To Life!
The Tamaroff family
has always stood
for honesty and
integrity in their
approach to new
and used car sales.
TORAH
14.0*IDA
€1.
00001118
1-800-TAMAROFF
tamaroff.COM
HONDA NISSAN
TAMAROFF PRE-OWNED VEHICLES
TELEGRAPH & 12 MILE • SOUTHFIELD
248-353-1300
DODGE
TAMAROFF PRE-OWNED VEHICLES
AUTOMOTIVE FAMILY
Since 1969 when Mary Tamaroff pioneered his
dealership on Telegraph Road in Southfield
to the present when Mary and his son, Jeffrey
created the Jeffrey-Tamaroff Automotive
Family, they never
lost sight of the
reason they got and
1-586-2964300
stayed in the car
jeffreyauto.com
business: to give their
BUICK HONDA
Jeffrey
NISSAN ACURA KIA
JEFFREY PRE-OWNED VEHICLES
GRATIOT & 13 MILE • ROSEVILLE
1260940
attkeatix4te!
Nlatalia2etaft,
We are so proud of the person you have
become and all of your accomplishments.
Good luck at U of M.
We/ go ve.
Gramma, 4 rewn,
tua •
14t4A3A,
Jw2t.caieg9titivitberw
On having a dream and making it conie
true. Good luck on your new adventure at
the University of Michigan. Go Blue!
Age wee,*
12 9211;5erkie.
Graattimi it/taxiif„ FT, Mei
52
May 24 2007
R TH N
;'$'1r2MBROFF
12 MILE W OF TELEGRAPH • SOUTHFIELD
248-354-6600
customers, value.
P5
Creation And Completion
Shabbat Naso:
Numbers 4:21-7:89;
Judges 13:2-25.
W
hat's in a Hebrew word?
adjustments; it ends with hope — the
Sometimes, an entire uni-
anticipation of the final redemption.
verse of meaning.
Yet of these seven components,
For example, consider the Hebrew
it is the temple that depends most
root kaf-lamed-hey. As an adjective
directly on human activity. According
it forms kol meaning "all." As a verb,
to Midrash Tanchuma, God created a
vayekhal means "he completed"; and
celestial temple and then waited for
as a noun, this root forms kallah, the
humanity to fashion a terrestrial coun-
very image of human perfection, a
terpart. Only when Moses completed
"bride' The verb is first used
the Tabernacle did God's
in Genesis 2:1, when God's
presence dwell on earth.
creation of heaven and earth
God chooses to let humanity
is "completed."
have the honor of complet-
This week in Parshat
ing the project, much as a
Naso, the verb is summoned
scribe often allows a child to
again "on the day that Moses
complete the final letter of a
completed setting up the
Torah scroll.
Tabernacle." Finally, after
Judaism places great
many months of construc-
importance
on the final act
Rabbi Daniel
tion, training and dedication,
of
completion.
Only when
Ne vins
the tabernacle is complete.
a
utensil
is
completed
does
Specia I to the
Since ancient times the
it
become
subject
to
the
Jewis h News
appearance of this verb in
laws of purity. In the laws
these two contexts has been under-
of Shabbat, there is a category of labor
stood to signify a type of parallel
called "striking the hammer" which
between God's creation of the cosmos
refers to driving the final nail into
and Israel's creation of the Tabernacle.
place. Thus when Moses completes the
As the Greek Jewish philosopher Philo
Tabernacle, magnificent energy begins
first noted, the Tabernacle is in effect a
to flow into the world, bringing the
microcosm, a human imitation of God's potential for purity into the world. Even
glorious creation.
today, long after the destruction of the
Yet the rabbis went further, argu-
Temple, we continue to benefit from
ing that the Tabernacle was also in a
this act of completion. We are empow-
sense the completion of God's creation.
ered to add new chambers to the palace
Although the physical creation was
of the king, so that this very world can
described as completed in Genesis 2.1, be experienced as it was intended, suf-
it wasn't until this point in Numbers 7, fused with the glory of the Lord.
when the people had finished the sanc-
I would like to complete this column,
tuary, that God's presence could truly
my last for the Detroit Jewish News,
dwell in the world. A simple Hebrew
with gratitude to you, the students
root links two distant texts in order to
and teachers of Torah. There are many
yield a deep and broader meaning.
wonderful qualities to this community,
In the Talmud, we are told that seven
but surely our collective love of Torah is
things preceded the creation of the uni- what draws us together and makes us
verse: Torah, teshuvah (repentance),
partners in completing God's creation.
gan eden (paradise), gehenna (hell),
When we learn from one another then
the divine throne, the temple, and the
we construct our own tabernacle of
name of the messiah (Sanhedrin 54a). Torah and welcome the divine presence
Just as an architect anticipates the
into our midst.
functions needed in a building long
before construction begins, so, too, did
Daniel Nevins is a rabbi at Adat Shalom
God envision the essential functions
Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
of the universe prior to creation. Study
the list — why were these specific com-
Conversation
ponents necessary to precede the cre-
What Jewish skill have you
ation? It seems to me that each of them
already mastered that you can
represents an aspect of the human
teach to another? Become a
experience, the triumphs, failures, and
teacher of Torah!