Rochel Taktuk: Okay guys, today we're learning Torah. We are studying the Parsha, a little tiny piece of the Parsha. This is gonna be a shorter Torah class, but Torah is life. Torah gives us life. ⁓ The Torah is like the heartbeat of the world. It's where we get our strength. It's where we get our clarity, our morality, our civility. ⁓ Everything in life is in the Torah. The Torah has the answers for everything. So today we're gonna learn. And I hope that after a long week, this cleanses you and renews you and refreshes you and just connects you to yourself. I always say that the Torah doesn't change your life. doesn't change you. I mean, it changes your life, but it doesn't change you. just introduces you to yourself. That is exactly how I feel about the Torah. When I started learning Torah and I mean like on my own as a teenager, like I can finally understand it on my own. ⁓ it just introduced me to myself. I don't know how else to say it. It's like I finally met myself. and the Torah did that for me. So I hope it does that for you too. We're gonna learn something really beautiful today. It's one of my favorite teachings. It's short and sweet and perfect right before Shabbos. ⁓ It's from this week's Parsha. We have a double Parsha this week. A Parsha is a Torah portion. It's the part of the Torah that we've been learning this week and then we read it again in synagogue in Shul tomorrow on Shabbos day. ⁓ So I personally love learning about God. Like a lot of the Torah, There's stories and characters and people and commandments. And there are these like really sacred special things where you get to know God's character, so to say, for lack of a better word, right? God has no form. That's what makes Judaism different than Christianity. We know that God has no form and God repeats that many times in the Torah. But God is so mysterious and we ache and yearn to be close to him. And when I say that, I don't just mean like, I want to be close to God. I mean like, in our lives, in our lives, ⁓ things that we yearn for, things that we seek, things that we wish for, things that we pine for, things that we desire. Sometimes, a lot of times, it's just like a desire to be closer to God. I think about this a lot with my son, my baby, Yoav Mordechai, like raising him and having him and being pregnant with him had a very hard pregnancy and a really hard birth, hard postpartum, like it's all just... like bringing me to God. It's the craziest thing. It's just even like my also meeting my husband, my family, everything in my life is just like ⁓ navigating me towards godliness, like towards God's like essence. And I'm making it happen almost. It's not even that God's making it like I am subconsciously doing all these things. I'm on a quest for God. ⁓ And there are these parts of the Torah that that tell you what God is like. You know, like when you want a date, you need someone like, ooh, what's this guy like? Like sometimes you can have that with Hashem, which is so cool. What's Hashem like? ⁓ And Hashem is so mysterious and to get any kind of insight into his character, his personality, I should say, he has no person, but it's so incredible and makes me happy. ⁓ You know, Moses asked this of God, of Hashem. ⁓ You know, Moshe asked Hashem, I believe those are the exact words. Show me your glory. And what Moses was really asking Hashem was, want to know you. Show me your face. I want to see you, right? Like, I want to really know who you are. And Hashem said, can only see my back. You cannot see me and live. You can't know me and live. And there is that friction between God and human beings where we're just like, please let me know you. want to know you. Let me know you. Like you made me created the world. You're so mysterious. You're so like God created childbirth. How, how like God must be really interesting if he created childbirth or like Hashem created like spiders. He's just so amazing. ⁓ and we get a little insight into what Hashem is like, and it might not be what you expect. A lot of people think that they, you know, in trying to be religious, they become very like rigid and cold and you can't talk about that. You're not allowed to talk about it. How dare you ask that question? How dare you bring up that topic? How dare you? And it's like they're trying to be more religious than God because God is not like that. It's amazing. Hashem is not like that. Like I always say to people or like people I know, like if Hashem created the female body, he... God has to be very interesting. Like the female body is very interesting. It's just like, Hmm, wow. Like God did that and he must be open-minded and cool and like not cool, but you know what I mean? Like just like loving and, and, and open and, and ready to converse and to talk and like not as like, meh, stop doing that as you would think. Yeah, by the way, that just made me think of a story. Well, when I was in, I'm gonna say this really quickly, because it's very moving. When I was in Eastern Europe with my parents for a month, my dad, sorry, that's my phone. My dad, let's turn this on, do not disturb. It is on do not disturb. How did that phone call get through? My dad took me to Eastern Europe with my siblings for a month and totally destroyed my life. I'm kidding, but actually. ⁓ I had like a mental breakdown and a spiritual identity crisis where I was like, hmm, I don't think any of Judaism is real and I don't think God exists. It can't be. Anyways, I met this Holocaust survivor who took us on a, he's amazing. He has like a bunch of films. His name is Bernard something. Forgot his last name. He'll come to me. He had like long white hair and ice blue eyes, almost like see-through blue eyes. And he was such a special person. He is such a special person. And he did a tour for us. He took us somewhere. And he had been through the camps. A lot of his family was murdered. And afterwards, I went up to him like trembling. I was like kind of scared of him. I guess when you're in awe of someone, you don't really know how to talk to them. And I said to him, do you believe in God? And he said to me, he