Parshas Terumah's Treasure: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Aron Kodesh and Igniting Youthful Zeal

In today's talk we discuss furniture how to crush your competition crush them nicely, but crush them and retirement and certain retirement ideas. I welcome you in to this week's weekly Parshah podcast. It is not a double Parshah this week, so we get to turn our attention undivided to Parshah's truma, which deals with the fund-raising to build the Mishkan, the tabernacle, that holy edifice, that magical tent that would be a place for God to reside amongst his beloved people. We're able to get into the details of the furniture and furnishings that would make up the internal design of this Mishkan. There is layers and layers of roots, with branches and leaves, of depth, to every single detail. And this year, this week, I want to dive with y'all down into the very, very heart of one of the most extraordinary appliances, sacred fixtures of the Mishkan. It truly is the heart of the topic, for is the very center of it all, quite literally, at least geographically speaking. For if you are to be living in one of the tribes, or even be an outsider and come to visit, take a tour of the Israelites encampment, you would not go one of the tribes doors, say hello, maybe they would let you in, show you around, if they would bring you even to their innermost sanctum. They would bring you closer in. It would be towards the Levite tribe which was encircling the Mishkan, for they were tasked to be the ministers and inside of that, if you'd be able to sneak this close up, you would find a chatzar, a courtyard that would make up the outside part of the Mishkan, 100 by 50, cubic feet, so to speak. Before getting inside even more if you could, to the anti-room, inside in the Khaidash, fighting your way deeper into the heart of the sacred shed, you would get to the Khaidash Hakadashim, one of the innermost rooms, a place where the saintly and absolutely hallowed Aron Hakodash. What's it? And I want to discuss this, aron Khodash, this golden box. It's a multi-layered box gold, wood, gold, with a golden lid, a Zerzahov Soviev, a golden crown. It's got stalovs, staves to be able to carry it, even though they weren't really used, because, while it was prohibited to remove, these stalovs get like Amar tells us that Arun doesn't need to be carried. In fact, it carried those that were pretending to carry it or tried to carry it. And above all, this, the Arun Kodesh, the very center of the Arun Kodesh, the very top of it. Perched on top of this Arun Kodesh, where the Kruvim, the Cherubs, these angelic, baby-faced, pure golden hewn angels, perhaps you can envision. Envision the picture of them and the symbolism that comes forth from the depiction of what the Arun looked like is endless. We're told that the Arun was Enom and Hamidah, for when you actually go through the calculation it seems that there isn't any space for the Arun and its stalovs. So we're told by Khazal that the Arun didn't even take up any space. It was above space. And there is endless lessons for us to pick at and chew on for our own lives, notwithstanding the Ramban's teaching that the entire Mishkan was for the sake of the Arun, for the sake of the Tyra. It's where the Kedusha, that's where the power source truly is. Now we can try to think about why there aren't any wheels on this box. Maybe that would be a good way to transport the Arun. Try to figure out the symbolism there. Try to think about the Goldwood Gold and all the lessons there. We can try to discuss what a crown means, why there is a crown of Torah, the depth of that and the significance of never extracting the Arun's staves. But this year it was bothering me. I'll see some shnaim Kruvim, zahav, miksha, ta'asa, osam, mishneh Qisay Zakapay Res Make to Kruvim above it. Kruvim an odd word, an odd thing. I know from the pictures that it's this baby-faced, angelic Kruv-Cherub. Where does one know that? Well, from Rashi. We, in all the pictures, take from a Rashi, sites Kruvim, from a Gamara, maserhta Soka, that Kruvim is the most parts of T'inaik Lahem, that these Kruvim, these cherubs, had the image of a young child. But where does the Gamara know that? In fact, can you think of any other spot that Kruvim would be mentioned? It may come across to your mind where Kruvim is used, in Brayshis, right at the very beginning of the story. And these cherubs take on a very different definition because we are told at the end of the tragic story, when Adam and Chava were booted from Gan-Aden that God fashioned to Kruvim, there were Kruvim standing outside of the Gan-Aden with fiery swords spinning them to keep anyone from entering. Kruvim were there and they were, to my knowledge, hardly beautiful, innocent looking, sweet, pure, golden children. But here on top, crowning topping the Arun Kodesh, are Shnayim Kruvim, zahav Mikshah, taosa Osam, two Kruvim facing each other with their wings outstretched. I want to make it a solid question why the face of children? What's the significance of that let's make the face of Adam Moshe, let's put the face of an adult angel, michael Gabriel, raphael, my child's face, and for whatever one would answer to that, it isn't just any Tom Dick or Harry that gets to enter into the Kaidash to see the