LIVING WITH MOSHIACH, Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei, 5756 B"H LIVING WITH MOSHIACH Weekly Digest About Moshiach PARSHAT VAYAKHEL-PEKUDEI ADAR 24, 5756 MARCH 15, 1996 * Published Weekly By Lubavitch Shluchim Conferences On The Moshiach Campaign, Committee For The Blind * * * 5756 *********************************************** * TO RECEIVE THIS PUBLICATION VIA INTERNET: * * E-Mail: yys@dorsai.org * * FOR CHABAD-LUBAVITCH IN CYBERSPACE: * * E-Mail: info@chabad.org * *********************************************** THIS PUBLICATION IS DEDICATED TO THE REBBE, RABBI MENACHEM M. SCHNEERSON OF LUBAVITCH "I BELIEVE WITH COMPLETE FAITH IN THE ARRIVAL OF THE MOSHIACH. AND THOUGH HE MAY TARRY, I SHALL WAIT EACH DAY, ANTICIPATING HIS ARRIVAL." Maimonides, Principles of the Faith, No. 12 *********************** * TABLE OF CONTENTS * *********************** Introduction The Weekly Torah Portion The Rebbe's Prophecy From a Talk of the Rebbe ****************** * INTRODUCTION * ****************** We are pleased to present, to the visually impaired and the blind, our weekly publication, Living With Moshiach. * Our sincere appreciation to L'Chaim weekly publication, published by the Lubavitch Youth Organization, for allowing us to use their material. Also, many thanks to our copy editor, Reb Mordechai Staiman, for his tireless efforts. * It is our fervent hope that our learning about Moshiach and the Redemption will hasten the coming of Moshiach, NOW! Rabbi Yosef Y. Shagalov Administrator Committee for the Blind E-Mail: yys@dorsai.org 20 Adar, 5756 Brooklyn, New York ***************************************** * THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION * * Adapted from the Works of the Rebbe * ***************************************** Parshat Vayakhel For the past few weeks we have been reading those Torah portions dealing with the commandments and preparations necessary for the building of the Tabernacle. This week, in the first Torah portion we read this week, Vayakel, we read about its actual erection. Before the Tabernacle was built, Moses called together all of the Children of Israel and commanded them to keep the Sabbath. "Six days shall work be done, and on the seventh you shall have a holy day. A Sabbath of rest to G-d." The Talmud explains that the juxtaposition of Shabbat and the building of the Tabernacle teaches us which types of work we must avoid in order to keep the Sabbath. These are the 39 categories of labor which are prohibited on Shabbat, and from which are derived all other activities which may not be pursued on the holy day. Nothing in the Torah occurs coincidentally. The fact that the Torah chooses the building of the Tabernacle to teach us which labors are prohibited on Shabbat shows that there is a connection between these two subjects. Furthermore, the relationship between Shabbat and the building of the Tabernacle has another, deeper dimension. Every one of the 39 types of labor involved in building the Sanctuary is the prototype of the labors we perform during the six days of the week. And, because everything in the physical world reflects its spiritual source, all our physical labor is the building of the Tabernacle. All the work which we perform has the potential to be elevated and turned into holiness. But not only is the Tabernacle the source for the work in our lives, it also serves as our lives' goals as well. Every task we perform during our daily routine should be utilized to bring holiness into the world, the same function which the original Tabernacle served. The Torah states: "Six days shall you work." Our Sages explain that this is a positive commandment, not merely the granting of permission. Man is compelled to toil to earn his daily bread. We see that the prayers and Torah readings prescribed for week days are shorter than those read on Shabbat and holidays, to enable a person to go out into the world to perform his daily tasks. It is through one's physical labor that he molds and shapes the world into a "sanctuary" for G-d. How do we elevate our daily, mundane tasks? "In all your ways shall you know Him," explains the Torah. All of our activities, no matter how seemingly trivial, must be performed with the proper thoughts in mind. When we eat, drink, sleep and go about our business according to Torah law, we are cognizant of our Creator and transform our lives into sanctuaries to G-d. The basic difference between the Tabernacle and our own physical world is that the Tabernacle was an actual manifestation of G-dliness, whereas the physical world is still in a state of potential. Man's task is to transform that potential into actual realization, by living according to the dictum, "In all your ways shall you know Him." Parshat Pekudei In the first Torah portion we read this week, Vayakel, Moses gathered the Jews together and relayed G-d's command to build the Sanctuary, in the second Torah portion, Pekudei, lists Moses' accounts of the precious metals used to make the Sanctuary's vessels, and details how the offerings were made. Finally, it relates how these actions brought G-d's Divine Presence to rest in the Sanctuary. Usually, when a person builds a new house, he waits until it has been completed to fill it