ON THE PARSHA

by Akiva Bernstein

Please see last week's article for a general explanation of how the Mishkan (Tabernacle) represents a Universe in miniature and how the five major service vessels represent the major physical forces.

1. The Spiritual Gravitational Field

The second most important service vessel in the Mishkan is the golden table upon which twelve loaves of bread were laid out every Shabbat day. Like the Ark, it had four gold rings near its bottom at the four corners. And like the Ark, it was made of shittim wood, overlaid with pure gold. Again, like the Ark, its horizontal surface was rectangular in shape. The Ark was only used for active service on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), a day the Torah calls "Shabbat Shabbaton" (Vayikra 16:31), and the golden table was only used on the seventh day, which the Torah also calls "Shabbat Shabbaton" (Shmot 35:2). In fact, the golden table more resembled the Ark than did the Menorah the golden altar, and the copper altar. If, as was written in the previous article, we view the Ark as the "unified field", then, what the Torah, the "blueprint of creation", is teaching us, is that, of the four force types in the universe, the main component of the unified field is the gravitational force. That the golden table does indeed represent the gravitational force can be shown as follows: in Shmot 40:22-23, Moshe puts the golden table with the twelve loaves of bread into the Mishkan "before Hashem". In Vayikra 24:6, it speaks of the bread before Hashem on Shabbat. This represents the concept of spiritual time. Thus, the concept of spiritual space is totally intertwined with the concept of spiritual time.

In modern physics, the concept of gravity as "action at a distance" between two objects with mass has been replaced with the concept of a union of space and time, i.e. space-time, and a body with mass produces an actual curvature in the structure of space-time, which is what is called gravity. Simply put, if space and time were NOT intertwined, then gravity, in the true sense of the word, would NOT EXIST at all.

However, even more important is the fact that the golden table is one of the two component parts of what can be called "G-d's supernal Shabbat Table". The second component is the Menorah

2. The Electromagnetic Menorah

In describing the service vessels of the Mishkan, the Torah, in Shmot 25:10-40, states the following order: the Ark, the golden table, and the Menorah The Menorah gave off light (Shmot 25:37) and, in the physical world, the light is the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The Menorah also shared with the Ark a very important characteristic: the Ark cover ("kaporet"), placed upon the Ark, was made of a single piece of pure gold, including the two angels ("keruvim") standing on the northern and southern sides of the kapporet. It was from between these two keruvim that Hashem spoke to Moshe. (Shmot 25:17-22). Likewise, the Menorah was made of one piece of pure gold (Shmot 25:31, 25:36). The Menorah had seven branches to it. Some commentators explain that this refers to the seven planets. However, since there are nine planets, this explanation is invalid. Others explain the seven branches as the seven days of the week. Since seven days of the week represents the concept of time, it would seem that this explanation is implying very strongly that time itself is part of the structure of the Menorah Without going into great detail, there is in the physical world what is know as the Dirac equation, a relativistic equation related to the electromagnetic field in which there exists a four-dimensional spin universe connected to the electromagnetic field, in which one of the dimensions of this spin universe is time-like in nature.

As, or more important than this, is the fact that the Torah stresses the connection between the golden table and the gold Menorah In Shmot 28:21, it uses the phrase "from the children of Israel", with regard to the Menorah and in Vayikra 24:8, it uses the exact same phrase with regard to the golden table. In Vayikra 24:3 and 24:8, the Torah uses the phrase "he shall arrange", first for the Menorah and then for the golden table. The mere fact that these two are mentioned one after the other (Vayikra 24:1-9) shows that there exists a connection between them. These two together for G-d's Shabbat table, after which our Shabbat tables are patterned. If G-d's Shabbat table does not exist at the present time, then really, how much our our own Shabbat tables worth?

MUSEUM EXHIBIT THAT SUMS IT ALL UP (JERUSALEM)

There's a small museum in the middle of the Cardo in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City which puts the current struggle over Jerusalem in context.

"The Last Day" is a display of a series of photographs taken in 1948 as the Jews were assembled and expelled from Jerusalem. Among the smiling Arab faces are the relatives of some of today's leaders including Faisal Husseini.

The museum also prominently displays some "before" and "after" shots so the visitor can get an impression of the bustling Jewish Quarter with its many impressive synagogues and public buildings which was destroyed after the Jews were driven out.

The Arabs' destruction of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and use of Jewish tombstones from the Mount of Olives as building material was just another chapter in their ongoing struggle against Jewish people for the same piece of real estate, a struggle which started well before 1948.

As part of it, the Arabs did everything they could to block Jews from reaching the Promised Land or gaining a foothold there. Before 1948 they also fought fiercely to deny Jews everything but a minimal presence at the "Wailing Wall". They did not even allow Jews to blow the shofar there at the end of Yom Kippur (a ban which Palestinian Authority Minister of Waqaf and Religious Affairs Hassan Tahboob wants to reinstate so the Jews won't "disturb" Moslem services).

During the period of Jordanian occupation from 1948 to 1967, all Jews were barred entry into the entire Old City.

When the Arabs failed to destroy the Jewish state in 1967 and instead found themselves facing an Israel with lines extending to the Jordan River, the representatives of the Waqaf on the Temple Mount prepared for the worst.

But Israel didn't pay the Arabs in kind. The city was not cleared of Arabs and, Mordechai Gur's memorable "The Temple Mount is in our hands" notwithstanding, Moshe Dayan made it clear to the Waqaf that the mount remained firmly in its hands.

Today Arafat's appointees incite the masses against Israel in their Friday sermons broadcast by the Palestinian media from the Temple Mount, in gross violation of the Oslo Accords.

The struggle is not over. And it is a struggle expressed in demographics as much as in land. The Arabs and Jews both encourage high fertility rates ("internal migration") and Jews promote Aliyah

Yet, despite the high stakes, Israel's commitment to the asymmetrical treatment of the Arabs in this conflict continues. When Israel liberated east Jerusalem it did not drive the Arabs across the Jordan River. Instead it offered them full Israeli citizenship, with the right to vote and be elected to the Knesset.

The offer still stands today to the Arab residents of Jerusalem. Those who take Israeli citizenship retain that status for the rest of their lives, regardless of where they live.

Israel went a step further, allowing Arab Jerusalemites to vote in municipal elections even if they refuse Israeli citizenship. When one considers the many divergent groups that make up the ruling coalition in City Hall, one can only imagine the associated political power and benefits Arab Jerusalemites might have enjoyed all these years if had they opted to participate in the process. But they have preferred to wait for the Jews to leave - or be driven out.

Yes, Israel has been generous to the Arabs; but there are limits to what any people engaged in a struggle for its survival can be expected to do for the benefit of its opponent.

So, while Jews are allowed dual citizenship in order to encourage as many as possible to join the Jewish state, Arabs are not afforded this luxury.

Those Arabs who refused Israeli citizenship were allowed to stay, but were made subject to the same restrictions as any other permanent resident. Among those restrictions, which apply to all "permanent residents," is a rule that they must maintain their "center of life" in Israel.

Move somewhere else for 7 years - be it to Rhode Island or Ramallah - and you lose permanent resident status.

Now we are in a race to create facts on the ground. And since the only thing Oslo really prohibits in terms of not changing the situation is additional Israeli annexations or the declaration of a Palestinian state, much can be done. The Arab world is pouring many millions of dollars into buying property and building in Jerusalem.

Jews are also trying to solidify their stand in the city. And as part of this "race" Israel is exercising its legal right under a law which has been on the books since 1974 to deny residency to the Arabs who refused to become citizens and left Jerusalem for seven years or more.

The Arabs of Jerusalem have another option.

Noted Arab Journalist Daoud Kuttab recently wrote on his Internet Home Page that "the only options left for Palestinians are independence in a free and sovereign [Palestinian] state or integration [into Israel] with full political rights." The Arabs of Jerusalem can already exercise the integration option.

Is it fair? Some might call it too fair; others not enough.

But when I recall the photographs in that small museum in the Cardo and try to imagine what would have happened had we lost the war in 1967, I must say, quite frankly, that I sleep well at night.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director
IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-9-7411645
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il

ON THE NET

At the Se'udat HaMikdash, I discovered the following site

Machon HaMikdash (The Temple Institute) including: Institute for Temple Studies, Exhibition of Temple Vessels, Yeshivat Bet Habehira, and Beit Hauman Ha'ivri You can find out about the latest developments about what is being done to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash and order books about the Beit HaMikdash.

HALACHIC BOOKS AND LECTURES ABOUT GOING UP TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT

"El Har HaMor"

by Rabbis Yitzchak Shapiro and Yosef Pilai an in-depth halachic guide to going up to the Temple Mount

To order, you can call 011-972-2-9975155 or write:

Rav Kroizer's halachic guides

• Shut Har HaBayit (Temple Mount Responsa)
• Aliyah LeHar HaBayit Bizman HaZeh (Going up to the Temple Mount in present times)
• Tefillah BeHar HaBayit Bizman HaZeh (Prayer at the Temple Mount in present times)
  
  and now...
  
• Tevilah Kehilchatah (Properly emersion in a mikvah) for men going up to the Temple Mount in present times

Lectures about the Temple Mount are available by:

Rav Michael Ben Ari, 011-972-2-5812006

IN THE NEWS

Arutz-7 News: Sunday, February 16, 1997

YESHA RABBIS SUPPORT TEMPLE MOUNT PRAYER

The Council of Yesha Rabbis has issued a call to "all rabbis who permit it" to encourage their congregants and students to visit the Temple Mount. This is the first time that the Council has taken such a position. Rabbi Daniel Shilo of the Council explained that in light of the recent Arab moves to eradicate all Jewish presence on the Mount, and their increased presence there, and their turning of Solomon's Stables into a mosque, it has become more urgent to make the Jewish presence felt there. He said that for the last few months, the Council had been attempting to remedy the scene with "quiet, behind-the-scenes" activities, but that they did not bear fruit.

The Council statement emphasized that the ascent to the Mount must be made with the proper Halachic preparations, and only to the permitted areas.

Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, February 18, 1997

TEMPLE FEAST

Nearly 1000 people participated in a unique dinner last night in honor of the Jerusalem Temple and Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. Samples of music and instruments that may have been sounded by the Levites in the Temple were played, and speakers described how Jews would ascend to the Temple with their sacrifices. Rabbi Dov Lior explained that many rabbis permit the ascent to the Temple Mount even now, after proper halachic preparations have been made (ritual immersion, knowing the permitted locations, etc.). MK Rabbi Benny Elon bemoaned the fact that the Temple Mount is effectively not under our control. He said, "How can we not cry when we hear the police cheerfully report on the Moslem Ramadan prayers at the site of our Holy Temple?"

(Last, but not least, news Rav Ariel announced at the Se'udat HaMikdash)

1. The Temple Institute has a sample Mizbeach (altar) for Kohanim to practice going up on.

2. A Red Heifer was born in Kefar Hassidim.

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