Chronicles of a Chasid in Exile

                                                           Parashas Tetzaveh

                   The Third Temple and The Urim V' Tumim: Traditions of The Ger

                                                            Rabbi David Katz

Parashas Trumah laid the down the eternal blueprint design of the Third Temple, by following in the footsteps of King Solomon who by upon meditating on the Mishkan, was able to reach the Messianic level of greatness necessary to construct a proper House of God. The Third Temple is existentially different from however from King Solomon's Temple; this being achieved by its destiny of being an eternal structure, and of course, in that the very DNA is straight from Olam HaBah –  Wisdom from the [Torah of] Ger. The Torah concludes that the story of six thousand years of Creation can quite simply be told over as a tale of the Jew and the Ger – encapsulated by twenty-four books of scripture along with the entire era of Oral Torah; essentially, this all boils down to into a recipe that not only explains our reality, but actually constructs the Third Temple to its completion. Yet what remains a mystery to this elaborate scheme, is the proverbial, "how does this ever get achieved"; and to that tune, one would need to get well acquainted to the ancient fringe of authentic Torah's past. I welcome you all, to meet Ezekiel; he is the star of the Haftorah [very apropos to the Parsha and its proximity] and the father of [proverbial] time as it plays out –   by turning heads throughout the ages! In my best Sean Connery introduction that could narrate a documentary film to the Temple [stay tuned for the audio shiur], "This is the Temple. It is built by the Divine Ger Code in the Torah. Let us take a journey into Ezekiel's mysterious Prophecy, and [finally] appropriately LEARN [hint] about the Temple."

In all seriousness, the Temple is no light matter, and it truly is built by the Ger – Jewish cooperation in shared Torah endeavors. This partnership is one in acute Torah study, covering every element and facet of the Torah and Torah history that spans the spectrum of time. We have mentioned that the union produces a sublime Ger / Messianic code that explains the deepest secrets of the Torah; now in the very next Parasha [Tetzaveh] and Haftorah [Ezekiel] the program that we must "run" is there staring us in the eye, once we find the sensation to appreciate the task at hand and recognize it. The premise is brought down in two distinct ways in the Parasha and Haftorah: a) How the partnership works, rallying around a mutual priestly aspect b) and the learning from the mouth that commences. King David describes in Psalms that this is the prescription of building the spiritual foundation for the Temple, one that is sure to quickly inspire and manifest a physical counterpart. The implication from the Prophet is that once achieved and the people have locked down the initial task, Temple – fever will erupt with supreme Hedva [profound joy] and an awakening on Earth will take place. This is the proverbial arena for Gog Magog [to contend these matters through false religion and immorality] in the future; the victory is to gain excitement in a tangible new light coming to the World. This is NOT the Tower of Babylon…for this is the game plan for God's Eternal Temple, and it will succeed. All that is needed to do is to follow the golden recipe, and the path to Zion will illuminate before our dreamy eyes.

The Parasha [28:29-30] covers the High Priest's Breastplate that he wears on his chest as remembrance for the Children of Israel in times of Judgment. This formula appears quite simple: Priest, of the Nation of Priests [Jews] names of the twelve tribes on his chest…this is a nice and simple Jewish story. The only problem is, is that the story doesn't stop here, quite the contrary really. He is to add a piece into the Breastplate, the mysterious "Urim V' Tumim" – a sacred set of holy names [of God and such]; altogether this produces the desired effect for the High Priest when he is to inquire of the Breastplate what the nation should do in times of distress. It should be noted that this dimension was missing in the Second Temple, due to Israel's lower spiritual state, thus there was no Urim V' Tumim nor the Shechinah. There was however one other BIG piece missing from the Second Temple and it ties all of these factors together quite well; this is none other than the Ger. If one pays attention to the language of the Parasha, noticing the difference in language and context between the Breastplate and the Urim V' Tumim, we have yet again an exquisite example of Ger Tzedek code, as elaborated in the previous article. [Children of Israel compared to a general "they"…shall be on his heart, as if to say in contrast – Jews and Gerim.] The Talmud makes clear mention of the Ger who learns Torah is compared to the High Priest, and perhaps now, more than ever there is light shed on this enigmatic statement.

The Sforno in various places makes mention that the desire of God was not to have a Temple, Mishkan, or even vessels in these structures [such as the Ark; sorry Sean Connery], but that Mankind would become the Chariot to which God interfaces in the World. The template to such a concept was Malki Tzedek, a Priest to God Above; Man would be prophetic by nature, and Earth would serve God in the highest order. Yet in the end it did not work out this way, and the Torah we have is Absolute Truth; however we can still emulate these very concepts in our service to God [aside from the fact that there is a strong belief that the Ark still will NOT come back, and that we are to function as the receiver of God's prophetic word in the times to come. A Temple, we are promised though, will stand, and has served to this day as the ultimate sign of redemption.], and even allegorically transform spiritually into spiritual technology. This is called [as rabbi Nachman puts it in Likutei Moharan] the Torah of Faith, and is the quintessential level of Chasidut Torah; it should be noted for this reason the Gerim are often called "Chisidei Umot Ha-Olam" from their innate spiritual abilities, along with their ability to break the laws of [their] nature to become [reveal] something new.

At this point we have a very simple program to work with: The task of the Jewish "Priest" is to know the Torah – in Hebrew, and be prepared to decipher code, as the traditional Breastplate operates by the same disciplines of Pardes as the Ger Code in Torah. The job of the Ger is to function as the Urim V' Tumim [help with names of God goes a long way, for the Urim V' Tumim is  composed of this, much like Shem's task as the Priest to God Above; even in the Torah, the initial letters of the words in the location of the Urim, is a cloaked – code name of God [the name that is of value 17, same as the code in the first verse of the Torah by "Heavens and Earth."] and be a vessel – priest that works in tandem with his priest in partnership. Should they be of proper intent, their harmony in Torah will produce an ability to draw down Torah revelation, and with the pre-requisite knowledge and ability, they can decode the secrets of the Torah. This is not only an amazing truth, but like the proverbial axiom states, "this is what you [they] were created to do"; this is called "Building the Temple" and serves as the perfect illustration of not only God's intentions of creating them both, but just how holy their partnership is, and precious to God. Remember, God Loves the Ger, and how could anyone not "just Love" when this is the program were created to run. The definition of true spirituality [and as we said in the original intent of Man] is "The power of God in Man through the agency of Divine Providence"; enlightenment is the merit to see this as it happens, and is the purpose of being Created – to know Him [Zohar].

Now that we have the tools to harness God's Sanctuary of Light, Ezekiel gives first shape to our destined Third Temple.

As it says [43:10-11] "You, son of Man! Tell the House of Israel about the Temple, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities and calculate the Temple's design. If they become ashamed of all that they have done, then make known the form of the Temple and its design, its exits and its entrances, and all its buildings' forms, all its laws, all its designs and all its teachings, and write all this down before their eyes, so that they may safeguard its entire form and all its rules and MAKE/DO THEM!" It is not enough that this powerful message gives tremendous inspiration and sense of command, yet when we read Rashi on this verse it is as if the voice of God becomes thunder in our hearts to run up and build his sacred Temple! Rashi simply explains the verse to the end; but there at the end is where the profound nature of Rashi shines brightest and all revealing, "and they will learn/teach the matters of the design from your mouth – [by doing] THAT [you will gain, hear, understand, realize the] EXPERTISE to make/do them [the building; by connecting to the Torah inside, and speaking it, this causes revelation to come out of the mouths of those involved, and subsequently this is the only way one can know how to build the Temple – if we all are involved, share, etc. – Jews and Gerim. Like the Sforno wanted to say, the Temple IS in all of us, and it is the task and correction of Man to extract from our hearts/souls by Love of God/one another/Torah and engaging in Tikkun Olam in this fashion prescribed and inspired by the Torah.] to [awaken, make it] a Time of the End [stamped by the actions of Man through his accomplishment of fulfilling God's will].

That is why we are here. That is why we Love the Ger. That is why we are all Priests. That is why God is awesome. As Sean Connery would say, in his documentary voice, "This is the Temple. It was built by Jews and Gerim who loved God, His Torah, and each other. Come with us on a journey, to the Temple Mount…" for it says in Parashas Jethro, if we go up looking for God in the place that He has chosen [the Priests] to say His name, he will come to us and bless us. Amen, and so it is, and thus it shall always be, for God Loves the Ger, and every second the High Priest dons the garments, it could not be any more apparent to God what He created; Glorious it is to those with an awakened Heart to experience the Power of God.     

Note the New Schedule: 

Tues [of this week] 11 P.M. Parasha In-Depth

Wed 11 P.M. Psalms  In-Depth #72

****Starting Next Week****

Psalms In-Depth will be SUNDAY NIGHTS 11 PM

and

Parasha In-Depth will be WEDNESDAY NIGHTS 11 PM

please note the changes, and God Willing this will be the order of events for this current cycle of affairs.

Also, God Willing, our classes will available as an MP3 download [as always] along with a new Video option [posted with link on YouTube]

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