Terumah
Exodus 25:1-27:19
I Kings 5:26-6:13
Anyone who saw the classic movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” knows that the box that we made in the desert to carry the Ten Commandments (both the original shattered ones and the replacement set) was beautiful. Pure gold both inside and out with exquisite craftsmanship, it was a fitting place to put our holiest objects. It held and protected the stone tablets, a container with a sample of manna, a Torah scroll written by Moses, and more.
Disappointing then, to discover that it would be more accurate to describe it as a gold-plated box!
A careful reading of the designs described in this week’s Torah portion reveals that there were three boxes made: a gold exterior box, a wooden middle box, and a third smaller golden box that went inside. When placed inside one another, only the exterior golden box was visible. It was not generally opened, but a look inside would have revealed the inner golden layer.
But how can that be right? How can our holiest place contain within it something that falsely masquerades as solid gold?
There are those that point to a kindness inherent in the design. When the Tabernacle traveled, the Levites had to carry the ark on poles. A solid gold box would be especially heavy, and an undue burden on hard-working people.
Yet while this may speak of the Torah’s sensitivities to the weight carried by each and every human being, it does not explain the inner box. If we are concerned that it be beautiful but not too heavy, let the outer layer be gold and the interior wood! Why put more gold on the inside where no one can see?
The Talmud in Tractate Yoma quotes the verses in our Torah portion that describe the ark and use them as a model for the ideal Torah scholar. It explains that just as the box that carried the Torah was gold inside and out, so too the human bearer of the Torah must be true on the inside to what he or she displays on the outside. Thus, the inner coating of gold on the ark was symbolic; one who has Torah within them must be as “golden” on the inside as they are on the outside.
For a period of time, this principle was actually enforced as an admissions criterion to study in yeshiva.
The Talmud (Berachot 28A) records that Rabban Gamliel posted a guard at the door of the study hall whose job it was to screen potential students and only let in those that were true inside to what they displayed outside. (This policy only lasted a short time.)
But was this guard a mind reader? How could the guard know whether someone had a “golden interior”? The Sadigore Rebbe made a simple, elegant suggestion that caught my eye.
He said that this “guard at the door” was nothing more than a lock. Rabban Gamliel locked the door to the study hall, and it was up to the student to find a way in. (The story is thus told of Hillel, who could not afford the tuition to enter the study hall and lay on the roof in the freezing cold, listening to the lectures through the skylight.)
Human beings are very resourceful, and one that was as dedicated inside as they appeared on the outside would end up inside. One that was not as committed inside would simply give up.
The design of the ark that carried the Torah is then the challenge to the people that would learn it. Are we truly interested in the wisdom that it offers? How badly do we want to better our lives? Do we care enough to know its teachings that we would suffer some degree of inconvenience? Can we develop the golden inner self to match the outside, and expend real effort to internalize a Torah that inspires all who carry it?
Rabbi Judah Dardik is the spiritual leader at Oakland’s Beth Jacob. He can be reached at [email protected] .