Tetzaveh: Temple Visions and Garments

Priestly Garments by Laya Crust

This week’s Parashah, Tetzaveh, describes the High Priest’s ceremonial robes. Details of the weavings, the breastplate, the gold bells, and tiny pomegranates fill the imagination with colour and texture.

In the previous Torah reading, Terumah, God outlined all the materials to be donated and collected to build the Mishkan. The Mishkan, a portable place of worship, would be crafted with exquisite textiles, gold, silver, and brass instruments. This week’s haftarah from the Book of Ezekiel also describes a place of prayer.

The prophet Ezekiel, the son of a Cohen, was among the 8,000 Jews to be exiled to Babylon in 597 BCE. He wrote the words of this haftarah while in exile. Ezekiel says that God carries him to the land of Israel and places him on top of a very high mountain where he sees something like the structure of a city. A man, seemingly made of brass, gives Ezekiel a tour of the future Temple.

Temple Floor Plan by Laya Crust

We read detailed descriptions of each element to be measured and positioned. The illustration above is based on a rendering of Solomon’s Temple from an illumination in an early 12th C. German manuscript. It shows the Temple’s floor plan. All the sacred objects in the floor plan seem to lie on the floor. I used the manuscript drawing because it is so unusual and delightful. It is a charming way for the viewer to see the Temple artifacts. The manuscript is currently in Vienna, Austria in the National Library.

The Jews were miserable. It was the 25th year of their exile in Babylon. God gave Ezekiel an incredible amount of information about the next Temple to share with the Jews. Hearing about the future Temple in Jerusalem, the Jews were optimistic that they would indeed return to their homes. A provision accompanied the details and plans. The Temple would only be restored if the Jews were repentant and corrected their behaviours and observances.

We will fast-forward almost 2,550 years. Under Jordanian rule, Jews were forbidden to pray at the Western Wall from 1948 until 1967. When Israeli forces liberated Jerusalem in 1967, Jews were once again free to go to the Kotel, the only remaining wall of the Second Temple. We don’t have a Third Temple, but we have a unified Jerusalem, and we can pray at the Kotel. This remnant of the Temple should be a place of acceptance and harmony, and it should be a place where all Jews can speak to God in their own way.

As always, let’s pray for peace and harmony.

Shabbat Shalom,

Laya

Lech Lecha

Isaiah  ch. 40:27 – 41:16

Isaiah (prophet) – c. 740 – 681 BCE

The picture we see here is a beautiful desertscape at night.

If you’ve ever been camped in the desert or in the countryside at night without artificial light, you will have seen a  sky studded with stars. The heavens are so full of stars it seems amazing the sky can hold them all.

The parasha of Lech Lecha introduces us to Abraham, the man Gd chose to begin a new nation. Gd tells Abraham (called Avram in this section of the Torah) that Gd will bless him. Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the dust on the ground and the stars in the skies. Looking up at that night sky Avram couldn’t have begun to imagine how many stars there were. There were too many to count, too many to even guess at.

This week’s haftarah is from the Book of Isaiah. The Jews have been in Babylon, in exile, for decades. They are sure they will never be able to return home. It seems that King Cyrus is about to conquer Babylon and Isaiah is hopeful that Cyrus will allow the Jews to go back to Israel.

Isaiah tells his people that Gd will not abandon them. Previously (Isaiah ch. 39, v 12) Isaiah described Gd saying, “…[Gd] …meted out heaven with a span and and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure…” In this haftarah Gd reminds the Jews that, “…you, Yisrael are My servant Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called you from the farthest corners…”ch. 40 v 8,9.

Avram was chosen to begin a new nation, the nation that would one day be known as Jews. Even back then Gd told Avram that his descendants would be slaves in a strange land, referring to their enslavement in Egypt. Avram was warned that life would be tough for them.  The hardships have continued throughout history. In this haftarah Isaiah gave encouragement to his exiled brethren in Babylon, telling them that Gd will not abandon them.

Every time period is a time of challenge for the Jews. Right now we are still facing challenges and terrible anti- Semitic tides. We are reminded that Gd made a promise and will always keep that promise initialized with Avraham Avinu- Abraham our father.

Have a good week and a good Shabbat. May it be one of peace and health for klal Yisrael and the world.

Laya

 

Tetzaveh

Tetzaveh

Ezekiel 43: 10 – 27

Ezekiel (prophet) – c.622 BCE – 570 BCE

It’s February- winter for those of us in the Northern hemisphere. Here I am in Toronto watching the snow relentlessly falling. The wind is swirling the snowflakes around those of us who have taken a walk outside. Travelling -even in our imaginations– from snowfall 2014 to Babylon 565 BCE is quite a distance. But that’s where we are going.

Ezekiel, the son of a Cohen, was among the 8,000 Jews to be exiled to Babylon in 597 BCE.

In the Book of Ezekiel,Chapter 40, Ezekiel writes that he is carried by G-d to the land of Israel. He is set on top of a very high mountain where he sees something like the structure of a city. A man who looks like he is made of brass proceeds to give Ezekiel a very thorough tour of the future Temple.  We read about the restored Temple of Jerusalem with detailed descriptions of each element that is to be measured and positioned. The descriptions continue for over 3 chapters. The haftarah begins with the words, “Thou, son of man, describe the house to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquities…And if they are ashamed of all that they have done make known to them the form of the house…”

 G-d gave Ezekiel an incredible amount of information on the construction of the next Temple. Along with the architectural and design plans came a provision- that the Jews had to feel remorse over their  wrongdoing. It  appears that the description of the Temple  to the Jews was in order to give them hope that they would have their Jewish world restored in the future. They were miserable. It was the 25th year of the exile to Babylon. G-d wanted to give them hope but it to be clear, however, that the temple would only be restored if the Jews were repentant and corrected their behaviours and observances.

There have been many interpretations on the appearance of the Temple over the millenia.

I based my drawing at the top of this post on a rendering of Solomon’s Temple from an illumination in an early 12^th C. German manuscript. The manuscript is currently in Vienna, Austria in the National Library. I loved the way the artist showed every little detail of the Temple. The columns were drawn, the altar, the basins, the incense. And to give the viewer a true idea of the appearance of each item they were drawn on the floor plan as one would see them if the objects were standing up. It may have been done in the 12th C, but it may also have been a forerunner to the cubists. (Just joking. Maybe I’ll give a lesson on cubism another day.)

We may not be exiles in Babylon but Jews all over the world today still hope for the rebuilding of the Third Temple.  We have  a few ideas we can carry with us from this week’s haftarah- one of the ambition to live lives of goodness and integrity, and the continued longing for a unified nation able to pray together in Jerusalem.

So- what do you think of Ezekiel’s opportunity to see the Third Temple and tell his fellow Jews about it? The concept of Ezekiel being carried by G-d from Babylon to a mountain top in the future Israel is quite amazing.

Share your thoughts and share this post with your friends and on Facebook. Take care and I’ll be back next week…..

(a note:  I reconfigured the floor plan so it would fit the long narrow format that I waned for the Haftarah series.)