by Monica Holland
In the bracha-sphere of daf yomi, learners around the world, and perhaps in other realms, planetary and otherwise, study the same double-side page of Talmud on a daily basis. Those of us who dip into this world have been occupied for some time now with the Temple-service-oriented tractates of Zevachim (animal sacrifices) and Menachot (grain offerings).
One of the recurring themes is that the service vessels used by the priests to collect various elements of the offerings – כְּלֵי שָׁרֵת klei shareit - have a very cool property: as long as they’re used for the right type of thing, e.g. flour-based stuff for menachot vessels, etc., they sanctify whatever goes in them. I like that idea. As long as it’s the right type of thing, the service vessel sanctifies it. Many errors in handling and intention can be corrected by placing an offering in its designated service vessel. Whew, that’s a relief!
The service vessel can sanctify any item that’s supposed to go into it. Still, I puzzle over what exactly sanctification meant, either to the Rabbis of the Talmud, to the Torah texts they were citing, e.g. Exodus (30: 29), or to the later commentators in the medieval period. They were all probably trying to understand what the sources before them meant, too. Not only what ‘sacred’ means, but exactly how does a dish or a cup make its contents sacred and fix many sorts of mistakes? How does that work?
When I first encountered Talmud, the concept of tumah, ritual impurity, fascinated me for similar reasons. What is it? Clearly, it’s transmitted through some kinds of contamination, but the Rabbis weren’t thinking in microbial terms. What did they think it was? We sometimes jokingly refer to ritual impurity as “kooties.”
Back to service vessels. The Temple was destroyed long ago. We no longer have to worry about executing very complex sacrificial protocols and figuring out which mistakes can be fixed by the service vessels. Though we can admire the executive functioning of those Kohanim. You think your job is demanding? Ha!
This brings me to a few questions: How do we regard sanctification today? Do we possess things we might regard as post-Temple Period service vessels? If so, what do we think they might be? Do they (we?) have something like the ability to “make holy” m’kadesh, as Hashem makes holy Shabbat, the Festivals and the Jewish people?
Plausible candidates include our homes, perhaps our vehicles, our bodies/selves, all of which contain, or can contain, in some sense, acts of tzedakah and hessed.
But I’d like to draw attention to a service vessel candidate that’s more closely associated with avodah than g’mliut hasadim. Here’s a hint: some of us are fond of pointing out that in our siddur, the Kedushah is on page 113. The big deal of the morning service occurs at 113. Got it now? Perhaps our big yellow house at 113 College Avenue is a giant service vessel.
What is contained in our service vessel in any given year?
One of the recurring themes is that the service vessels used by the priests to collect various elements of the offerings – כְּלֵי שָׁרֵת klei shareit - have a very cool property: as long as they’re used for the right type of thing, e.g. flour-based stuff for menachot vessels, etc., they sanctify whatever goes in them. I like that idea. As long as it’s the right type of thing, the service vessel sanctifies it. Many errors in handling and intention can be corrected by placing an offering in its designated service vessel. Whew, that’s a relief!
The service vessel can sanctify any item that’s supposed to go into it. Still, I puzzle over what exactly sanctification meant, either to the Rabbis of the Talmud, to the Torah texts they were citing, e.g. Exodus (30: 29), or to the later commentators in the medieval period. They were all probably trying to understand what the sources before them meant, too. Not only what ‘sacred’ means, but exactly how does a dish or a cup make its contents sacred and fix many sorts of mistakes? How does that work?
When I first encountered Talmud, the concept of tumah, ritual impurity, fascinated me for similar reasons. What is it? Clearly, it’s transmitted through some kinds of contamination, but the Rabbis weren’t thinking in microbial terms. What did they think it was? We sometimes jokingly refer to ritual impurity as “kooties.”
Back to service vessels. The Temple was destroyed long ago. We no longer have to worry about executing very complex sacrificial protocols and figuring out which mistakes can be fixed by the service vessels. Though we can admire the executive functioning of those Kohanim. You think your job is demanding? Ha!
This brings me to a few questions: How do we regard sanctification today? Do we possess things we might regard as post-Temple Period service vessels? If so, what do we think they might be? Do they (we?) have something like the ability to “make holy” m’kadesh, as Hashem makes holy Shabbat, the Festivals and the Jewish people?
Plausible candidates include our homes, perhaps our vehicles, our bodies/selves, all of which contain, or can contain, in some sense, acts of tzedakah and hessed.
But I’d like to draw attention to a service vessel candidate that’s more closely associated with avodah than g’mliut hasadim. Here’s a hint: some of us are fond of pointing out that in our siddur, the Kedushah is on page 113. The big deal of the morning service occurs at 113. Got it now? Perhaps our big yellow house at 113 College Avenue is a giant service vessel.
What is contained in our service vessel in any given year?
- Weekly Shabbat celebrations, including song-filled services, and sometimes oneg or lunch, afternoon Talmud study, singing sessions and game playing
- Liturgical and social celebrations of Jewish holidays throughout the year
- B’nei/b’not mitzvah celebrations
- Baby namings
- Celebrations of conversions
- Monthly Kabbalat Shabbat potluck dinners for each of two local independent minyanim, Kavod and Minyan Zayit
- Weekly babysitting cum Talmud study sessions
- Social justice seders
- Weekly Purim-to-Pesach classes on some aspect of Judaism
- Seasonal text-based study sessions and extended drashes
- One-day Jewish meditation retreats
- Jewish musical performances
- Siyyum celebrations upon completion of a Talmud tractate by chavruta
- Four times a year, in-person business meetings where members attend to the nuts and bolts of running Havurat Shalom
- Twice-daily filling of our Little Free Pantry with supplies from the third floor to assist neighbors dealing with food insecurity
- Support for local community fridges in the form of next-in-line refrigerators stored in the basement
- Winter wear drive to support Somerville Homeless Coalition
- Month-long summer camp for literacy development and teacher training
- Annual program in fulfillment of our commitment to the Communities Respond to Extreme Weather (CREW) network
Monica Holland is a long-time member of Havurat Shalom.
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