like brought his face very close to mine and said, I believe in God, but I don't believe in the God that most other people believe in. And then he said, I believe in a really loving God. Wow. And I was like frozen and I was just like, I started crying. ⁓ Anyways, like God is not what you think. You have to, you know when in Shema it says, love the Lord your God. Had he loved God, you have to learn about him. It's how I started loving my husband. Sat with him on dates for hours and hours and hours and I got to know him so much and then I loved him. Same thing with Hashem. Anyways, we're gonna learn about Hashem today. Remember, a lot of people try to be more religious than Hashem, creator of the universe. Don't try, because God is not like religious like that. Hashem is not close-minded. And anyways, so basically in this week's parasha, in this week's Torah portion, Hashem, Moses is telling the Jewish people that Hashem wants them to build the tabernacle, the mishkan. The mishkan was like a portable holy temple based on the Midrash. It preceded the holy temple. For 40 years in the desert, the Jewish people traveled with a tabernacle. And eventually, they deconstructed it, and they had the Holy Temple, the Beis Hamikdash instead, which stayed where it was, right? The mishkan was portable. You can carry it around. You can construct it, deconstruct it. You can build it, take it down, and wherever you went, it went with you. And it was God's meeting place with humankind. It was where God chose. It was God's revelation place. It was where he decided to reveal himself to the world. And after that, he chose the Bais HaMikdash to reveal himself. By the way, we know, we learned Basi Ligani together. Basi Ligani, that's Hebrew by the way, is a very famous Mimer, a teaching from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ⁓ which talks about how Hashem came into this world and revealed himself. ⁓ Well, skipping a lot, what I'm trying, I'm skipping a lot and I don't want to ruin it, but basically Hashem chose to reveal himself. in the Meshkan, then he revealed himself in the base of Mekdash. And we know when Moshiach comes, which we're trying to make that happen, Hashem wants to be revealed in the whole world. He doesn't want to be confined to a construction anymore, to a building. He doesn't want to be confined to a building. Hashem wants the whole world to become the Tabernacle, the whole world to become the Holy Temple, the knowledge of God will cover the earth like the waters cover the seas. That is a prophecy from Isaiah. Okay, anyways, just putting that out there. When Mashiach comes, Amir Tashem, God willing, the whole world will be like a tabernacle. Anyways, in this tabernacle, there's something called the Kior, which is a wash basin. Kior is Hebrew, okay? I'm gonna read it to you from the text in Hebrew. The Kior, the wash basin, is where the ⁓ Kohanim, the priests, would wash their hands and feet. I believe they washed their hands and their feet. Let's see. Okay. We'll just say that for now. If I'm wrong, I'll put it in the notes. I believe it's their hands and their feet, but definitely their hands before they went into do their service in the Tabernacle. So, you know, the priests were in charge of doing all the different duties and jobs in the Tabernacle and they had to wash their hands and feet, I believe, sorry, first. Okay. And that's where they did it. So in this wash basin, they were cleansed. They were purified. You would imagine that Uh, you know, like when a woman has to dunk in a mikvah or a man dunks in a mikvah, they're, you know, the water is clarifying that, sorry, cleansing them and cleaning them spiritually. All the impurities. You would imagine that this cure was like made of something really clean and like spiritually pure. It was, but Moses didn't realize that because well, you'll learn in a minute. So just think. have that in mind, okay? The priests are cleansing themselves and purifying themselves spiritually in this kior, in this wash basin, and you're going to be surprised at what this wash basin was made out of. So we are in chapter 38 of the book of Exodus, verse 8, okay? But Yaas as hakior nechoshas. He made the wash basin out of copper. Ve'es kano nechoshas. And he made its base out of copper. Bemar os hatsovos. Sorry, I read that wrong. its copper base was made out of the mirrors of the legions of women. Hmm. That's my husband coming home. Itamar? Sorry guys. I'm still filming, sorry I need a few minutes. I'm still like, it's literally filming right now. Say hi to everyone. Okay. Sorry guys, I'm not editing this out. I don't have the time. Anyways, my husband Itamar. ⁓ This wash basin was made out of women's mirrors. What on earth does that mean? That's really weird and strange. Shouldn't it be made out of like purified gold that was like held in a fire and all of its impurities were extracted? Shouldn't it be made of like, I don't know, like ⁓ some kind of stone that's smooth and pure or I don't know, Women's mirrors? This is very interesting. We're gonna read Rashi. Rashi is the foremost commentator, commenter, commentator on the Torah. We're gonna learn it, okay? So Rashi is commenting on the fact that two words, b'mar-os had sovos, right? Because you don't really know what sovos means. You know now it means legions, because I just told you. Like tzava, which is kind of like an army, can mean army, legions, a legion. But you wouldn't know what that meant really. The mirrors of legions? What on earth does that mean? Well, Rashi is going to explain. The Israelite women possessed copper mirrors to look at when adorning themselves. So the Jewish women in Egypt, right, they had just, they just left Egypt not so soon before this part of the Torah that we're learning. They left Egypt and in Egypt they had these copper mirrors. And even these mirrors, they did not withhold from bringing as a donation for the tabernacle. So the women were so passionate about building this home for God, they even brought their most prized possession, right? Women, we like beauty, we like to feel beautiful, to look beautiful, we like to put makeup on. And these prized possessions, these mirrors, even the mirrors they brought to help, you know, build a tabernacle. Moses listened to how interesting and amazing and incredible and breathtaking and stunning this is because remember I told you don't try to be more religious than God. Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses, forgive me for saying this, Moses for a second, this is chutzpahdik for me to say, audacious for me to say, he was a little bit more from, more religious than God for like a second and then Hashem corrected him. And it's fascinating and breathtaking. Moses at first rejected these mirrors. because they were used to arouse the evil inclination. Meaning, we're gonna hear in a minute what these mirrors were used for. What were they used for? In Egypt, and Rashi's gonna tell us in a minute. Well, actually, we'll get there in a second. But what's a mirror for? A mirror is for vanity, right? So to say, you look in a mirror, you touch up your makeup. Look how I look, I'm so beautiful. ⁓ wow, like it's not exactly a spiritual or so you would think. A mirror is not some kind of holy object. It's not a book where you're learning and connecting to God. It has to do with vanity, with maybe a little bit of narcissism, right? Narcissus was like looking at the reflection in the water. But the Holy One blessed be He, Hashem, said to him, except, so Hashem says to Moshe, except these mirrors, for these mirrors are more precious to me than anything else. Since through them, with these mirrors, the Jewish women produced many legions, tzvaos in Egypt. Now we understand what, sorry my nose is so itchy, b'maros tzvaos means with the mirrors of the legions. The Jewish women, ⁓ I'm, I'm gonna stop. I can't stop talking. I have to let Rashi do the talking. Okay, I will talk in a minute. He's gonna explain. What are you talking about? What do these mirrors have to do with building legions? Okay, Rashi continues. For when their husbands were weary from their backbreaking labor, the women would go and bring them food and drink and feed them. So we were slaves, we Jews were slaves in Egypt. Being exhausted and being a slave probably kills your libido, I'm guessing. You're exhausted, it's backbreaking labor, you're a slave, your life sucks. They didn't really want to do anything with their wives. So what did the women do? The women would go and bring them food and drink and they would feed them. Then they would take these mirrors. Are you guys ready for some biblical flirtation? They would take these mirrors and each of these women would look at herself in the mirror with her husband and she would lure him in by saying, I am more beautiful than you. Isn't that amazing? Guys, biblical flirtation. It's so good. She would hold the mirror. Sorry, my nose. So itchy. I'm allergic to something in this room. ⁓ They would hold these mirrors and like seduce their husbands because their husbands were like, we're not interested. Sorry. And what happens when you're not interested in being intimate with your wife, you stop having babies. And the Jewish women were like, absolutely not. Because we Jewish women, we have Like, we have... ⁓ like prophetic vision, we really do, we can see into the future. We knew God existed, we knew God wouldn't abandon us. We have like long-term vision, we can see into the far, far, far future. And we said, mm-mm-mm, we need Jewish babies. We need Jewish babies. It's like how after October 7th, all these Jewish women started having babies. Like someone told me that they were done having kids. They had a lot of kids and they were done. And she told me, this is a friend of mine, after October 7th, Immediately I got pregnant on purpose. More Jewish babies. Amazing. So, in this way they brought their husbands to desire and to have marital relations with them. And they conceived and gave birth there in the fields in Egypt. As it says, under the apple tree I seduced you, I aroused you. This is the meaning of what it says out of the mirrors of the legions. Because from them, from these mirrors, was made the wash basin, which promotes Okay, we're not going in there. The wash basin was made from these mirrors. How interesting. The wash basin which cleansed, spiritually cleansed the priests was made out of mirrors that women used to seduce their husbands. And Moshe, Moses said, no, these are spiritually defiled. How inappropriate. No, God will hate these, get these out of the Mishkan. And Hashem said, these are more precious to me than anything. Doesn't that give you an insight into God? Isn't that just wow. Hashem is so amazing. He's so open-minded. He created love. He created intimacy. It's sacred. We have this notion that intimacy or sexuality, I should say, is bad. It's wrong. It's terrible because people have corrupted it. They have. Look outside. When I get on the highway in my car, You just pass like advertisements and every advertisement has someone's naked body on it, all these women, because something sacred has been profaned. But Hashem says, no, no, no, the real version of this is more sacred to me than anything because from that love, that love is so powerful, it's so strong, it creates more life. And Moshe was kind of put in his place and I wanted to share that with you before Shabbos. Whatever you think of God. He is so different than what you imagine. All the things you're going through in your life, he created them. All the weird, icky parts of your life, lean into them. There's something beautiful underneath it. I promise you there is. Behind all of this like pornographic, horrible stuff that we see everywhere, if you pick up the curtain and look behind it, there's something sacred there. It's been profaned, but nothing can profane that sacred kernel. And Moshe learned his lesson. Anyways, have a beautiful Shabbos. I love you guys. I love learning Torah with you. You might think I don't know you and maybe I don't know you specifically, but I know you. I do. I feel your presence in my life. I look at your comments and I'm very grateful for you. Okay, good Shabbos. Bye.