Angels or Demons: The Secret of the Cherubs - Parsha Terumah - By Rabbi YY Jacobson

[Music] you [Music] good evening tonight's class is dedicated by David and EDA Schottenstein in the sacred memory of Rabbi Gavriel nya and his wife RIF key hallsburg and all of the Hmong by addition oh so dedicated in the loving memory of a young soul Alta Shula master abusive hits huck Seward love this evening's class is also dedicated by Evan hailer in memory of his uncle Neil Locker and that is also dedicated by elke Rosenfeld and the memory of rabb-ul repute shocked Isaac Haleiwa may their memory be a blessing to hamish muslim surah but sorrow hacchyan they tell the story about an American teacher who turns to her students in class and says can anybody tell me the source of this quote to be or not to be a Japanese girl raises her hand and says William Shakespeare Hamlet excellence as the teacher how about this quote ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country this time a Japanese boy raises his hand and says John Fitzgerald Kennedy January 22nd 1961 during his inauguration address it was raining that day in Washington DC stupendous the teacher says how about this one read my lips no new taxes and another Japanese kid raises his hand and says George Bush Senior the teacher says marvelous but I have a question the teacher says why is it that only the Japanese students know the answers to my questions what about you Americans you must be lazy good-for-nothings spoiled brats addicted to your iPhones and blackberries laptops and shmoop tops you know nothing of the great ideas and ideals of this country or other cultures we must learn from the Japanese they must be the greatest people on earth and a student in the back of the class shouts to hell with the Japanese the teacher is dumbfounded who said that the teacher screams to which the student replies harry s truman 1945 this evening we explore one of the great secrets of Education why is it that some children grow up as mentioned fine respectful dignified people who ask not what everybody can do for them but ask what they can do for others while others grow up narcissistic obnoxious lazy self-centered irresponsible and their motto is not ask not but to hell with the Japanese and many other people a single change in a translation of a single word in the Bible presents one possible answer angels or demons the secret of the cherubs is our discussion this evening the innermost chamber of the tabernacle was known as the Kaddish ha kadosh the holy of holies it was considered the spiritual epicenter of the universe and it displayed nothing safe two golden cherubs or crew of them in Hebrew which were situated atop the covering that veiled the holy ark containing the Ten Commandments so you had an ark inside the ark was with the Ten Commandments the two tablets of the Ten Commandments on top of the ark that was a lid a cover made of gold which covered the ark that was known as the cap iris and on top of the cap iris on top of the covering you had to winged golden sheriffs the source for this is a verse in the portion of trauma please bring up source number one in your curriculum right below the video a PDF document the Torah says and room of RC sash nyam kuving's of you should make two golden cherubs mixure tossa awesome mistake say sakip iris you should make them hammered out from the two edges of the covering of the cap iris over the arc from the golden cover of the arc you should hammer out these two golden cherubs now what did these cherubs look like what this what did these two golden cherubs look like the Bible continues their wings should soar upward should spread upwards hovering over the covering and the arc in which the two tablets of the Ten Commandments were but what did they look like so let's see Rashi bring up source number two the most basic biblical commentator the 12th century Spanish rabbi and leader and sage Rabbi exactly explains and he says rashly grooving to moose parts of tonight lehem they had the features of a child the two golden wings had the features of a child you see in aramaic raffia means a child kerubim would mean like children in the plural so this interpretation is how rashly understands based on the Talmud what the crew room looked like the winged cherubs had the features of a child interestingly this was adopted by the English language the word cherub means a beautiful rosy cheeked child so in summation what do we have we have an ark on top of the Ark we have a golden lid which covers the holy ark and on top of that we have two winged golden children and from between the two faces of these winged children the voice of God reverberate it to Moses as the Torah says God says when I will want to speak to you I will speak and my voice will come through between the faces of these two golden-winged children these are the crew from these are the cherubs now this is not the first time the word crew of him or cherubs is to be found in the Torah in the Hebrew Bible we will find it later but we also have it once before we're you might recall in the opening portion of Genesis the opening portion indeed of the Torah the same word is used in what context when Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden after they ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge from which they was supposed to abstain for meeting take a look bring up source number three the Torah says via Girish I saw Adam he expelled man by ashcan macadam loggin Aiden and got placed on the east of the Garden of Eden as haqq/truth him the crew of the cherubs their slaughter Sheriff Amissah precious and the blade of the revolving sort leash Marius Daris ate sahayam to guard the way to the Tree of Life so Adam is expelled from the garden and on the east of the garden we have a revolving sword a blade of a revolving sort I guess it's the first electric blender in history and we have the crew them and they