Rabbi Seth Farber Former Maimonides School Faculty Member The  Torah ’s term for chaos is תֹּהוּ וָבֹהוּ,  tohu vavohu,  and to a certain extent, the entire thrust of the  Torah  is meant to respond to chaos—particularly the chaos created by war—by infusing the world with life and  kedusha .   Parshat Pikudei  highlights Judaism’s approach to war in a unique way. After the  Mishkan  has been erected, Moshe commands that the  aron , which contains the broken  luchot , be brought into its innermost chamber. The  aron  reflects the place of G-d’s divine presence in the Holy of Holies. In many respects the  aron , along with the  keruvim  perched upon it, recalls the Garden of Eden—a place that G-d created to respond to chaos, a place where G-d’s presence also rested. In fact, there were  keruvim  in the Garden of Eden.   Given its intense holiness, one might have expected that the  aron...

Rabbi Scott Kahn ('88) Parshat Vayakhel  describes the building of the  Mishkan , and the admirable zeal of the Children of Israel in working on and donating to the cause of creating a dwelling place for the  Shechina . Indeed, the  Midrash Tanna Devei Eliyah u metaphorically describes G-d as almost "worrying" that the Children of Israel would not donate generously to the  Mishkan , and being pleasantly surprised by their complete willingness to comply: Once Israel joyfully accepted the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, and said, "All that Hashem says we will do and we will listen," the Holy One, blessed be He immediately told Moshe to tell Israel to make a Mishkan, as it says, "Speak to the Children of Israel... that they should make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell in their midst." At that time the Holy One, blessed be He said in His heart that perhaps the Children of Israel will not bring their gifts before Me, and perhaps will say regarding the On...

Rachel Levitt Klein Dratch ('90) Whenever people told me they’d be visiting Maimonides, I always urged them to find Mike Rosenberg  z”l  if they wanted to fall in love with the school… and then, with a grin, I would say that one of the things I was most proud of was that Mike had a picture of me hanging in his office. Not because of the picture, but because Mike thought I was worth celebrating. What a giant of a wonderful man who made others feel seen. I feel blessed that we had the pleasure to know him. This  d’var Torah  is for him.   I now live in Jerusalem, having made  aliyah  a year and a half ago, and while you in the States will have  Purim  on Friday, we in Jerusalem are experiencing a weird sort of four-day  Purim  season with  megillah  reading on Thursday evening,  matanot la’evyonim  on Friday,  Al Hanisim  on  Shabbat , and the  seudah  and  mishloach manot  on Sun...

Leora Taub 2024-25 Maimonides Fellow In the first few פרשיות of ספר שמות, we experience many of the most foundational events in the תורה. After leaving Egypt, בני ישראל experience  Hashem 's revelation like never before as He presents the עשרת הדברות, the ten most fundamental components of our faith. Following this, in פרשת משפטים we learn many everyday laws that are extremely important to our ability to function regularly and adjust to life outside of slavery. So it is surprising when in פרשת תרומה the  Torah  shifts to discussing the משכן and its כלים, and when in this week’s פרשת תצוה we learn about the בגדי כהונה and מזבח. While these are clearly important aspects of our ’עבודת ה, it doesn't seem integral and immediate that we must learn these details and build a temporary place for  Hashem  before entering ארץ ישראל and building a permanent בית המקדש.   Furthermore, this week is פרשת זכור which describes our  Torah  obligation to remember and...