02-11-2008, 06:01 AM
B"H
Hello. Thank you for reading my post. Let me state how I intend to proceed with Torah/Theology posts. I intend to probably limit them to one a week, or perhaps two. Their Purpose is to explore Torah wisdom, and as such I do not intend to get in to idle chatter. Those with objections to what I write are free to post, of course, but I reserve the right to demur from any arguments or discussions with them. Although I reserve that same right on other threads, these particular threads are mainly for spiritual edification and not for debates, unless those debates are fruitful and interesting. Those who want to debate with others are free to do so, since these are public posts, but those debates will generally not involve me.
In addition, I believe that I will try to tailor these threads to the NT parents of children on the Spectrum. Again, I welcome others to read them, but I believe that they will be most helpful to parents. Parents, finding the spiritual Mission of your child is the central Purpose of education, more important than number theory, mathematical Platonism, or other subjects valid in their own right, but secondary to serving one's Maker. I hope that my words here are helpful to you in that Purpose. Number theory is fine. Other subjects are fine, and I might post on them again. I may, or may not, post on the subject of mathematical Platonism, number theory, or the other subjects that I have written about. However, I believe that my primary Mission here is to reach you folks, the NT parents, much as my own NT parents have been dumb-founded with me over the years. If doing so means posting fewer threads, one a week or two, then I believe that quality is better than quantity.
I hope that my words are helpful to you, and to people on the Spectrum who join you in reading what I have written. If they are not, then by all means go to what helps you. If they do not reach you, then by all means go to what will reach you. They are my opinion alone, and represent no degree in psychology, Rabbinical office, or any absolute truth claim. They are spiritual more than "religious." And, they will last for as long as their Purpose is being fulfilled, for however long that is.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I wish to explore the Parshat Terumah. Parshat Terumah can be found in any Hebrew Bible, or "Old Testament" to most of you, in the Book of Exodus. (Ex. 25-->27:19) The reading also includes I Kings 5:26 through 6:13. I believe that the reading of Parshat Terumah is a fascinating reading in ratios and proportions. When the Israelites built the Ark, they were not simply building it out of some generalized plan. There were specific ratios that were to be observed in building the Ark that was to House the L-rd Himself. You can read them yourself.
Numbers, specifically ratios, played a key role in the design of the Ark. And, numbers point to the creative Power of the Supreme Being. However, we are not talking about numbers or ratios in some abstract sense. We are also talking about numbers and ratios of physicality. The actual design of the Ark was a physical endeavor. Yet, even more astonishingly, we realize that this physical endeavor involved the spiritualizing of matter. Matter was being built that was not simply matter. The matter was in some sense elevated, its *hidden sparks* brought up to Holiness.
In order to achieve Holiness, there must be obedience. This obedience is not outward. It is an inward obedience. Torah is really all about inward obedience, although in its exoteric manifestation it is outward. For instance, the Ark conformed to the right ratios, established by G-d Himself. However, those ratios were inward ratios, ratios concealed from the world once the Ark was built. The ratios are *KNOWN*, spelled out in Torah very plainly, but concealed once the Ark was built and G-d's Manifested Presence was there.
Why were the ratios *KNOWN* to all who could read Hebrew, and today every language in the world, since the Hebrew "Old Testament" is now known throughout the world, and yet concealed once the Ark was built? Why is it allowed to write about the Ark, and yet we are not allowed to approach the Ark? I do not claim to provide an answer. Nor do I claim to provide a Rabbinical Answer. However, I believe that there is a perspective when we remember that, again, Holiness is internal.
When a child comes in to the world, she or he has an internal set of ratios that are Divinely Written. We can call this a life's destiny. This is true for all children, NT, Spectrum, or whatever designation your child has. There is no exception to this rule. However unfair you undoubtedly might feel life has been, there is a purpose for its being. We might call this the ratios and Proportions of the Holy Ark of your soul. This we can know, because you will manifest it in the world if you are following your Holy Call.
However, because you are a person, because you are created in the Image of G-d and are therefore an Ark in some sense, I dare not approach you and violate your person-hood. Just as those who dared to approach the Ark were struck down, so it is that those who dare to violate the soul of another human being have committed blasphemy. I can know the hidden ratios of your Purpose if you should manifest it, but even then, since you are a person with the full dignity of a person, I dare not go further since the L-rd Himself has His Home in you. We do not know where the physical Ark is today. Some say Ethiopia, while others say Scotland. However, we can know that each person carries the Divine Spark.
