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Orchard of Delights Va’etchanan
of the Land of Israel, the Temple in Jerusalem, is holy because it is above sea level in the rarified atmosphere of the mountains of the
the place where God chose to place His name. The Torah, which is Galilee; and Tiberias is associated with water as it is located on the
also defined as holy, was given to the children of Israel, because they shores of the Sea of Galilee.
– and not the other nations – consciously accepted it by saying “we To understand the connection of fire to Jerusalem and Sinai on a
will do and we will hear” (Exodus 24:7). In all these cases the aura deeper level let us delve into the meaning of fire as alluded to by its
of holiness is initiated by God’s choice and then “confirmed” by the Hebrew letters. The Hebrew word for fire (aish) is made up of two
people’s decision to sanctify the object as well. letters: alef and shin. The alef is the first letter of one of the Hebrew
Significantly, the Jewish people imitate God by sanctifying their words for air (avir) and the shin, which looks like a flame, represents
marital relationships through a process called kiddushin. When two fire. As we all know, fire cannot exist without an ample supply of
people marry, they choose one another out of all the other possible oxygen, a gas found in the air. Hence the two letters of the word aish
people on the planet and commit to a life that among other things is perfectly represent the reality we call fire.
monogamous. This conscious choice invests their relationship with The two letters making up the Hebrew word for fire can also be
holiness.
read as an acronym for earth (eretz), which begins with an alef, and
In contemplating these notions of choice and holiness we are heaven (shamayim), which begins with a shin. The alef (א) is formed
reminded of the verse in the previous portion recounting how the eyes from three distinct letters: a yud (י) above – on the upper right-hand
of God are on the Land of Israel from the beginning of the year to side; a yud (י) below – on the lower left-hand side; and a diagonal vav
the end of the year. The entire world is subject to Divine Providence, (ו) – in the middle – simultaneously joining and separating the yuds.
but God accomplishes this by first and foremost being focused on the The alef’s form symbolizes the unity between many different pairs of
Land of Israel. 18 opposites, and in our case, between earth and heaven.
Returning to the beginning of this section, just as an electron Returning to our discussion of the relationship between Sinai and
can theoretically be anywhere, so too human beings have infinite fire, the Midrash states that until the revelation at Sinai a Divine
possibilities open to them and unlimited directions to take at any decree had prevented higher reality from descending and lower
particular moment in time. If we adopt this “electron mentality,” we reality from ascending beyond certain points (Midrash Tanchumah,
too could be here or there or anywhere. In human terms, however, Va’eira 15). This decree was annulled at the Giving of the Torah, as
this usually translates into being nowhere at all. Focus, limitations, the Torah recounts that “God came down on Mount Sinai” (Exodus
choice, and will are what ultimately determine a person’s ability to 19:20) and “Moses approached the cloud” (Exodus 24:1). In this sense,
be successful, both materially and spiritually. Paradoxically, we gain the vav of the letter alef represents the Torah itself that unites God,
far more in life from limitations and focus then from imagining that heaven, and a higher reality, with man, earth, and a lower reality.
we can do it all and be everything for everybody. Holiness is revealed From this we learn that the Torah’s purpose is to teach humanity
when we attune our choices to God’s choices, to valuing what He has how to connect earth and heaven, the physical and the spiritual, the
chosen. body and the soul, human beings and God. That the Torah was given
on Mount Sinai which was “burning in fire till the heart of heaven”
teaches us that this level of connection can only be accomplished
when the soul is burning with spiritual passion.
In essence this was the Temple service’s purpose: to elevate and
transform the body and the lower animal soul’s fire so that it could
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