Shnayim Yomi - Bamidbar - Sh'vi'i - #7 - Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff - The Covering and the Core

The final seventh aliyah of parminar has something quite extraordinary in it. You know we know in the Mishkan in the holy tabernacle that carried that we carried with us for 40 years in the desert. There were many special objects. There was the ark the aon. There was the table the shulhan. On the shan we had the beautiful 12 breads that was stayed fresh all week. There was the manora. There was the misbahot. We have different altars that were with us the entire time. How do we travel with them? So the Torah says there's a very special mitzvah to cover them up. And there were beautiful covers that were added to surround each one of these objects. Now when you think about it, that was just there. So you had like a shopping bag to take your minora, right? You had a suitcase to take your aron. But it's much deeper than that. These cves were made beautifully many times with this beautiful turquoise colored wool that came from the kilazon. And this color represented a much higher value. It was a royal blue that we carried with us. And when you saw it, you thought of Hashem. You thought of the royalty of God. But there's something else. Why are the covers mentioned? I don't care about the covers. I care about what's inside. So the cover itself since it comes into contact with the object it takes on an inherent gada an inherent holiness. Let me tell you my dear friends that sometimes in life we are able to express our Jewishness and able to put it right out there without any covers or any coverings at all and really stand for who we are. But sometimes being Jewish and looking Jewish kind of pulls back into second or third place. We have to cover it up a little bit. You go to a business deal. You don't walk in. I'm Jewish. I do mitzvah. You walk in, you do a deal, you go shopping, you're Jewish. And they can always tell you're Jewish by the way you look. It could be your clothing. It could be your nose. In the end, they know that you're Jewish. But sometimes you cover it up. But behind every cover is the royalty that comes with us. And so the coverings are special and they really identify who we are as people. Whether we dress, whether it's the yamakas or we put on a magandavid, all these things are very good symbols and emblems of who we are. But inside we always carry with us the kaduca, the holiness of the vessels in the mishkan. And that's how we go through life. And I hope you've seen from all the seven aliot that sometimes in life you get to stand out and show your Jewishness. And sometimes you got to be covered up a little bit when you go out into the world and you do your business, you do your shopping, but in the end they know you're Jewish. And the coverings and insides always have to match.