Thursday, February 19, 2015
Parshas Terumah: Bringing Spiritualty to the Mundane!
10:59 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"You shall make the planks of the Tabernacle of acacia wood standing erect" (Exodus 26:15)
Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l in Derash Moshe explains that we learn this out from the fact that on sukkos we take the four species the way they are grown. What is the significance of this statement and is the relevance to us?
Rav Moshe tells us that the way we "grow our mitzvos" causes us to do other mitzvos. This means that we should do the mitzvos out of love and joy which will cause us to do other mitzvos as well.
We must not do the mitzvos just because we want to fulfill our obligation or because if we don't do them then we will fry in hell forever! This in no way will help us reach our spiritual goals because we won't grow the way we need to; we will be too worried about getting zapped by G-d if we don't do what we are supposed to do,
G-d has created each person with certain potential based on the their soul capabilities. They are put in this world to use it to their best ability and help others. When we don't use it for the right things then we pollute the world and sully our souls at the same time.
If we have the right frame of mind and do things for the right reason, that will have a positive effect on us which will lead us further in that path. Although we have an evil inclination working against us, the Torah is our antidote to reaching those high plateaus!
At the same time, G-d does not tell us that it will be easy and life definitely has its challenges. I guess it wouldn't be worth living if it didn't! Life is an opportunity to take whatever is thrown at us and use it for good.
Although we may ultimately fail in some of our challenges, the goal is to pick ourselves up and continue in the right direction regardless of how hard it may be and what challenges there are. G-d does not put a person in a situation that they cannot handle although we often think that this is the case!
Another thing to keep in mind as we go through these parshiot on the building of the Tabernacle is that the wood and stones used to build it had the ability to bring G-d's presence to this world. This means that we are using things of this world to tap into the spiritual.
Unlike Christianity which holds this world is evil...Judaism looks at it with a totally different perspective Yes there are bad elements in this world that can take a person away from their spiritual potential but at the same time it gives us tremendous resources for growth.
Even if we give into our evil inclination we can still do good things. We have to remember not to live in the past because if we do then we have no future!
This is what the wood and stones of the Tabernacle teach us; use this world for our spiritual growth. Do what we need to do to survive physically here but sanctify it and bring spirituality to the mundane!
Shabbat Shalom
Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l in Derash Moshe explains that we learn this out from the fact that on sukkos we take the four species the way they are grown. What is the significance of this statement and is the relevance to us?
Rav Moshe tells us that the way we "grow our mitzvos" causes us to do other mitzvos. This means that we should do the mitzvos out of love and joy which will cause us to do other mitzvos as well.
We must not do the mitzvos just because we want to fulfill our obligation or because if we don't do them then we will fry in hell forever! This in no way will help us reach our spiritual goals because we won't grow the way we need to; we will be too worried about getting zapped by G-d if we don't do what we are supposed to do,
G-d has created each person with certain potential based on the their soul capabilities. They are put in this world to use it to their best ability and help others. When we don't use it for the right things then we pollute the world and sully our souls at the same time.
If we have the right frame of mind and do things for the right reason, that will have a positive effect on us which will lead us further in that path. Although we have an evil inclination working against us, the Torah is our antidote to reaching those high plateaus!
At the same time, G-d does not tell us that it will be easy and life definitely has its challenges. I guess it wouldn't be worth living if it didn't! Life is an opportunity to take whatever is thrown at us and use it for good.
Although we may ultimately fail in some of our challenges, the goal is to pick ourselves up and continue in the right direction regardless of how hard it may be and what challenges there are. G-d does not put a person in a situation that they cannot handle although we often think that this is the case!
Another thing to keep in mind as we go through these parshiot on the building of the Tabernacle is that the wood and stones used to build it had the ability to bring G-d's presence to this world. This means that we are using things of this world to tap into the spiritual.
Unlike Christianity which holds this world is evil...Judaism looks at it with a totally different perspective Yes there are bad elements in this world that can take a person away from their spiritual potential but at the same time it gives us tremendous resources for growth.
Even if we give into our evil inclination we can still do good things. We have to remember not to live in the past because if we do then we have no future!
This is what the wood and stones of the Tabernacle teach us; use this world for our spiritual growth. Do what we need to do to survive physically here but sanctify it and bring spirituality to the mundane!
Shabbat Shalom
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment