Thought for the Week Parshas Terumah The Sacred Table, Rabbi Yaakov Winner - 5785

hello how are you I hope everyone is I hope everyone is healthy strong and happy physically and spiritually today is a very special day the first day of I want to give I'm here in Toronto and I'm thank for the that we have in our family and this is and so they should have so thank you it's also a big and we take out three so So today we're going to speak about something that touches us every single one of us very deeply and it's very essential in life as usual since the War Began we start with hasem should help there should beia now now we'll say a a prayer which is connected to the subject we're going to talk about today which is material abundance financial success and the BR is like we say should bench us this year and all the varieties of its produce for good satisfy us from your Bounty and bless our year like other good years for blessing so Hashem shall bless us we should all be blessed with all blessings Health but also p and that's what we're going to talk about today one of the mitzah in this week's para this week's para talks about you should make me a sanctuary and I will dwell in them so as we've spoken about this many times this is not a command that only has relevance in the times of the mishkon and the bikash but like everything in t there has to be a lesson and IR relevance from our daily lives today is eternal so thank God for teaches us the inner significance and the meaning of all these things and what it means in so in this week's para amongst the utensils amongst the vessels and amongst the Furnishings that Hashem commanded the Jews the eeden to make was the translated as the table there were 12 loaves of bread that were placed on the and they baked it on Friday and the the following shabas would eat it after so first of all the it says also had gold overlaid with gold make a table and then the next says you shall overlay with pure gold and then it says you should make a frame for the table It also says you should make a a gold rim all around it and then it also says a couple of that talk about [Music] the you shall place showbread on the table to to be before me at all times so one more thing we'll say before we get into the questions and the explanations is that when it talks about a gold rim a crown on this table Rashi says a symbol of the crown of royalty this was the gold rim that was around it the sh is a mark of wealth and importance as we say as people say in reference to wealth the Royal table so what's the relevance what does it mean and what's the lessons for us on our what does it mean that the table represents so in general the idea of the mishkon represents how a yid elevates the physical and there's the meeting place the encounter the fusion of the finite and the infinite that's really the whole mission statement of a make for me a sanctuary I will in them is really a reflection of the entire mission of a as Al says not only is the idea of the mikd a specific place in where there was divine revelation and miracles as we'll discuss today but it represents the entire mission of a Jew on this planet Earth every single time when you're learning tah right now we're speaking words of T at this table in this room we're bringing down godliness we don't see the full impact now but M comes we will see in a way that we could point with our fingers and see how we elevated this world and we made this world a dwelling place for hasem this godliness all over and by us doing the right things we reveal this godliness before we continue there's two garas that talk about the which bring about which discuss the miraculous revelation of hem which were through the one of the goras is a gor which says that there was some that they ate a kazas the size of an olive and they were satisfied with that from the upon him when they ate this bread and then it says so they ate that and they were satisfied but then it says they took a tiny bit and this tiny bit satisfied them and this was a miracle that even a CO who took one small tiny piece of this upon him this was enough to make them totally satisfied how can you take a tiny bit and become satisfied that was a miracle but then there's another gor and this is G which says something phenomenal which shows you how General the message of the is and it says when the were when they made a pilgrimage to Y to the B mikd the gorah says [Music] they brought out the to the people that were and they show the upon him and they told [Music] the see your affection how much you beloved to and the says how is it that we looked at the this was a reflection of how hasem loves us loves us as explained this is him a great miracle used to happen with the upon him so so this is not only the gor says n a miracle we're calling it a was with the upon him and what was that when it was removed from the table when the took iTab after it was there for an entire week because the was baked on Friday then it was put into the they would change old bread with new bread old bread means it would be there for an entire week on the and on shabas when they took it off to eat from it the used to eat from it they would replace it with newly fresh baked from Friday and the g says what was the when they took it off when they took it off the it was as warm and hot as it was when they put it down the week before like fresh could you imagine you take fresh bread from the oven you leave it out for a week and it's as fresh when you took it out of the oven the week before and that's that says that to place hot bread on the day when it was taken away and from here we learn out at the day that it was taken away it was still hot so we see that the gor is phenomenal because first of all we're calling it a God and second all the should say on this means it was demonstrated it was clear you could see it through this miracle and we're saying that in this miracle we see how Beloved the Jewish nation is for hasem so who cares I'm saying you could ask so it's a small miracle so the bread is as warm as it was from the week before as when you take it out so what's the big deal why are we saying that this is this like what's so Monumental about it like in this is reflected and the answer is because the and the represents the whole idea of one of the basic necessities of life there's health and there's Financial Panos the idea of the is the way hasem takes care of a Jews P of the Jewish nation and not only that but in a way that's wealthy that's what the table represents so what does it mean so first of all let's start with the V it's explain see this in many places that the is similar to the the Reb explains in in a couple of places that the m the m that fell down from the sky we have a similar idea it's called and the Reb explains that doesn't mean bread like our but that instead of it came down no it's a Heavenly bread what does it mean it's a Heavenly bread that with this bread we saw how it