Kruvim. So whoever would actually be there to learn a lesson from the image of the face of the Kruvim, it must be a message that is also uniquely tailor-made for that individual. So what is the lesson of the baby face, the Kruvim, the top of the Arn Kaidash or Bar Hashem, for the Baal Hathurim, at least the kits are Baal Hathurim and many of the Chumashim. It's printed some of the main writings of the Baal Hathurim on the parshah. Very unique commentary. The Baal Hathurim, in one of his famous comments right here, helps us out. He tells us the source or points to another using of the word Kruvim and what it means, says the Baal Hathurim Shaniim, kruvim, there were these Kruvim. What does the word Kruvim mean? Kravya, it is keh, like ravya, like a child. The Aramaic word for child is ravya. The Baal Hathurim continues citing a Pusk Kinar. Yisrael, for Israel is a Nar. They are a youth, a yut, and I love them. This is a quote, actually from the prophet Hosea, one of the great prophets in the time of the first Bessamigdash, a short safer that is action-packed with some intense rebuke and some harsh lessons, along with some nice lines and words of encouragement, some love lines of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. And this Pusk shows up in Hosea Perik Yod, aleph Pusk, aleph Kinar, yisrael, the Ohaveh, umit, sraim, Khoros, livonoi, livoni, a God is speaking that I fell in love with Israel when he was a child and I've called him my son ever since Egypt. This is Kruvim, this is the Pusk that the Baal Hathurim points to. The youthfulness, the Nikudah, the point of love and the inner sanctum is shown by the face of a baby. And as soon as you hear this Pusk in O'Shea, if you have some connection to the Musur movement, it will tickle you in a funny way, because it should sound familiar, because it's an off-quoted Pusk of the Musur movement, and most notably by the great Rebiester Al-Salaamter, for he would preach this Pusk and encourage man, woman and child to live by this idea. The Nairi Israel of O'Haveyo, that God loves us because of our youthfulness, we act in an almost intensely passionate, loving way, perhaps sometimes naive, all because we are consumed and obsessed and exuberant all about our Creator, about our unique connection to Hashem. It is our youth that God loves about us, our Nairus. The symbolism of the Kruvim Is that success in Yiddish guide, to make us to our Creator, to become a Talmud-Khachem, to be at the very top of the Aron is to have passion, to have youthfulness, kravya like a child, k'nari, israel of O'Haveyo, for God loves us. That's what he points to. The prophet Hashem says when he points to why he fell in love with us. And youthful passion is what will make our relationship stick and be so strong. This is the first lesson of this week's Weekly Partial Podcast. It's one that I was so happy to come across because I was yelling at somebody excitedly, impassioned, enraged even, about trying to smooth out the different paths that have sprung, that have become mainstream to get to Hashem. There's the Musur path, there's the Yashiva movement path, the Hasidic Hasidim path, the Nevardic path. You can take a Rabnachm Ibrezhlov path, the Kabbalah path. So many different movements and I was trying to figure out. Are they different? Does God like one of them more than the other? But truthfully, I believe it to be true is that the goal is to get to Yira Shemaim, to get to following Chazal and the Torah, for God speaks to us and told us how he wants to be served. It's our job to follow that. But Judaism and connecting to God they all have to and loving God that every single Jew needs is built on passionate service and that the actions are just dry fulfillment of halachos, but they are married to a soul done with excitement, fresh faced, invigorated with a juvenile spray. And each one of these movements I was proposing was just set up by a great leader because he realized that without passion, without excitement, we're dead and we're finished. And even if we keep halacha, it's only a matter of time before it all crumbles. So learn, musler, because don't you understand who you are, who your Creator is and the loving relationship here, oh? So don't you understand that if you're Hasidic, that you can elevate and uplift, you're davening, you're learning and doing mitzvahs, besimcha, that there isn't a part of your life that isn't cold kulei kadosh? Don't you understand that when you enter into Isheva, you've been a part of, now, something that is set up as an elite assistant for you to become a master of the Talmud and one of the leaders of the generation, because you are now one of the foremost authorities because of your knowledge of Hashem's Torah. The underpinning, the central theme, the bryachatichon, if you will, that center pole of the Mishkan of all of these is passion and excitement. K'inar Yisrael, ve'ohavayhu for God, fell in love with Israel when he was a child. That's what being a chassad is, being a musterite is being a devoted Talmudchachem, a member of the Isheva movement. It's all just a try, thousands of years into Gullis, to inspire and to create Nairus, his Eirus in the Jewish people. This is what I was preaching to this member and I came across this in Rabi Stroll. Now he would constantly preach