Torah For Our Times: Priceless

Weather has been in the news a lot these past months.  Especially troubling have been the spate of tornados that tore through portions of the country.  Most families were fortunate to survive the destruction of their homes and property. Some were not so fortunate.  In the aftermath of the storms, news agencies aired a common scene; survivors picking through the rubble of their home in search of personal treasures that defined their lives.  It could be a photograph, a doll from youth, or any object imbued with stories and moments of the past.  The value of these mementos far exceeded their actual worth.

The final chapters of the Book of Exodus contain a detailed accounting of the Mishkan-portable sanctuary built in the desert.  At the conclusion of the audit, the reader is told, “[Moses] took the Tablets of God and placed them in the ark (Exo. 40:20)”.  The ancient rabbis were confused.  Which tablets were placed in the ark, the first set which Moses tossed to the ground upon seeing the Golden Calf or the second set later received on Mt. Sinai?  They concluded that both sets were in the ark; the broken pieces of the first and the completed second set.  The love of the ancient Israelites for the first broken set was no less than for the second.

Rabbi Brad Artson writes, “Think of your feelings about your wedding ring.  Chances are strong that in the course of your lifetime you will be able to purchase more elaborate, more expensive rings.  Yet your love for the original plain gold band is not simply because it adorns your finger.  We love our wedding bands because they remind us of a momentous and happy day in our lives, they signify the most important relationship we will ever have with another human being.  Those rings are irreplaceable.”

It is the objects and rituals of the past whose memory infuses within us the spirit to strive, build, and carry on.  The soiled photograph discovered beneath the tornado’s rubble possesses an emotional value that is priceless!

Rabbi Howard Siegel