comes from heaven and therefore there were very many other Miracles that were connected to it as we once spoke about this so it's the same thing over here which represents bread that was made by the or not necessarily but we're not getting into that now because it speaks about a certain family where experts are making this bread but in any case the point is we take this bread but it was put into the mishkon and miracles happen to this bread number one that a could take a tiny tiny bit and he was satisfied number two this miracle that the gor says so the same thing is true when we look at our material success livelyhood we have to understand that even though we're making a vehicle we make a conduit but really it's Hashem which is giving us the blessing and gives us the success the only reason why we have to go to work is just to make an Avenue a portal where hashem's blessings could transfer could travel to us into this planet Earth but really it's all hasem and that's the idea of and this is also explained the Reb says in many places the famous gor that says that Aid through through through planting we see theide of faith inm theor says that he believes in the he plants so the reab asked a famous [Music] question if we want to bring out Jewish faith why do we bring it out through planting why don't we just say you want to see Jewish faith we could have a person standing in a field puts his hands behind the back and goes oh no he prays to hasem lightning strikes rainfall comes and tomatoes grow from the ground that would be faith that we see that a Jew has to do nothing and nevertheless miracles happen and he gets sustenance we say no the Jewish way [Music] is he sees when he looks at nature he understands it's not really nature it's just that the want he wants this combination this merging of the physical and spiritual to prove that it becomes totally one the nature and the supernatural that when we look at nature we don't see nature we see the Supernatural and that's the whole point that on one side of the street we have Tom Dick and Harry that he takes seeds and he plants it and he flows and he and it rains and he looks at it that what was the cause that there growth it's cuz he did it through his planting and through his hard work then we have another side of the street we have that he takes a seed and he puts it into the ground and it rains and it grows Tomatoes but he knows that has nothing to do with the rain it has nothing to do with this planting has to do with the the commanded that you should do things in a natural way so therefore you created the conduit the Avenue the pathway the portal for hashem's blessings to come down into this world but the ver you see it as a it's a divine revelation and that's the whole point of a you're in you're in planet Earth but you make a you reveal the godliness by praying and you say that you see and you attribute the blessings to and all the pr that's what wants and that's how you bring out godliness how it's not by breaking the laws of nature but by showing how nature itself is in harmony with Hashem and that's the whole idea of a year on this planet Earth like we said the whole mission the whole purpose the whole meaning of life is to show how the physical itself even if even in its natural state of existence becomes a vehicle for godliness so in general the shulan represents a table and the represents our our eating food not that we live to eat we eat to live we Elevate our food and just to connect it to a practical some practical lessons first all we see from the rebba by every single fa the Reb would say at the end of the all those that have to make an after blessing a blessing they make after we eat will will probably most definitely make the blessings so here you have the Reb connected to the highest highest highest levels speaking by about the loftiest loftiest esoteric Concepts and subjects my modm Caba and at the ending what's the what's the sum total I bring in talking about the food I'm blessing AEM for the food that we ate during this so we have the the leader of his generation pointing out to something which seems so so so small making a blessing after we ate food but that's the whole point of it everything the bottom line of everything is to bring the godliness into the food and make a blessing and after blessing after after eating to thank hasem for the for the wine or for the piece of mous cake that we had by the fa so that's number one and the re was super careful about it so it's a phenomenal lesson just in that alone so therefore wherever you are and you bu a table and people have partaken some food you can say up be like the Reb just remind everyone another thing the Reb spoke about was the table the Friday night meal I'm talking to myself and I'm talking to you and I'm saying a piece of advice talking about the our table represents and is connected to the table the idea of the idea of the table and the Mish it's also connected to the idea of the M but in general it's idea of connecting the physical food our material sustenance and abundance and we'll use this opportunity to bless which also spoke aboutum this week's para theod we see from the that says that every Jew should make a contribution of gold silver and copper and the Reb said from here we see excuse me that the P starts with z that means every Jew has gold in abundance every single year should have and the said we see from here as T up that here the T gives a verdict that every Jew should be rich monetarily speaking but we should also take a lesson and the spoke about the family unit that it's the Friday night meal the shabus meal which Fosters and strengthens the family unit and in a way the Friday night meal the shabas meal is where we see a reflection of what's the whole idea of life in Judaism in shabas we make Kish shabas you could partake in having not only Necessities but even luxuries but it's all channeled to a higher purpose we sing the the says and it's explains that represents like the in the bdes they sang songs we say the says brought down from that represents the we used to say verses of and we give blessings to the whole time so we see the fusion of the finite physicality good food good wine and it's all elevated to a higher purpose to hasem and with that is the family unit singing songs becoming closer and the family and and the shabas spirit full of warmth Full Of Love full of unity first of we should have more and more we should all make good resolutions about the Tish the how we conduct ourselves the whole week with and especially to try to elevate the shabas table it should be like a shabas table we sing and we speak words of T and it will definitely be in a conduit which is the whole idea of the is that we have to do our thing my the idea of the is in general we make a conduit a vehicle a k and that brings because we're following hashem's words the great blessings to no end to every single person posting from Toronto chabis now