“They should make an Aron of acacia wood… and cover it with pure gold from inside and out…” (Shemos 25:10–11)
The holiest article in the Mishkan was the Aron, which housed the Luchos. The Aron was made out of three boxes. The outermost box was made of pure gold. Inside it was placed a box of acacia wood. Then a second golden box was put inside the wooden one. The middle wooden box was thus covered with gold inside and out. So why not build one box of wood and plate it, inside and out, with gold? (Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson, Yeshiva.net)
Her name was Nadya and she came for free. I’d just had my fourth child and I got a phone call from a neighborhood organization offering me three weeks’ worth of free cleaning help. Sure! Offer accepted, no questions asked, and I eagerly awaited her Thursday arrival.
Well, there’s a reason nothing’s free in this world. Nadya did know how to clean and scrub and organize. But she was also bossy, belligerent, and ultrasensitive.
Any suggestion I’d make prompted a long harangue, the gist of which was her way or the highway. Any request was met by her throwing up her hands and muttering darkly. By the time she’d leave, house gleaming, I’d be exhausted.
Gold is an inanimate metal, while wood is from the botanic world of growth. Wood doesn’t glitter like gold, and while it can be built into a magnificent structure, it can also, unlike gold, deteriorate and rot.
Kabbalah teaches that the psychological structure of every human being consists of three strata, one beneath the other.
The three boxes of the Aron represent these three human dimensions. The most inner box reflects the most inner dimension of the soul — “pure gold.” This is the Divine, spiritual essence of our identity, displaying a brilliant luster of sacredness.
Just as gold is inorganic and not subject to real change, so too the golden essence of the human soul cannot be altered, no matter how much abuse we are subjugated to.
Dialing the organization, I thanked them so much for their help, and hopefully asked if anyone else was available for the coming week.
