometimes the world is an absolute mess.

992
01:25:37.300 --> 01:25:40.670
R. David: Sometimes, they really are out to get us.

993
01:25:43.020 --> 01:25:46.629
R. David: Sometimes, tyranny reigns in the world.

994
01:25:48.390 --> 01:25:51.090
R. David: This is Parshat Tetsaver.

995
01:25:53.570 --> 01:25:56.279
R. David: Aligning with Shabbat Zahor.

996
01:25:57.250 --> 01:26:00.300
R. David: For the Amalekites who were really out to get us.

997
01:26:01.680 --> 01:26:04.120
R. David: And there's a war on between…

998
01:26:04.690 --> 01:26:08.590
R. David: Israel and the United States, and Iran right now.

999
01:26:10.390 --> 01:26:11.370
R. David: The sacred sun.

1000
01:26:11.370 --> 01:26:15.069
R. Rachel: Double aligning… also aligning with Purim.

1001
01:26:15.560 --> 01:26:16.220
R. David: Right.

1002
01:26:16.220 --> 01:26:21.459
R. Rachel: And Purim, while God appears to be absent from the story.

1003
01:26:22.070 --> 01:26:34.420
R. Rachel: In many Megilot, the way they're scribed, the beginning of each column, for much of the text, manages to say, HaMelech, Hamalech, hamelech, Hamalech, the king, the king, the king!

1004
01:26:34.990 --> 01:26:39.750
R. Rachel: On the surface, the king is Akashvarosh, about whom we might have mixed feelings.

1005
01:26:40.170 --> 01:26:43.350
R. Rachel: But our tradition asks, who's the real… King.

1006
01:26:44.300 --> 01:26:45.970
R. Rachel: Who's actually…

1007
01:26:45.970 --> 01:26:46.890
R. David: Real sovereign.

1008
01:26:47.150 --> 01:26:49.089
R. Rachel: Holding the hole.

1009
01:26:49.520 --> 01:26:56.239
R. David: So Deanna puts her finger right on it, sometimes it feels like God is absent. So when it feels like God is absent.

1010
01:26:56.710 --> 01:26:57.790
R. David: What do we do?

1011
01:26:57.950 --> 01:26:59.110
R. David: What do we do?

1012
01:26:59.400 --> 01:27:00.449
R. David: What do we do?

1013
01:27:03.600 --> 01:27:06.289
Joan Green: God is not absent in that story.

1014
01:27:07.080 --> 01:27:07.660
R. Rachel: long story?

1015
01:27:07.660 --> 01:27:10.020
Joan Green: God is… God is in Esther.

1016
01:27:10.380 --> 01:27:11.010
R. David: Right.

1017
01:27:11.030 --> 01:27:17.079
R. Rachel: By the way, where does the poem story take place? Anyone happen to know where Shushan is in today's world?

1018
01:27:17.080 --> 01:27:17.980
Joan Green: Persia.

1019
01:27:17.980 --> 01:27:19.020
R. David: Which is where?

1020
01:27:19.020 --> 01:27:19.780
R. Rachel: Persia!

1021
01:27:19.900 --> 01:27:23.840
R. Rachel: There's no country called Persia anymore. Where is Persia? Mideast.

1022
01:27:23.840 --> 01:27:24.999
R. David: Which is weird.

1023
01:27:25.000 --> 01:27:26.620
Marcia's iPad: Yeah, we run.

1024
01:27:26.620 --> 01:27:27.640
R. Rachel: Iran.

1025
01:27:28.810 --> 01:27:32.040
R. David: The story of… that Shushon was in…

1026
01:27:32.040 --> 01:27:36.190
R. Rachel: Iran, there are ruins. It exists, it's a real place.

1027
01:27:36.770 --> 01:27:42.729
R. David: Right. And Cheryl notes not being named doesn't mean absent. Right. So when…

1028
01:27:42.940 --> 01:27:48.400
R. David: There's a perception of absence, a feeling of absence. What do we do?

1029
01:27:48.990 --> 01:27:50.710
R. David: We light the lights.

1030
01:27:52.360 --> 01:27:53.920
R. David: We light the lights.

1031
01:27:54.030 --> 01:27:59.690
R. David: We lift up our mitzvot. We double down our spiritual practices.

1032
01:28:00.220 --> 01:28:05.070
R. David: We become witnesses for the divinity we want to see in the world.

1033
01:28:07.270 --> 01:28:18.649
R. David: Because… We burn our incense to Yana, yeah. N'er Elohim, the Lamb of God, is the soul of humanity.

1034
01:28:19.900 --> 01:28:27.980
R. David: We become the proof. We become the presence. And I… your… you will be my presence.

1035
01:28:28.460 --> 01:28:32.540
R. David: Veschachni, you will be my presence from our Torah portion.

1036
01:28:34.230 --> 01:28:37.439
R. David: Boy, howdy, we need this Torah portion right.

1037
01:28:37.590 --> 01:28:38.640
R. David: Now.

1038
01:28:39.620 --> 01:28:42.039
R. David: So for all of us who struggle…

1039
01:28:43.610 --> 01:28:45.999
R. Rachel: I'm lifting up the light in that way.

1040
01:28:46.920 --> 01:28:49.690
R. Rachel: You put the annotated source sheet back in the box?

1041
01:28:49.690 --> 01:28:51.300
R. David: I will do this right now.

1042
01:28:52.010 --> 01:28:55.210
R. Rachel: I want Susan to see that we started with the poem she brought us.

1043
01:28:55.210 --> 01:28:56.759
R. David: Yes, thank you, Susan.

1044
01:28:57.400 --> 01:29:03.339
R. David: We bless you with making light, and finding light, and spreading light.

1045
01:29:04.010 --> 01:29:06.069
R. David: Precisely in the darkness.

1046
01:29:07.140 --> 01:29:12.769
R. David: And as we round the corner, Climatological Spring begins tomorrow.

1047
01:29:16.170 --> 01:29:25.620
R. David: Purim is early in the week, the full moon, and the full moon after that is… Passover.

1048
01:29:25.860 --> 01:29:28.619
R. Rachel: Join us on Tuesday night to learn more about that.

1049
01:29:29.180 --> 01:29:42.049
R. David: Our Passover course begins Tuesday evening. You can register on both of the synagogue websites. And here we go, everybody. Shabbat Shalom, everyone. We're gonna stop the recording and stay on.