| Shabbat Shalom! |
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I hope this finds you all well. |
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My wife and I have done several home improvement projects around the house over the last few years. As a result, we’ve gotten to know IKEA© very well. This is by no means an endorsement or anything, but I have to hand it to IKEA©. Their instructions are almost entirely picture-based. This is purposeful. According to IKEA© themselves, “IKEA products are sold worldwide. Using photo diagrams ensures our assembly instructions are accessible to all and as easy as possible to understand.”[1] Hence, this means that anyone- a college student in North Dakota, a young couple in Uruguay, a business in Tel Aviv, a family in India, and an elderly couple in Japan- should all be able to clearly understand how to assemble the same piece of furniture based on drawings alone. In other words, regardless of language, race, religion, nationality, location, education, and culture, everyone and anyone should be able to put together the same drawer or cabinet. This puts an incredible onus on IKEA©. |
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Every generation has had its own “last frontier” that needs to be discovered or triumphed. For some it was reaching the North and South poles or finding the Northwest passage, while for others it was scaling Everest, taking to flight, swimming the English Channel, submerging to the depths of the Marianas Trench, or putting a man on the moon. Today, our “last frontier” seems to be the world of AI. However, what if there is a “last frontier” that despite the centuries, the millennia of human progress and advancement we’ve never seemed quite able to crack. What if that last barrier, that last final hurdle is “communication” i.e. how to effectively interact with one another? How often do we hear things like “your instructions weren’t clear”, “there’s things that text can’t convey”, “I don’t understand what you’re telling me”, “well, why didn’t you just say that?”, and of course “Huh?” Despite the fact that speech and the written word have existed for thousands upon thousands of years, it seems like there are still some significant, and quite frankly- perennial gaps and shortfalls in how we get our points across, receive information, clarify data, and generally speak to one another. |
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One of the great blessings of Torah is that it serves as a blueprint for effective, clear, and concise transmission of information. Case in point is this week’s parsha of Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19) which details the construction of the Tabernacle (mishkan). For instance, when it comes to the Ark of the Covenant, the people are instructed, “They shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold—overlay it inside and out—and make upon it a gold molding round about.” Exodus 25:10-11). Similarly, when it comes to the showbread table the following dimensions are issued: “You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it…And on the table you shall set the bread of display, to be before Me always.” (Exodus 25:23-24, 30) |
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To be clear, parashat Terumah is far from the only place in the Torah that discusses schematics. Genesis 6:14-16 details the dimensions of Noah’s Ark and Exodus 28:6-14 provides a thorough description of the priestly Ephod. However, the directions in Torah pertain to far more than just edifices and sacred objects and clothing. The 613 mitzvot (commandments) give clear instructions on everything from dietary regulations to agricultural practices to holidays and the calendar. They provide us with a crystal-clear blueprint with how we are to live our lives.
Torah is not alone in this clarity. The Book of Proverbs gifts us several nuggets of wisdom. First we are told, “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” (**Proverbs 25:11). We are also advised, “Better is open rebuke than love that is hidden.” (**Proverbs 27:5). Finally, we are counseled, “If you see a man hasty in speech, there is more hope for a fool than for him.” (*Proverbs 29:20) |
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Terumah should give us all of a moment of humble reflection and a challenge. First the introspection: let us each take a minute and think about the times where friends, family, and colleagues have told us, “I didn’t get that”, “that wasn’t clear”, and even the dreaded “Huh?” Second, Bizrat HaShem, with God’s help, let us all challenge ourselves as we ponder these divine blueprints to be more clear and effective in what we say, in what we write, and in how we write and say it. |
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Wishing you a Good Shabbos and a great weekend. |
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| Bivrakha, |
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| Rabbi Aaron |
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| *Translation courtesy of Sefaria.org |
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| **Translation courtesy of Mechon-Mamre.org |
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| [1] IKEA. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/customer-service/knowledge/articles/f050cged-d77f-477b-8d60-ge5d56b88d2e.html |
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