That Divine Spark carries your rations and Proportions, but once these are physically established in birth, you are in some sense like unto the Ark. Your child too is an Ark. It is up to you to discipline your child so that he or she will conform to the standard of Holiness, but remember that this standard is not an outward conformity. Righteousness is not about being like other children. It is not about "society's expectations." As you can tell from looking around, society today is diametrically opposed to Holiness in so many respects. Why should conformity to society, through chelation or any such nonsense, be the way you would go if you are reasonable?
How do you discipline a child so that they conform to what is right and not what is popular? In other words, how do we go so that we neither have a child who smears what is unhealthy, nor one who conforms simply because they were told to follow what others are doing, but who actually does what is right because it is right? Let us go to the reading in I Kings. This describes the building of the First Temple, which is the successor to the Ark, and which is also comprised of sacred ratios. (I believe that the Fibonacci Sequence makes an appearance in the First Temple, if I am not mistaken) And, I believe that I Kings has a very important message for us.
I Kings 6:4 states that King Solomon made narrowing windows for the Temple. That means that the window inside of the Temple was narrower than the window outside. Why? This seems contrary to reason. Most buildings would not have narrow windows inside, since the whole point of a window is to gather in light, not to constrict it? The Midrash, an extra-Biblical account that is preserved in Oral Tradition, and yet which sheds light on the subject of a Biblical account, explains that the Temple did not require any light from the outside. Rather, we are told that the outside world benefited from the Light of the Temple. Hence, the windows were shaped as they were shaped so that the maximum Light would shine from the Temple to illuminate Creation.
Let us see this as a metaphor for your child. It is your sacred duty to benefit from the hidden Light of your child. See your child as though she or he were (like unto) the Holy Temple, a kind of spiritualized Temple, and understand your child's life in that way. You are not shining light in to your child. Rather, you are helping your child find the Light that is implanted within. And, to be sure, you must discipline your child at times, whatever form that discipline takes. Many of our modern problems are due to laxity in child rearing, or by children seeing adults partaking in immoralities of all types. It is all in the name of "freedom," mind you. It is a basic American right, mind you. Permissive parenting is not what I am advocating, any more than I believe that children ought to be allowed to smear what is unsanitary. What I am calling for is a renewed understanding that your child is a Gift, even if it might be hard for you to understand what the deepest Purpose of that Gift is.
Let me leave you off with a story from my own life. "It is easy for him to say," you think, and I understand. I do not experience what most of you have. However, I did have a taste of your experiences one summer when I worked as a Paraprofessional in a SDC class. There was one young lady who was autistic. She absconded constantly. And, guess who was the one to chase after her? Yours truly. Now, mind you, when she absconded, she meant business. One time I got a can of soda poured all over me for the time and trouble I took in trying to stop her. She may or may not have been able to tell that I was also on the Spectrum, but professional courtesy did not extend to staying put when asked by me.
It was very, very difficult for me to see the hidden Purpose in all of this. The school seemed to be very nonchalant about a student constantly absconding. It was a hazard that should have been taken far more seriously. I suppose I understand her reasons. Many of you probably sympathize with her not wanting an attendant around her constantly. That is understandable. Please understand that my primary concern was her safety in a world that is unsafe. And yes, she did get me with that soda. Score one for her.
However, there was one time when she absconded on a hiking trail (yikes!). I followed her on that trail. Think about it, two people on the Spectrum on the same trail. One following the other, each in a strange kind of loop. The shape of the trail, oddly enough, was very similar to the "lazy eight" infinity symbol that you see at the top of this web-page. When I though about this recently, I thought that the coincidence was just too odd. The young lady and I were going around and around on an infinity loop. Now, while I believe that this event should never have been allowed to happen, as a safety issue, and while I fault the school district I worked for, I can also say that there was a great deal of significance in this. She and I were on a Spectrum, and on a trail shaped somewhat like an infinity symbol.
What was the Purpose of my having met her? It was to meet myself. While I was chasing her, I was finding myself. It was not long after this event, or right about this time, that I began to understand what Asperger was, and mysteries of my own life were pieced together. Her Light shone clearly. I could see this in my interactions with her. Her Purpose there was to teach me, and I learned. I am still learning from this remarkable young person who was creative, colorful, and whose movements in dancing to the "Lion King" astonished all of us in the class. Our little absconder was avant-garde! I could not see the Purpose of going through what I went through with her at the time, but I can see it now. And, it has made all the difference. I pray that these words too make a difference.
That is my perspective on Parshat Terumah. I hope that it was beneficial. May you have a blessed week.
All the best,
Hello. Thank you for reading my post. Let me state how I intend to proceed with Torah/Theology posts. I intend to probably limit them to one a week, or perhaps two. Their Purpose is to explore Torah wisdom, and as such I do not intend to get in to idle chatter. Those with objections to what I write are free to post, of course, but I reserve the right to demur from any arguments or discussions with them. Although I reserve that same right on other threads, these particular threads are mainly for spiritual edification and not for debates, unless those debates are fruitful and interesting. Those who want to debate with others are free to do so, since these are public posts, but those debates will generally not involve me.
In addition, I believe that I will try to tailor these threads to the NT parents of children on the Spectrum. Again, I welcome others to read them, but I believe that they will be most helpful to parents. Parents, finding the spiritual Mission of your child is the central Purpose of education, more important than number theory, mathematical Platonism, or other subjects valid in their own right, but secondary to serving one's Maker. I hope that my words here are helpful to you in that Purpose. Number theory is fine. Other subjects are fine, and I might post on them again. I may, or may not, post on the subject of mathematical Platonism, number theory, or the other subjects that I have written about. However, I believe that my primary Mission here is to reach you folks, the NT parents, much as my own NT parents have been dumb-founded with me over the years. If doing so means posting fewer threads, one a week or two, then I believe that quality is better than quantity.
I hope that my words are helpful to you, and to people on the Spectrum who join you in reading what I have written. If they are not, then by all means go to what helps you. If they do not reach you, then by all means go to what will reach you. They are my opinion alone, and represent no degree in psychology, Rabbinical office, or any absolute truth claim. They are spiritual more than "religious." And, they will last for as long as their Purpose is being fulfilled, for however long that is.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I wish to explore the Parshat Terumah. Parshat Terumah can be found in any Hebrew Bible, or "Old Testament" to most of you, in the Book of Exodus. (Ex. 25-->27:19) The reading also includes I Kings 5:26 through 6:13. I believe that the reading of Parshat Terumah is a fascinating reading in ratios and proportions. When the Israelites built the Ark, they were not simply building it out of some generalized plan. There were specific ratios that were to be observed in building the Ark that was to House the L-rd Himself. You can read them yourself.
Numbers, specifically ratios, played a key role in the design of the Ark. And, numbers point to the creative Power of the Supreme Being. However, we are not talking about numbers or ratios in some abstract sense. We are also talking about numbers and ratios of physicality. The actual design of the Ark was a physical endeavor. Yet, even more astonishingly, we realize that this physical endeavor involved the spiritualizing of matter. Matter was being built that was not simply matter. The matter was in some sense elevated, its *hidden sparks* brought up to Holiness.
In order to achieve Holiness, there must be obedience. This obedience is not outward. It is an inward obedience. Torah is really all about inward obedience, although in its exoteric manifestation it is outward. For instance, the Ark conformed to the right ratios, established by G-d Himself. However, those ratios were inward ratios, ratios concealed from the world once the Ark was built. The ratios are *KNOWN*, spelled out in Torah very plainly, but concealed once the Ark was built and G-d's Manifested Presence was there.
Why were the ratios *KNOWN* to all who could read Hebrew, and today every language in the world, since the Hebrew "Old Testament" is now known throughout the world, and yet concealed once the Ark was built? Why is it allowed to write about the Ark, and yet we are not allowed to approach the Ark? I do not claim to provide an answer. Nor do I claim to provide a Rabbinical Answer. However, I believe that there is a perspective when we remember that, again, Holiness is internal.
When a child comes in to the world, she or he has an internal set of ratios that are Divinely Written. We can call this a life's destiny. This is true for all children, NT, Spectrum, or whatever designation your child has. There is no exception to this rule. However unfair you undoubtedly might feel life has been, there is a purpose for its being. We might call this the ratios and Proportions of the Holy Ark of your soul. This we can know, because you will manifest it in the world if you are following your Holy Call.
However, because you are a person, because you are created in the Image of G-d and are therefore an Ark in some sense, I dare not approach you and violate your person-hood. Just as those who dared to approach the Ark were struck down, so it is that those who dare to violate the soul of another human being have committed blasphemy. I can know the hidden ratios of your Purpose if you should manifest it, but even then, since you are a person with the full dignity of a person, I dare not go further since the L-rd Himself has His Home in you. We do not know where the physical Ark is today. Some say Ethiopia, while others say Scotland. However, we can know that each person carries the Divine Spark.