are guarding Adam from going back in to eat from the tree of life what do these kerubim mean obviously in this case we would not say that they are beautiful rose chic children like the ones at top of the arc I guess you wouldn't place angelic children right near the blade of the revolving sword to keep Adam and Eve of going back to paradise so rash she tells us what crew of them are bringing up source number four Rashi says God placed in front of the Garden of Eden as a crew of him male Cibola which means angels or agents of destruction even in modern hebrew a terrorist is defined a as a miserable melaka kabbalah our agents of terror oh so now I understand in front of the garden God places the blade of the revolving sword together with the krugen angels of terror agents of terror and destruction to guard the path of Adam and Eve to enter back into the Garden of Eden that is hurrah she in Genesis explains the words proven now let us know to the paradox the same exact word proven is being used in two places in the Bible in the Torah one in Genesis the second and Exodus 1 in veracious the second and Troma and yet their meaning from Rossi's perspective is radically contradictory in one place the crew of em are angelic children in another place the same crew of em are agents of terror how can Rashi unflinchingly ascribe to radically antithetical definitions to the same words in Genesis the crew of em are agents of terror and here in Exodus 2 crew of em are angelic beautiful children who are these crew them who are these cherubs are they beautiful sweet rosy heavenly children or are they nasty scary frightening agents of destruction tinnitus or mulatto kabbalah who are the crew them of course the answer is that they are the same they are the same cherubs in a very subtle but powerful way Rashi is intimating to us one of the great truths about education the crew Thurman Genesis and an exodus of exactly the same crew of them and that is why the same word is being used the very same delicious gorgeous cute endearing kinder laughs children can either be beautiful and angelic Souls or angels of terror and destruction it all depends on the context where these crew them are situated it depends on the ambience on the environment in which these crew them are to be found in Genesis the crew of em are situated at the outskirts of paradise from where Adam and Eve were expelled why were they expelled from the Garden of Eden we know the reason source number five by Hashem illumise other man a favor can Aidan loved all the summer a God places Adam in the Garden of Eden to preserve it and to work it by its ave hashem elokenu law adam lamer and God instructs the man and what does he tell them me Coyle 8 shagging a hotel or maid saddest over a little memento from all of the trees of the garden you sleep but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you should not eat and yet even Adam cannot contain themselves and ultimately they would eat from that single tree from which they were told not to eat now let's analyze the scene for a moment here was a man Adam who had everything hand made by God himself Adam was the ideal human being handsome flawless brilliant destined to live forever he had found his soul mate and Eve without the need to work and search and date for years and then go to therapy to find out why he has so much resistance to propose and get married Eve was a beautiful woman made and designated by God himself a real match made in heaven there were no other singles around to create any envy or jealousy to create any mistrust or betrayal there was no stress of a failing economy of a recession no need to pay health insurance and life insurance no problems of foreclosure and tuition bills no issues with food they were placed in a garden with an endless buffet of every type of conceivable fruit and vegetable a healthy diet filled with nutrition nor was there any stress on clothes they were comfortably without clothes no need for new label designs no need to fit into any environment so their life situation seemed impeccable and flawless but there was only one catch God told them you can eat and enjoy and partake from every tree in the garden one tree I don't want you to eat from and yet this did not work for them somehow the fact that they had everything but the one tree was off-limits Adam and Eve could not beer this one restriction one catch one limitation proved too much for them they ate from it they wanted it and they had to have it they could not deal with the fact that there was something in the universe that was off-limits to them this marked the end of their paradise it's in this context Rashi is intimating to us that krugen represent angels of destruction a child true from our children but a child who was raised with the notion that there is nothing off-limits to him or her that there is nothing more important than his or her desires and lusts there is no cause worth abstaining for there are no moral values which precede and transcend my existence everything I want I must get no limitations no restrictions no discipline this child is likely to grow up to become narcissistic self-centered careless selfish indifferent it will be difficult for him or her to build and maintain healthy relationships for this person disciplined compromise self-restraint kindness consideration of another person deep moral values and ethics becomes excruciating ly difficult the potentially angelic cherub tragically turns into an agent of destruction kids who grow up in a garden but the notion in the garden is that there's nothing off-limits to you not even a single tree can you abstain from and if you want it you must get it you deserve it such a child is ultimately expelled from the garden and is likely to become an agent of destruction who will paradoxically paradoxically black himself and other people from ever entering into paradise contrast this with the second story