Rotting Wood or Pure Gold
Parshat Terumah
This week's Torah portion discusses the Mitzvah and instructions for building the Mishkan, the tabernacle in the wilderness. It opens with the Mitzvah to construct the MIshkan, "Make me a sanctuary" (Shemot 25:10) and then begins to depict the different holy items that are to be constructed.
The first item is the Aron Habrit - the ark of the Covenant. This ornate box was constructed in a most unusual way. It was actually constructed of no less than three seperate boxes, each one smaller than the other. The outer box was made of pure gold. The second box was made of acacia wood. The third box was also made of pure gold. When assembled, each box was placed, one inside the other, one could only see a gold box, from inside and outside, as the wooden box in the middle was hidden in the middle.
The obvious question is why was there a need to have a wooden box sandwiched between two other gold boxes?!
The simple answer is a technical one. Gold is very pliable and as such, would not be able to support the tablets of stone that were placed inside the box. A deeper answer however relates to the lesson of the Aron Habrit and the Jewish people. Our sages tell us that we learn a lesson about Am Yisrael- the Jewish people from the Ark. Sometimes when we look at our fellow, we see a veneer of gold. Everything looks fine and beautiful. But when we begin to examine the individual a bit more closely, we start to see not the gold but wood, and maybe even some rotting wood. We see the faults and definices of the individual.
The lesson of the Ark is however, that if you look even deeper than the wood, you will see the essence and soul which is pure gold. In other words, don't be fooled by the exterierior or even the interior, but go deeper to the source.
In these days of so much pain and suffering for Am Yisrael, it is imperative that we try to see each other in a positive way. Look deeper, find the gold.
Shabbat Shalom