No Iron in the House: the Shamir
Iron was created to shorten life and the altar to lengthen it, so the Temple was built without a single iron tool. The shamir split mountains, and every mountain it opened became a place to live.
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Zion Before the Word
Bereishit Rabbah puts the Temple among the things that came before creation, and the Sages in Yoma say the world was created from Zion. Torah goes out from Zion, Torah is light, and light was the first thing spoken.
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Manna: the Food That Gives More Than It Takes
The most refined food in history was the one food a portion of which was given back. Its name in the Torah is the name of a tribe.
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Zevulun: the Treasure Buried in the Sand
Zevulun lives at the port, where the deep meets the ground, and his blessing is to draw hidden treasure out of the sand.
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Eliyahu: the Man with Two Keys
Rain and resurrection are two of the three keys God keeps in His own hand. Eliyahu carries both, and they turn differently: one compounds, one turns once.
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Life Propagates Through Smell
Oil is the soul’s matter and smell is its channel, and neither of those says why creation should be built…
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All the Oils Are Beautiful for the Lamp
Start with what the halacha says rather than what it is assumed to say. If the practice is forbidden, nothing…
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The Mashiach Judges by Smell
Yeshayahu describes the shoot that comes out of the stump of Yishai, and then says how he will decide cases….
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The Mushroom Rises Without a Root
A mushroom comes up overnight out of a dead stump, and the halacha looked at it and refused to call…
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At the Table: Why We Light
Why anyone lights A Jew is named for thanks. Leah named her fourth son out of the one sentence she…