Nairus. That's where it all lives and I immediately wanted to connect it to prove myself right, hopefully. But either way, we aren't wrong that Nairus non complacency, lively, bouncy, bubbly, spirited, seltzer-like enthusiasm of Hashem's holy law is definitely going to lead to continuity and better service of the boss. So that's the Kruvim K'ravya, that's the reminder, like a child, and we spoke. And who is even going to see the Kruvim? It isn't going to be any Moishi Yankee, or it could be Moshe, but it wouldn't be any Tom Dick or Harry. It's only going to be the highest and the holiest members of K'lai Yisrael and Rabi Stroll said say for Chachma'u, moshe, quoted, said by the altar of Calm, as heard by Rabi Stroll, salantar, that that's exactly it, that even in one's old age, even when they are a Moishirabinu, even when they are one of the Kohanim, even when they are the top of the top, but never settle for complacency, never settle for I've done enough, never settle for I've been successful, never settle for that non-Jewish idea and that trief word that they call retirement, the withdrawing of yourself from your position, from your spot at work, your occupation, your active life. We don't believe in cooling off and slowing down. We believe that if we're doing something, it's because there's a point to it, for God commands it. And if I'm making money, which means that I get to go and buy myself a beautiful estrig or donate to the synagogue, get myself a new beautiful set of base, yosaf, well then, why would you retire? Unless you want it to be more spirited about a different part of your Torah or of Mido's efforts? Maybe that would be a reason. But to ever call it quits, to quit the dream, withdrawal from your active working life, even when you've reached heights like Moshe Rabbeinu or Akkoin Gaddolon, yom Kippur, you stare into the face of these Kruvim and you see the youthfulness, you see the Nairoz, kinar, yisrael V'O Avelu, and that inspires you to bring back your spry, fresh-faced attitude of passionate devotion to Hashem. And this is how one will succeed in crushing his competition, whether his competition be someone else, which is frankly not true, for you aren't in competition with anybody else. Your Parnasa is between you and God and no one else can hurt you unless God says so. So competition, like swimming between you and yourself, whether or not you'll be able to beat your record time and dig deep and find energy to swim even faster and go even further, that type of competition, it would seem like this is a great perspective to have for better results. Because, nairoz, when we were a kid, to act like a Kiraavia Kruvim, it meant dreaming big, it meant wanting to land on the moon, it meant wanting to make a million dollars, it meant greatness. But then complacency, adulthood, maturity, retirement, it all sets in Status quo and average like results becomes okay. But youthfulness has removed the limitations. Dream big again, remove the self-imposed limitations, forget when anyone else says and go bigger. Go home, kinaari, sir alva oaveyu umim tseraim koro su levni. So that's what we do we say that I don't have enough time, I can't take on more, I cannot go faster, I cannot swim any quicker? You have to go back in time and remember how it was when you were a child, when, in your own mind, you were able to envision the whole world there for the taking. That's what it means to be Kiraavia, like a Kruv Judaism, even someone who's made it. They've become a Talmud kacham. We don't call them just a kacham, we call them a Talmud, a student who's a kacham, because being a thirsty scholar, being youthful about your amassing of knowledge, is the only way to go. It's the lesson that Moshe sees in the Kruvim and it's what we to try as best as possible to internalize today to be hungry for success. And Nebuch. You see the opposite. You see those who have become complacent, those who have reached the top of the mountain, or the top of the mountain, so to speak, that they may think as the top, whether it be in Torah, their professional life athletes. As soon as they lose that youthful passion, that joy, that exuberance in it, it all withers away. It is the passion that keeps us together. It is the passion, it is the nair ha-yesi that makes our Judaism, so beloved in the eyes of Hashem, and that stands at the very center of it all, in this elegant edifice, in this beautifully decorated domicile, this holy Mishkan. Go into the very center of it and stare into the very eyes and face of what is the Kruvim, the heart of everything, the point of it all. And you get Kruvim. You get childlike reminders to serve Hashem with passion to serve Hashem, hungry for more to serve Hashem of. I want to be closer to you. I want to throw off the limitation, I want to throw off the self-imposed restrictions. I want to go back to dreaming big and dreaming and accomplishing great things like landing on the moon. That's this week's Parshah podcast that ends with a reminder to be young, to be bouncy, to be passionate about your Yiddish guide, to be passionate about anything that you want to be successful in, to be youthful about it. Therefore, the ridicule that Troy asked them was if their biggestot is going to be Brewster and their biggest Heraus. Absolutely, absolutely.