Rav Moshe Weinberger - Shalosh Seudos Drasha Parashas Terumah 5752 - Rav Mottel Zilber Shlita: The hidden treasure Revealed in Adar

Below is a write-up of Rav Weinberger's Shalosh Seudos drasha from this Shabbos, Parshas Terumah.  You can see past write-ups of Rav Weinberger's Shalosh Sheudos Torahs here and get thousands of his shiurim in mp3 format at ravmosheweinberger.com.

This week the Shalosh Seudos Drasha is brought to us by two of our holy brothers in shul, Aviezer Cohen and Moshe Lachman. A big yasher koach to them both and hopefully they will be able to continue helping in the future. 

Rav Moshe Weinberger

Shalosh Seudos Drasha Parashas Terumah 5752

Rav Mottel Zilber Shlita: The hidden treasure Revealed in Adar

(Original text of  Rav Mottel Zilber  is in regular font. Rav Weinberger’s comments are in italics)

פרשת תרומה תשע״ב

Rav Mottel Zilber shlita

We always read these פרשיות dealing with the building of the משכן in the month of Adar. חז״ל tell us in the Gemara ( סוטה  ט) that the handiwork of משה רבינו is indestructible, and therefore the משכן (Tabernacle) that משה made can not be destroyed, only concealed. Also the vessels that משה made everything have been hidden, Again all these things can not be destroyed therefore, when we are not worthy of these things, they become concealed from us and go into hiding.

Since they are not destroyed completely but only in hiding we are able to draw constantly the light from these hidden treasures. There are times which offer a much greater opportunity to draw this light. Chodesh Adar is a very special time for this in a very unique way, and therefore it is called אדר which is אדרת שער, Aderes is a garment. A garment hides and conceals that which is within it. In the month of Adar we are then able to reach these hidden treasures which are concealed within its garments. 

Therefore חז״ל tell us ( טו ביצה) that Adar is a language of strength. Like the pasuk saysה׳" ״אדיר במרום . According to what we've explained we can understand this to mean that from the hidden treasures of holiness ישראל   כללdraws its strength. This is the meaning of אסתר מגילת, that we're revealing holy strengths which are usually concealed. Therefore the משכן that משה built and was later concealed and never destroyed shines very brightly in the month of Adar. Thus we read in the month of Adar these parshios of the building of the משכן. 

With this we can understand what חז״ל teaches us in the gemara (תענית כט). Just like when the month of Av comes we diminish our joy so to when Adar arrives we increase our joy. What does the decrease in joy in Av have to do with the increase of joy in Adar? Chazal are implying that the two months are deeply connected. The mourning of Av is very tied up with the joy of Adar. According to what we've said we can understand that the mourning of Av is over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, while the joy of Adar is over the revelation at this time of that a part of the Bais Hamikdash that was never destroyed, and can’t be destroyed.

Purim is the טוב יום of נצח (eternity) as the אריז״ל writes. Purim is the revelation of those holy hidden treasures that are eternal, that will remain with us constantly for all eternity. This is our victory over the side of impurity, that we have holy hidden strengths that the side of impurity has no power over. We know that every single Jew has רבינו משה inside of him. רבינו משה is the concealed knowledge. If a Jew, heaven forbid, transgresses and sins, nevertheless this aspect of משה, of the treasure, never leaves him but only becomes further concealed. It's always there inside of him, only hidden. On chodesh Adar every Jew is given special strength ( אדיר במרום ה׳) to illuminate and uncover the אדרת, and to shine brightly with that aspect of רבנו משה inside each and every one of us. 

We know that the goyim in Europe when they didn't know the name of Jew they would call him Mushkah..ויפתח ה את פי ׳האתון   We see even the goyim unknowingly admit to this strength that each and every Jew posses. May we be זוכה to the time when these treasures will be revealed for the entire world to see with the coming of משיח בגאולה שלימה האמיתית  במהרה בימנו אמן

The Mishkan of the True Tzaddik - Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern on Teruma

Here is Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Teruma, with English excerpt and full text in both English and Hebrew in pdf form. You can send an e-mail to this address to subscribe to receive Rav Morgenstern's Torah in your e-mail box every week. Sorry it's late. Server issues at the end of last week.

After the Jewish people sinned with the golden calf, Moshe Rabbeinu ascended to heaven to advocate on our behalf so that we would be forgiven. His appeal was what led to the command that we build the Mishkan toward which the Jewish people would have to contribute. The fundamental offering, however, is each person’s willingness to participate in the construction of Hashem’s dwelling place, a place for the honor of the tzaddik where Hashem’s presence will be revealed in the world. This is a fitting response to the sin that prompted the command for its construction, since the golden calf came about because the erev rav planted a seed of doubt among the Jewish people about Moshe’s return to them. “For the man Moshe who brought us up from Egypt, we know not what has become of him.”[1] The yetzer hara misled them so that they would assume that the tzaddik had died, but their reaction should have been to redouble their faith and seek out the Torah of the tzaddik that must have forever remained with his brother Aharon HaKohein and with his student Yehoshua. The hidden agenda of the erev rav was to convince the Jewish people that, after the true tzaddik leaves this world, he does not leave anything of himself behind. And the Jewish people fell into their trap.

Yet Moshe Rabbeinu worked to reveal that which rectifies this failing down through all the generations to come—the tikkun of the Mishkan. The Mishkan embodies the principle that even after the true and original revelation of the tzaddik is gone, his Mishkan remains to be discovered in the batei medrash of his followers and students throughout future ages. Even in the exile, the batei medrash that are miniature sanctuaries remain, and through them we can experience the fullest connection with the tzaddikim of previous generations. “Make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell within them”—not within it, but within them. Hashem’s light which is revealed by the true tzaddik will be revealed within each and every one of us.[2]

No one should make the mistake of thinking that if he lived in a prior age or was somehow a different person his spiritual task or situation would be significantly altered. “I am Hashem, I have not changed.” There is no difference between then and now; Hashem dwells within each and every one of us at every time, in every place. At every moment we have the ability to connect with the point of the tzaddik and the ultimate truth. We see this from the narrative of what precipitated the sin of the golden calf itself; there was a brief period when it seemed as though Moshe Rabbeinu’s light had gone out, and the Jewish people were tested. Would they seek out his light among Aharon and Yehoshua even though it didn’t seem to be of the same quality or magnitude? Yet every person at any time can tap into the light of the tzaddik if he only seeks it out, if he believes that all of the holy efforts that the true tzaddikim made have not gone lost, G-d forbid. He must trust that they can still help him to rectify himself and build the holiness of the Mishkan and reveal that Hashem does indeed dwell within him.

[1] Ibid., 32:1
[2] See the commentary of the Alshich on Shemos 25:5.

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