same word same children same proven but it's in a very different location and context where are these children in trauma they are situated upon the Ark of the Covenant containing the divine tablets containing the Torah when a child grows up with the sense that life is not only about rights but also about responsibilities that they're ID'd that there are ideals ideas and values worth sacrificing for that there is a limit to selfishness that power must be restrained this child in his or in his her in his or her own way will become a beautiful graceful gorgeous kind and angelic human being in whose soul the voice of God can be heard the crew vim in Genesis are angels of destruction the crew vim and trauma are golden wings through which the voice of God reverberates it's the same children but it's all the context God gives each of us crew God gives he gives each service pure majestic holy children pupils disciples students physical children biological children or conceptual soldier it's our choice whether we allow these children to become agents of selfishness agents of destruction agents of negativity people who end up exploiting abusing deceiving violating the dignity of others and the dignity of themselves people who live a very lowly lifestyle corrupt self-centered immoral dishonest and promiscuous oh we will cultivate and polish their inner potential empowering them to become sources of light sources of goodness pillars of kindness to people around them to the world around them children whose dignity and sanctity will brighten up not only their lives but the lives of the people around them the same child can learn to declare to hell with the Japanese or could learn to declare ask not what the world were the Jewish people what others can do for me but what I can do to bring our world one step closer to redemption and it depends on what we do with these children do we place them in a garden which teaches them that everything is permissible we place them on top of an RA on top of an r saturated with the morals the ethics the values the majestic moral perspectives of the Torah this above idea explains a very enigmatic statement in the Talmud bring up source number six please the Talmud says huland calamitous amid vase Talmud huland page 139 B Harmon min ha Tara mean ayat what is the source for Haman in the torah meaning Haman as you know was the Persian minister working under King Ahasuerus who plotted and almost successfully executed his plan of genocide for the entire Jewish nation at the last moment his decree was obliterated and it's his defeat which will be celebrated very soon during the holiday of Purim so the Talmud and : page 139 wants to know what is the source for harm on in Torah in the actual Bible in the five books of Moses and the Talmud answers how mean her AIT's what is the Talmud referring to bring up source number seven after Adam and Eve eat from the tree of knowledge God speaks to them source number seven via our God says me he get Locati area motto who told you that you were naked I mean her aids arshad service if her lability a hull memento a halter did you eat from the tree which I have told you not to eat from and Adam of course responds it wasn't me it was my wife which became the timeless excuse for many amen it was not me it was her comes the Talman and says look at the word ham in her eights from the tree the word ham in has three letters hey memnon the word hummin also has three letters hey mem note so Hamid may not tyramine I and what's the source of helmand in Torah this word hummina aids God tells Adam from the tree that I told you not to eat from you ate yet this observation and Talmud seems very humorous and very difficult to understand first of all what type of question is it where is Haman in the Torah Haman is a Persian minister who lives many who lives many centuries millennia after the Torah is given why do you want to find a source of Haman in the Torah and the answer seems even more humorous and far-fetched hermien means from Haman Haman is a Persian anti-semite what in the world is the connection between Amina Eights from the tree and ha maan who's a Persian minister working under a fresh version wants to kill the Jews just because they have the same three letters a mem known doesn't seem to indicate any connection the Talmud in a rather elegant way is conveying to us the psychological profile of Haman let us understand who Haman was Haman was a man who was blessed with everything wealth power influence prestige a large beautiful family he was the Viceroy of the world's dominant Empire at the time Persia the king commanded all of his subjects to prostrate themselves to Haman so Haman lacked nothing in the world Haman should have been a happy fulfilled serene and joyous human being but there was one thing that gave him no rest and no tranquility murder hi the Jewish sage would not bow down to him he played he says it clearly source number 8 bring up source number 8 he speaks about his success as wealth as prestigious prominence his glory in the eyes of the king and then he says to his family for cozy a new shave early but all of this is worthless to me because a sash I need oh yes mother hey-oh Beshara Mela whenever I see the Jew murdered I sitting at the gate to the king's palace while everybody prostrates themselves to Haman and boughs down to the Persian Minister there was one Jew Mordecai who laravel are you starvin never bow down to Haman so Heyman says everything I have is worthless when I see Martin now let's understand this here is a man who was blessed with everything the mortal human being can ask there is one old Roo sitting at the gate of the king who doesn't bow down to him garage Sega duel a big deal felt understudies gelt you're not missing money felt interstice covered you're not missing glory you're not missing success everything you want yeah your ego is inflated beyond the greatest in flesh everybody