True Service Fills a Person with Light and Joy

Rabbi Melanie Aron

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Years ago I went to an Alban Institute course where we talked about polarities within a congregation. These are issues where there isn’t one right answer, but where one spends one’s time, moving back and forth balancing out pro’s and con’s.

Getting specific instructions can be a big help in job performance. Knowing what’s expected and what the priorities are can help focus your work. On the other hand instructions that are too specific can be confining. If you are told not only what the goal is but also how to achieve it, it can dampen your enthusiasm as you have lost the freedom to shape your own work.

Being without direction allows you to control what you will be doing and can help you to feel more invested in your work. But sometimes that’s means you spend a lot of time just trying to decide what to do and can be unsure if what you are doing is really what’s needed or necessary.

This weeks Torah portion includes both sides of this polarity.

With regard to the work of the Levitical clans absolutely everything is prescribed. Your job was totally set by your lineage. Depending on whether you were the descendant of Gershon, Kohath or Merari, sons of Levi you were either responsible for moving the tent itself and its coverings, or moving its sacred objects like the ark, table and lamps, or moving the infrastructure that held it up, the posts, sockets, pegs and cords. Exactly what needed to be moved and which family clan within each of these lines carried what was totally spelled out. There was almost nothing you got to decide yourself.

On the other hand our Torah portion also includes the rules of the Nazirite. Here the situation is the opposite. You are not a Nazirite because of your father or grandfather, but rather this is a decision you make yourself. The vow could be for a period as short as 30 days or as long as a lifetime. It was a way that an individual could chose to ascend to a higher level of holiness, often in response to an event or issue in their personal lives.

There is another polarity in our Torah portion as well. The gifts brought by the 12 tribes on the day of the dedication of the Tabernacle are listed, But what is very strange is that each tribe brought exactly the same gift, and even so they are described 12 times over. This is particularly strange as the Torah is often stingy with its words and does not go in for repetition.

Here the polarity is of sameness and personal meaning. The gifts were the same, the same silver bowl, silver basin, ladle, flour, oil, rams, lambs, goats and oxen. But the meaning they had for each tribe was unique. For the tribe of Judah the bowl and basin were a hint at the future House of David which would descend from this tribe, while for the tribe of Issachar from whom students of Torah would descend, the goats represented the future converts who would be outstanding teachers. Sameness had its value in reminding us that it was vital that each of the tribes contribute and the listing, twelve times, gave each tribe its place in the sun. But the personal meaning of these gifts was also important, reminding us that each tribe has a unique share and unique gifts.

Synagogues need to be sensitive to both polarities. There are times when we need to have requirements in terms of service or giving. But we also have to recognize that gifts and vocations differ and its good that different people do the same job differently. For example, there are certain responsibilities that a Temple president must fulfill and so it is appropriate that we have an informal job description. But every Temple president I have worked with has fulfilled that role differently based on their temperament and personal qualities. The same individuality plays a role in every service to our community and enriches us manifold. Similarly with donations- they are structured because, just like the ancient tabernacle, we are dependant on donations for maintaining our religious establishment. But we need to be sensitive that the same gift can mean something very different for one person or another, and to appreciate the internal meaning of that gift along with its external features.

Finally, I’d like to conclude with one more midrash on this parshah this one from the Zohar. In carrying the items of the tabernacle we are told that “ the cows vayisharnah”. The conventional meaning of that word would be they went straight, but it could also mean they sang, and so too the Levites carrying the ark on their shoulders. “And know that it was not despite the heaviness of their load they sang, but rather just the opposite. Because they were carrying the ark on their shoulders they had the power to lift their voices in song. This is true also of every person who serves. True service fills a person with light and joy. “ Ken Yehi Ratzon, so may it be for us that our service fills us with light and joy.