Shalom All,
In Parshat Terumah, which we will read from our Torah this month, there is an elaborate description of the Aron Kodesh – the Holy Ark where the tablets of the Ten Commandments were kept. The details of the ark include: a box frame made from acacia wood, plated with gold inside and out; four gold rings on the sides where two poles (also made from acacia wood and plated with gold) can be inserted for transport; and a cover of pure gold with cherubim (guardian angels) molded on the top. Even the cherubim are described in detail, “They shall have their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings. They shall confront each other, the faces of the cherubim being turned toward the cover.”
No expense was spared in designing the Ark, it seems. If it wasn’t made out of pure gold, then only the best wood available would do, and this wood was then covered in gold, even the inside. When reading this passage, however, the sages often point out that the Ark was always kept in the Holy of Holies, that part of the Temple into which only the High Priest could enter on only one day of the year, Yom Kippur. It seems unlikely, therefore, that anyone would ever know that the inside of the Ark was covered in gold. So they ask, “Why would God command Moses to put gold where no one would see it?” Because the Ark also represents the ideal Torah scholar. As the great commentator Raba taught, “Any Torah scholar whose inside is not like his outside is not a Torah scholar.”
Furthermore, it is told that Rabban Gamaliel used to keep watchmen outside the door to the House of Study. Telling them, “Any student whose inside is not like his outside is not to enter.” When asked, “How could the watchman know whether a student’s inside was like his outside?” he would respond, “The doors are barred to all, but any student who really wishes to study will burst through all the obstacles and find a way to enter.”
Rabbi Alice Dubinsky, understands it this way, “Harmonizing our inner being with our outward appearance is as difficult as breaking down the door to Rabban Gamaliel’s house of study. It requires all of our strength and devotion. But if we learn to study the words of the Torah with the best intentions – to be moral people, to live a Jewish life, and to make a difference – then when we close ours books, we will make those words of Torah penetrate the dark places inside … and then each of us can be golden, inside and out.”
May we find that our own study of Torah enriches our hearts, our souls, and our lives.
Rabbi Todd