5-Bullet Friday: Parshas Terumah

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5-Bullet Friday

This week is Parshas Terumah! Check out this week's d'var torah here.

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Here is this week's 5-Bullet Friday, a quick summary of thoughts I’ve been pondering during the week:
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• Question I'm pondering (on the parsha): Poles. Hashem commanded that the badim (poles) never be removed from the Aron. What was different about the poles of the Aron from all the other keilim that they were not allowed to be removed?

• Concept I am considering: Peh she’asur hu ha’peh she’hitir. This is a fairly common concept throughout shas. One example is in Demai 6:11 where the mishna presents a case of someone who sold produce in Syria and said that the fruits were from Eretz Yisroel (thus requiring ma’asros), they must be tithed. If however he then qualifies, “They have ma’asros taken from them already”, then there is no need to take ma’asros from them because the only cause you have to believe they require ma’asros is because he stated they were from Eretz Yisroel. However, the same mouth now qualified that they already had ma’asros taken. So, we do not say to believe the part that makes “assur” (requires action) without also believing the rest of the statement of “but ma’asros were taken”. This is different from the concept of modeh b’miktzas where there is a claim against a person and he admits to part of it in order not to be a full liar. In the case of peh she’asur, the person could have remained silent and we would not have known to take ma’aser so now that he says both - it is from Eretz Yisroel (requiring ma’aser) but ma’aser was taken (exempting from further ma’aser) we have to take his statement in totality.

• Hashkafic idea I'm reflecting on: Chukim Mi’shenichnas Adar marbin b’simcha. Interestingly enough, the source for this idea actually sort of comes from Tisha B’av. The mishna in Ta’anis (29a) brings from Rav Yehudah and ultimately from Rav that, “Just as when the month of Av comes we limit our happiness, so too when the month of Adar comes we increase our joy.” Rashi there brings down then Adar is the beginning of a long zman of incredible nissim - Purim and then Pesach - that B’nei Yisroel experienced. Whether it be sad or happy, emotional preparation is important. Though certainly possible, feelings are not meant to be switched on and switched off. Proper feelings have to be trained and prepared appropriately based on season and time. When there are times coming that require specific emotions - especially times or events that are foreign to us - we are tasked to start preparing early. Think about it: Emotional preparation and connection to our feelings apply in our bein adom l’chaverio lives as well. Imagine feeling truly happiness for a simcha of a friend or relative, or an real distress over an unfortunate situation that one is going through. Empathy takes effort. 

• Middah on my mind: Simcha. Simcha of course translated to meaning happiness, however that translation itself needs translation. What constitutes genuine happiness? The Orchos Tzadikkim places simcha on the flip-side of da’agah (worrying). Da’agah stems from lack of bitachon which therefore means that true simcha stems from pure bitachon and emunah in Hashem. Someone who works on these things will in turn experience a life of simcha.  

• Part of Tefillah I'm concentrating on: Ashrei. The Gemara Berachos (4b) brings R’ Avina stating that whoever recites “Tehilla L’Dovid” three times a day is muvtach (guaranteed) to be a ben olam habbah. The Gemara determines that Ashrei is specifically unique and special as it goes in order of the aleph beis and also contains the special passuk of “Poseiach es yadecha…” I hope over the next few weeks to go through the lines of Ashrei one at a time to learn a little more about each particular passuk.

What's on your mind? 

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

P.S:

• Completely random thought I'm thinking about: Binary options. Computers speak a language of 1s and 0s. Things either are or they’re not. People are more complex though. Sometimes we like to think in terms of binary options when really it limits us to all the space in between. There are paradoxically an infinite amount of numbers between 0 and 1. A goal shouldn’t necessarily be discarded just because of a realization that it is not fully possible, perhaps the goal just has to be set somewhere in between. The same is true in terms of working through problems, there is a lot of space between yes and no. Effort, trying, maybe, a little, some, a bit, and almost are only some of the many words that exist in that space. Challenge: Think about something which you recently said “no” to (whether exactly or proverbially) only because you could not say “yes”. Was there another potential route that was abandoned due to on/off mentality? Could it perhaps been more productive if you had not blocked yourself into the “binary box”? Try looking back at the event and think about what you could do or say to re-approach it or to set your mentality different for the next time.

Have comments or thoughts on this week's bullets? Have other random thoughts on your mind? Send an email to torahparallels@gmail.com. Thank you!