who sees you bowels down to you it is an honor for people to see you to greet you to have you at their function the king himself seems infatuated and enraptured with you one ain't out to eat what to murica doesn't bow down to you and hum one goes mad hum one goes crazy so the Talmud is asking a question hum on me not tell you mean I who makes such people how do people become this way what's the source of the profile the psychological composition of hummons identity where does it come from where can you find in Torah an explanation the spiritual roots for Haman's personality for his character what do they make people I came or what type of therapy if at all can cure such people I came in people who have everything and yet they feel that the Cowles a mental shovel either have nothing and the Talmud's answer is Herman ha8 sus Hammond minute aromanian Hammond ha it's in a very subtle and abstract way the Genesis the psychological genesis of Haman's profile can be find in Genesis can be found in Genesis when God says from the tree which I told you not to eat from your ate God places Adam and even the most beautiful garden he gives them everything except for one tree instead of being content with all they had they felt that if they could not have everything it is though they have nothing you have everything celebrate and enjoy it no if I cannot get that tree if I cannot put my hands on that tree my life is worthless and meaningless and ultimately because of that one thing that they could not abstain from they lost everything they were expelled from paradise if you are content with what you have you will have much if you want at all you will lose it all and the Mishnah the Talmud articulates this in a single sentence bring up source number nine the mission incited of Testament base says the shade mud Sina we find the Cayenne Kyra bilham diagraph is saiful gate huzi of Sholem add the Neo Geo hartmann these are all profiles in the Tanakh in the Jewish Bible you have cayenne and Kyra and Balaam and Doeg and out his rifle engages the end of Solomon and Adina yo and Lucio when Haman 10 characters Shahnaz know nama master ain't no royal air they placed their eyes on that which did not belong to them Marsha Big Show Lane it in lehem Omar shall be Adam not Lumia what they were seeking they never got and what they actually had was taken from them each one of these ten characters beginning from Cain continuing with Kyra could not feel content with their own place in the world with their talents with their resources with their gifts with their blessings they needed to control that much more and what did they end up with they ended up with nothing not only did they not get that they lost also what they had that is the subtle source of Haman in the Torah you have everything no I need that tree too and this is the difference between the two cherubs the same crew of M are the same children but in two very different positions here is a child who grows up with the lack of an understanding that there are limits to power and that you are here to serve and that there's something greater than your ego and something greater than your lusts and appetites and habits and instincts there are values worth fighting for and morals worth sacrificing for the child who's given that education on top of an art becomes an angelic child through which the voice of God reverberates the child who grows up without this on the contrary with the frustration of not eating from every single tree this child ultimately ends up lacking his life and others from entering into paradise you remember Tolstoy has a story how much land does a man need in it the great Russian novelist tells the story about a greedy man paka who becomes obsessed with owning land and finally he meets this family who owns enormous quantities of land and they strike him an extraordinary deal for 1000 rubles he can walk on the all of the territory they own he begins with sunrise from the heel from the hill and walks the land throughout the day every single piece of land which he steps on becomes his with one condition at sunset he must return to his starting point to that he hill from which he began his journey the man is excited beyond words he thinks to himself these foolish idiots don't realize how much land they will be forfeiting at the end of this day how much land I will cover today from sunrise to sunset in his imagination he thought of all of the richness and the land he will own at the end of the day sunrise comes he's standing at that hill and he begins his journey he walks faster and faster and then decides I want yet more so he begins to run one mile another mile another mile and yet another mile yet another mile and he's running and running swifter and Swifter covering huge amounts of land with his foot with his feet in his rich imagination here and he sees his bright extraordinary future and he's running and running and running and then suddenly he realizes gevalt I have covered extraordinary amounts of land but the Sun is soon going to set and now I have to go back to the beginning back to the hill from which I began my journey or he evolved in a few moments the Sun will set and if I'm not back it's all gone I lose my money and I don't have the earth so the man begins running back never in his life that he runs so fast he had to make it back he assembled all of his strength and with the last energy ran and ran and ran as he's approaching the hill he sees the family waiting for him and lo and behold as the Sun was about to set he arrived at his destination right at the helm the family was standing and started to cheer for this man who triumphs to a successful but at that very moment from exhaustion the man dropped to the ground and died the family took his body and buried him in an ordinary grave it was five feet long and that was the earth this man ended up with five by to have a wonderful night [Music] you [Music]