with furniture and implements. The dedication of the Sanctuary, however, was done in the exact opposite manner. "And he placed the golden altar in the Sanctuary before the veil, and he burnt upon it the incense of spices... and he set up the court around the Sanctuary and the altar." The Sanctuary was not yet fully erected when Moses offered the incense on the golden altar. The Sanctuary, G-d's dwelling place on earth, contained a holiness so great that it existed above and beyond the laws of nature. Its sanctity (and that of the Holy Temples that followed) is eternal, not subject to the concept of time, and continues today, though we no longer have a physical edifice in which to bring offerings. The unusual manner in which the Sanctuary was erected, therefore, reflected this. The Torah's command, "And you shall make Me a dwelling place," applied not only to the Sanctuary, but includes the obligation to erect the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Moses' offering of incense on the golden altar dedicated not only the Sanctuary that traveled with the Jews in the desert, but the Temples that were yet to be built, including the Third Holy Temple when Moshiach comes. According to Jewish law, offerings may be brought even in the absence of the Temple's physical structure if one knows the exact location of the altar. When Moses burnt the incense, before the Sanctuary was completely built, he caused a measure of holiness to be brought down into the world that is not dependent on physical limitations. This holiness is eternal and exists forever. This holds particular relevance for our generation, the last generation of exile before the Messianic Era. No longer may we be satisfied with the measured norms of behavior that sufficed for previous generations; our times demand an extra measure of self-sacrifice on our part. Our service of G-d must therefore also breach all limitations, so that we may merit the ultimate and Final Redemption with the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our day. ************************ * THE REBBE'S PROPHECY * ************************ The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson of Lubavitch, issued a call that "THE TIME OF OUR REDEMPTION HAS ARRIVED!" and "MOSHIACH IS ON HIS WAY!" The Rebbe stressed that he is saying this AS A PROPHECY, and asks us all to prepare ourselves for the Redemption, through increasing acts of goodness and kindness. LET US ALL HEED THE REBBE'S CALL. ********************************************* * IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY DEAR GRANDPARENTS, * * * * Reb Shmuel Pesach Ben Reb Yaakov Dovid * * Passed away on 3 Tishrei, 5755 * * * * Mrs. Fraidel Chedvah Bas Reb Zev Wolf * * Passed away on 4 Adar II, 5755 * * Pais * ********************************************* ****************************** * From a Talk of the Rebbe * ****************************** The Rebbe said the following on this Shabbat, 46 years ago. "In the last series of Chassidic discourses that the [Previous] Rebbe wrote, he anticipated everything and hinted at everything. [According to the unauthenticated notes of a listener, the Rebbe said: "I search among the subjects explained in these discourses for the answers to all the questions beings asked."]... "The [Previous] Rebbe says this of our present time--the final era before the Redemption, the era in which the task of separating the sparks of G-dliness in this world and returning them to their source comes to an end. As the Rebbe wrote, now is the era preceding the Redemption, and the mode of spiritual service now required is a mode of victory, with an unquestioning acceptance of the yoke of heaven. "In order that victory be secured in the current battle, 'secret treasures, which have been locked away for generations,' have been squandered--i.e., all the teachings and episodes which the Rebbe revealed in recent times, and which had been hidden and sealed from generation to generation, until the generation of the Baal Shem Tov and his mentor. "Because no one adequately took all these treasures to heart, their revelation is a veritable squandering, all for the sake of victory." In another of his earliest talks, the Rebbe suggests that we pour over the latter talks of the Previous Rebbe from his final years in order to find guidance and our orders on how to proceed. Jewish teachings explain that when a great Sage makes a statement about another great teacher he is, in reality, saying the same about himself. Thus, we must take the Rebbe's advice and pour over his most recent teachings, those from the years of 5750, 5751 and 5752 (1990-1992). In these most recent talks, the Rebbe's declaration that "The time of our Redemption has arrived," shows clearly that we have entered a new stage in the pre-Redemption era. And the Rebbe's instructions to publicize this and other statements and messages are also contained in these talks. May we very soon no longer have to review the Rebbe's talks, but hear Torah from the Rebbe himself. ================================================================= End of Text: Living With Moshiach, Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei, 5756 =================================================================