Hanukkah 5784 Dedication

...in other words, what we can consecrate is something that is ours.

What do you have, inside yourself, that you can honor and dedicate to bringing forth to share with others and with the world?

Parshat Naso, the second Torah portion in the Book of Number, has has the largest number of letters, words, and verses of any of the 54 weekly Torah portions.

This is largely due to the 78 verses that seemingly very repetitively describe the gifts that each of the tribal chiefs brought for the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Although it may seem that what we bring as a gift of dedication are similar or even identical others' offerings, in fact, each of our gifts of dedication is unique. Let us each dedicate ourselves to bringing forward our special and precious light into the world.

It's in the fourth book of the Torah, the book of Numbers, that we have the dedication of the Mishkan / Tabernacle - the sacred proto-temple that will travel with the people Israel as we wander in the wilderness of the desert before arriving at the promised land.

The word "Hanukkah" חֲנֻכָּה - "dedication" - appears four times in the book of Numbers (the only occurrences in the Torah).

Let's notice that the name of this book of the Torah in Hebrew is Bamidbar - "In the wilderness". It is illuminating and empowering to remind ourselves that our ancestors dedicated the Mishkan - the dwelling place of God, that is always with us - in the wilderness. May this remind us that we too, in a dark time that may feel like a wilderness - we too have it in us to dedicate ourselves to bringing forth light.

"The Tabernacle complex, with its collapsible boundaries and open spaces, creates a sense of order in the unfamiliar chaos of the wilderness. The Tabernacle also helps orient the Israelites i the vast expanse of that wilderness, since they story or go based on the ascent and descent of the cloud of God's Presence. In this sense, God lives amidst the Israelites throughout their journey to the Promised Land." Rachel Havrelock, Commentary on Parshat B'midbar in The Torah A Woman's Commentary p 789

The Geometry of the Holy (also from Rachel Havrelock's commentary on Parshat B'Midbar):

"The sacred structure houses a Tent of Meeting or Tabernacle (the terms appear to be used interchangeably in this par shah) at its center. Priests sacrifice in the court and offer incense inside as a way of communicating with God. ...It is most likely that such a configuration never actually existed in the historical past. Instead, the Tabernacle is the mythic structure behind Israelie - and later, Jewish - sacred space. According to the book of Kings, it is this structure - with concentric spheres of increasing holiness - that King Solomon employs when building the Temple in Jerusalem. The synagogue, which after the Temple's destruction (70 CE) would stand at the center of Jewish life, realizes this myth by placing the Ark that holds the Torah in a prominent place in the sanctuary. The biblical Ark of the Torah signifies the Ark of the Covenant, and the shared contents bind contemporary Jews to their ancient ancestors.) p. 797

The Priestly Blessing occurs in Parshat Naso directly before the tribal chiefs' gifts for the dedication of the Temple; this Blessing prays that the God will "cause God's face to shine upon us" - in other words, this blessing prays that we will be illuminated by the "face of God" - the Divine light that is emanated and is all around us.

When we dedicate our gifts to the ideas and spaces that are sacred to us - including our precious Hineni community - we are in a state where the "face of God" is shining upon us. We are in a back-and-forth flow of generosity with the Divine.

Gesenius: