FOR SHAVUOS
THE TORAH’S COVER UP
Not to be judgmental, but some of you, dear friends reading these words, may not have seen the inside of a synagogue for quite a while.
Regardless of the intervals between visits, it would be impossible to imagine that anyone would have forgotten the interior makeup of a typical synagogue. Among its most prominent features would be an ark positioned at the east wall. Seats are characteristically pointed towards the ark, since prayers are recited facing Jerusalem, east of the Western hemisphere.
The ark houses the Torah scroll, Judaism’s holiest object. The synagogue’s ark mirrors, in a way, the Ark created per instruction of the Almighty for the Temple, as detailed in the Torah. In that Ark, Moses placed the Tablets with the Ten Commandments, given to him on Mount Sinai.
The Torah scrolls are treated with great fanfare and respect. When the ark is opened, all present stand. The Torah is carried among the congregants, giving them a chance to show their veneration by following it, and even kissing it. After the reading of the Torah, the scroll is returned to the ark, and the reverence to it is once again repeated. The doors of the ark and its curtain are closed upon the Torah’s return to its ark.
The Torah is removed from the ark only for its reading. The rest of the services are generally held while the Torah remains behind the ark’s closed doors and curtain. Specially charged parts of services, though, can also include prayers offered while the ark’s doors are opened. This occurs rarely throughout the year, and often during the High Holidays. Clearly, then, as holy as the Torah scroll is, it is normally left in the ark during services.
It makes sense that the Torah, which is a book of study, is not featured in the synagogue – a place of prayer – as much as prayer is featured. Still, the Torah scroll traditionally remains covered up for most of the time of the service. Furthermore, the Torah is traditionally covered with three covers: 1) A cloth garment placed over it, 2) the doors of the ark, 3) the curtain of the ark. Which leads to the question: Is it really necessary to keep it covered so much?
A look at what happened to the Ten Commandments and the Torah, celebrated on this festival of Shavuos (from Tuesday night till Thursday night), provides a fascinating explanation to the above query.
When Moses descended Mount Sinai, forty days after the great revelation on that very mountain, the Jewish people were worshiping the Golden Calf. Moses, in fury, shattered the Tablets given to him by the Almighty. Eighty-three days later, on Yom Kippur, Moses again descended the Mountain with the second set of Tablets. Soon thereafter, the Almighty instructed him to write a Torah scroll, in which appeared the words instructed by the Divine Author.
The Tablets – the unbroken and broken ones – were contained, together with the Torah scroll, in the Holy Ark. When the holy items were placed in the ark, standing in the Holy of Holies, they were also kept behind three covers: 1) The curtain separating the rest of the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. 2) The Ark. 3) The cover over the Ark, holding the Cherubs.
When the Ark was moved for traveling purposes, three covers also covered it – as the Torah relates in last week’s portion: 1) The partition curtain. 2) A turquoise wool garment. 3) A loose-fitting animal skin cover. (B’midbar (Numbers) 4:5-6.)
The number three associated with the Holy Ark and the Torah becomes noteworthy when taking into consideration the transmission of the Torah to human beings in this world. On the one hand, the Torah is a Divine document. It is the word of G-d. As the intellect of G-d Almighty, it represents the most sublime and infinite level. At the same time, the Torah addresses not just humans, but fallible human nature, human error, and even human evil. It talks in a down-to-earth language.
In other words, as prodigious a document as it may be, the form and the mission of the Torah presented to the people in this world was designed to illuminate darkness. It is expected to allow a bright flow of energy between the Creator and the created.
Three elements exist in this world which present challenges to the Torah: 1) limitations of the human body, 2) more severe limitations from inner spiritual struggles, 3) even more aggressive forms of limitations coming from external elements and forces.
To combat the above issues, three types of covers existed in the Holy Temple: 1) The curtain, which defined the Holy of Holies while the Ark was stationary, and was the first cover of the Ark when it traveled. As part of the Holy of Holies, the curtain represents the human body, which is a holy vehicle for all good deeds. 2) The box of the Ark, tailor-made to hold its contents, and when traveling, the turquoise wool garment, also tailor-made for the Ark. These represent the inner personal spiritual struggles, which are “tailor-made” for each individual. 3) The loose fitting animal skin cover, as well as the general cover of the Ark, together represents the threatening components originating outside of a person.
In a synagogue, therefore, these three elements also exist: 1) The ark, which creates an environment of holiness around the Torah, 2) the Torah’s garment, tailor-made to fit the Torah, and 3) the loose curtain.
Considering the distractions faced in this world, one may wonder whether staying the course on the spiritual path is ever possible. When paying attention to the Torah during the festival of the Torah, and the instructions surrounding its housing and traveling, one realizes that, by paying proper attention, the distractions are designed to bring out and reveal the highest energies, bringing a person to loftier and more spiritual levels.
SUMMARY: Covers around the Torah are designed to bring awareness of the various distractions faced in this world, and how the Torah has a person “covered.”