Save "Exploring Our Inner and Outer Worlds

Shabbat Terumah text study
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Exploring Our Inner and Outer Worlds Shabbat Terumah text study
(יא) וְצִפִּיתָ֤ אֹתוֹ֙ זָהָ֣ב טָה֔וֹר מִבַּ֥יִת וּמִח֖וּץ תְּצַפֶּ֑נּוּ וְעָשִׂ֧יתָ עָלָ֛יו זֵ֥ר זָהָ֖ב סָבִֽיב׃
(11) Overlay it with pure gold—overlay it inside and out—and make upon it a gold molding round about.
מבית ומבחוץ תצפנו (שמות כה, יא). רמז לתלמיד חכם שיהא תוכו כברו:

From the inside and the outside you shall overlay it." This is an allusion to the Torah student whose interior should match his exterior, i.e. he should not pretend to be pious when in truth he is not.

Babylonian Talmud Yoma, 72b (The Mussar Torah Commentary)
Rabbi Rava states " Any student of the wise whose inside is not like their outside is not really a student of the wise."
Does God dwell within us when we are not in alignment with our truths? Can we experience divine presence when our internal and external worlds do not align?
וְעָשִׂ֕יתָ חֲמִשִּׁ֖ים קַרְסֵ֣י זָהָ֑ב וְחִבַּרְתָּ֨ אֶת־הַיְרִיעֹ֜ת אִשָּׁ֤ה אֶל־אֲחֹתָהּ֙ בַּקְּרָסִ֔ים וְהָיָ֥ה הַמִּשְׁכָּ֖ן אֶחָֽד׃
And make fifty gold clasps, and couple the cloths to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle becomes one whole.
והנה עשר יריעות הוא המשכן והמשכן קראו אחד כולל הכל. כי כל גוף אינו דבר אחד רק הוא מחובר מאחדים. וככה השם הנכבד שהוא אחד כולל הכל ונקרא אחד. וכן העולם הקטן והגדול:
[THAT THE TABERNACLE MAY BE ONE WHOLE.] Look, the term tabernacle refers to the ten curtains. The tabernacle is called one, and it encompass all ten [curtains] for all physical entities are made of various elements. Similarly God the revered, who is One. God includes everything and is called One. The same is true with the microcosm and the macrocosm.
We are both our physical selves living in the external world and we are also internal and have full worlds inside. What is this text asking us to reflect on?

Rabbi Arthur Green

The Language of Truth The Torah Commentary of the Sefat Emet, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger

Every soul is a chamber for God, a vessel that contains the divine light. This is the message the Hasidic masters repeatedly associate with the tabernacle and all the details of its making; in all these ways are we to fashion our inner chambers, to make them a proper dwelling place for God. In our souls we light a lamp for God, set a table, raise up an altar. Truly, God needs no intermediary. The divine light seeks out only the soul and would be please to dwell directly within us. It is only our sin, that which makes us feel separate from God, that causes us to need ritual forms, chambers in which we can allow God's presence to dwell. These outward signs, whether in the grand form of the tabernacle or the little boxes of tefillin, help to attract the light, to bring it to its true home within the soul.

How do you bring together your inner and outer worlds? We see the example of tefillin as being one way.