worship

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1. Of Parts and Pieces: The Instructions and Assembly of the Mishkan (Audio)

   Rabbi Chanoch Waxman | 16 minutes

   The lack of symmetry between the text's portrayal of God's commands pertaining to the Mishkan and Moshe's fulfilment of those commands hints to a message that the Torah seeks to convey about the Mishkan and its relationship to the people and the priests. This shiur explores the symbolism, significance and purpose of the representation of the Mishkan—the Tent of Meeting as a portable Sinai, as portrayed at the end of the book of Exodus.

2. Torah and the Kingdom of Priests [audio]

   Rabbi Chanoch Waxman | 22 minutes

   Why does our parsha repeat the list of instructions relating to offerings (korbanot) in a very similar way to the one found in Parshat Vayikra? What is the significance of the striking differences between the list? Examining these similarities and differences highlights the dialectic of worshipping God: the importance of priests performing rituals along with the individual religious quest.

3. The Eternal Curse of Eli the Kohen Gadol of Shiloh

   Rabbi Daniel Wolf

   תאריך פרסום: תשע"ה | | 51 minutes

   Eli, the Kohen Gadol who accuses Channah of drunkenness in the sanctuary and, after realizing his mistake, blesses her – is later told in two different, lengthy accounts that he and his line will be cursed. Why is Eli punished so severely by God – with a curse that seems unprecedented?

   We examine the difficulties that come up in the narrative about Eli and, with assistance from a salient reference in the Book of Yirmiyahu, discover that Eli’s erroneous philosophy is the belief in an immoral, capricious god whose sole desire is to be satiated with sacrificial meat. Unlike Shmuel and Channah, who see sacrifices as symbolic and to be accompanied by tefilla and teshuva, Eli and his sons believe that sacrifices are real acts and are given to appease God.

    The Tanakh’s emphasis on the curse sends a message telling us how worship of God is meant to be carried out; that God does want us to carry out rituals, but ritual is meant to be imbibed with devotion, kedusha and morality.