That Divine Spark carries your rations and Proportions, but once these are physically established in birth, you are in some sense like unto the Ark. Your child too is an Ark. It is up to you to discipline your child so that he or she will conform to the standard of Holiness, but remember that this standard is not an outward conformity. Righteousness is not about being like other children. It is not about "society's expectations." As you can tell from looking around, society today is diametrically opposed to Holiness in so many respects. Why should conformity to society, through chelation or any such nonsense, be the way you would go if you are reasonable?
How do you discipline a child so that they conform to what is right and not what is popular? In other words, how do we go so that we neither have a child who smears what is unhealthy, nor one who conforms simply because they were told to follow what others are doing, but who actually does what is right because it is right? Let us go to the reading in I Kings. This describes the building of the First Temple, which is the successor to the Ark, and which is also comprised of sacred ratios. (I believe that the Fibonacci Sequence makes an appearance in the First Temple, if I am not mistaken) And, I believe that I Kings has a very important message for us.
I Kings 6:4 states that King Solomon made narrowing windows for the Temple. That means that the window inside of the Temple was narrower than the window outside. Why? This seems contrary to reason. Most buildings would not have narrow windows inside, since the whole point of a window is to gather in light, not to constrict it? The Midrash, an extra-Biblical account that is preserved in Oral Tradition, and yet which sheds light on the subject of a Biblical account, explains that the Temple did not require any light from the outside. Rather, we are told that the outside world benefited from the Light of the Temple. Hence, the windows were shaped as they were shaped so that the maximum Light would shine from the Temple to illuminate Creation.
Let us see this as a metaphor for your child. It is your sacred duty to benefit from the hidden Light of your child. See your child as though she or he were (like unto) the Holy Temple, a kind of spiritualized Temple, and understand your child's life in that way. You are not shining light in to your child. Rather, you are helping your child find the Light that is implanted within. And, to be sure, you must discipline your child at times, whatever form that discipline takes. Many of our modern problems are due to laxity in child rearing, or by children seeing adults partaking in immoralities of all types. It is all in the name of "freedom," mind you. It is a basic American right, mind you. Permissive parenting is not what I am advocating, any more than I believe that children ought to be allowed to smear what is unsanitary. What I am calling for is a renewed understanding that your child is a Gift, even if it might be hard for you to understand what the deepest Purpose of that Gift is.
Let me leave you off with a story from my own life. "It is easy for him to say," you think, and I understand. I do not experience what most of you have. However, I did have a taste of your experiences one summer when I worked as a Paraprofessional in a SDC class. There was one young lady who was autistic. She absconded constantly. And, guess who was the one to chase after her? Yours truly. Now, mind you, when she absconded, she meant business. One time I got a can of soda poured all over me for the time and trouble I took in trying to stop her. She may or may not have been able to tell that I was also on the Spectrum, but professional courtesy did not extend to staying put when asked by me.
It was very, very difficult for me to see the hidden Purpose in all of this. The school seemed to be very nonchalant about a student constantly absconding. It was a hazard that should have been taken far more seriously. I suppose I understand her reasons. Many of you probably sympathize with her not wanting an attendant around her constantly. That is understandable. Please understand that my primary concern was her safety in a world that is unsafe. And yes, she did get me with that soda. Score one for her.
However, there was one time when she absconded on a hiking trail (yikes!). I followed her on that trail. Think about it, two people on the Spectrum on the same trail. One following the other, each in a strange kind of loop. The shape of the trail, oddly enough, was very similar to the "lazy eight" infinity symbol that you see at the top of this web-page. When I though about this recently, I thought that the coincidence was just too odd. The young lady and I were going around and around on an infinity loop. Now, while I believe that this event should never have been allowed to happen, as a safety issue, and while I fault the school district I worked for, I can also say that there was a great deal of significance in this. She and I were on a Spectrum, and on a trail shaped somewhat like an infinity symbol.
What was the Purpose of my having met her? It was to meet myself. While I was chasing her, I was finding myself. It was not long after this event, or right about this time, that I began to understand what Asperger was, and mysteries of my own life were pieced together. Her Light shone clearly. I could see this in my interactions with her. Her Purpose there was to teach me, and I learned. I am still learning from this remarkable young person who was creative, colorful, and whose movements in dancing to the "Lion King" astonished all of us in the class. Our little absconder was avant-garde! I could not see the Purpose of going through what I went through with her at the time, but I can see it now. And, it has made all the difference. I pray that these words too make a difference.
That is my perspective on Parshat Terumah. I hope that it was beneficial. May you have a blessed week.
All the best,
