Torah Portion

Vayikra (and he called), Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26
God calls Moses into the newly constructed Tabernacle and instructs Moses on how offerings are to be done.  
“Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them:  When a man amoung you brings an offering to Hashem from animals – from the cattle or from the flock shall you bring your offering.”  Leviticus 1:2

The Delight is in the Details

When a man… The Hebrew for “man” here is “adam”, the name for man when considering him in the context of creation, compared to rocks, trees, fish, spiders, stars, etc.  “Human” would be a better translation and like “adam” includes both sexes (see its use in Genesis 1:27).  When considering  man and woman in the context of human society “ish” and “ishah” are normally used.  The use of “adam” is strikingly odd, but that’s just what God wants – He is telling all generations of Jews that their tabernacle is to be open to any and all humans, regardless of race, sex or religion, who wish to draw closer to God in that unique setting. 
…among you… This qualifier after the broad term for mankind applies only to the Jews.  Only Jews who are part of their community (typically at least nominally observant) are welcome.  Of course there’s always exceptions to the rule and numerous nuances of interpretation that provided much grace, but nonetheless it is there for the Jews only.  …brings an offering…  The Hebrew root for both words is “krav”, which means the intentional drawing closer to something or someone.  A classic use is in Psalm 145 “the Lord is close (krav) to all who call upon Him”.  A more literal translation might be, “comes near with a ‘come nearer’”.  Using the typical English words “sacrifice” and even “offering” imply appeasement of a god who will make our lives worse if we don’t provide the offering, or perhaps we may improve our situation by currying favor with the god.  These concepts are the most opposite of the truth and essence of this activity.  In fact, all activities in the tabernacle and its courtyard are for primarily getting closer to God.  
An offering is a way, but not the way, to get close to God.  In fact, God hasn’t allowed them for the past 2000 years.  What counts more and is a necessary prerequisite for an offering?  Prayer.  God delights and savors any communication we initiate with Him.  When appealing to God at the dedication of the temple, Solomon repeatedly emphasizes prayer and only obliquely refers to sacrifices once. (I Kings 8:27-50).  For Rebecca and Hanna, God heeded their prayers – not offerings.  Through Isaiah God tells us that His house will be a “house of prayer to all peoples”.  Through prayer (and no sacrifices) Moses lead Israel in successful repentance for the Golden Calf.
So stop now and talk to God.  Do it while you are still here and able to do so!

Back in the USSR

This joke was told in Russia during the Cold War era and may still apply today.
An American dog, a Polish dog and a Russian dog we chatting one day.  The American dog says, “When I bark enough my owner sometimes give me a piece of meat.”  The Polish dog says, “What’s meat?”.  The Russian dog says, “What’s bark?”.

Have a great week!
Neil

Greetings All!!   

Torah Tidbit

Vayeira (and (he) appeared), Genesis 18:1 – 22:24

God sends emissaries/angels to Abraham and Sarah, telling them they will have a son in a year and the impending doom for Sodom and Gomorrah.  Lot is rescued from Sodom and Sodom is wiped out.  Abraham and Sarah move to Phillista and go through another episode of the king taking Sarah.  Hagar and Ishmael are sent away.  Abraham offers Issac as a sacrifice.  Uuf dah!

“But now, return the man’s wife for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live, but if you do not return her, be aware that you shall surely die: you and all that is yours.”  ….Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his maids, and they were relieved. – Genesis 20:7,17

Walking the Walk

God arranged a unique trial not just for Abraham and Sarah, but also for Abimelech and his people.  Although Abimelech should not have taken Sarah against her will, he must have led a decently moral life for God to warn him and provide a way to rectify the error.  As part of the correction, God requires that Abimelech ask Abraham to pray for him, that Abimelech and his household be healed.  Abraham does so and all are restored to full health.

Previously in Vayeira, God creates another situation that encourages Abraham to pray for others by personally presenting the looming doom for the cities down in the valley.  God knows full well what Abraham will say, yet I still see God “smiling” and delighting in Abraham’s repeated queries abut the righteous who remain in the cities.  Once again, Abraham’s prayers positively affect the lives of others who attempt to live a moral life yet let their desires get the best of them.

In both situations, God doesn’t need Abraham’s prayers.  The Holy One can achieve His objectives in an infinite number of ways.  So why the praying?  Because He does want – dare I say crave? – us to talk to Him, work out issues with Him, learn how to consider others with Him.  The Hebrew word for prayer in the Abimelech story is “hispallel”.  We’ve talked previously about how “pallel” is the work of a judge – sifting through stories and evidence to get to the truth of the matter – and the “his” means the judge is working on oneself.  R. Hirsch notes that “pallel” is closely related to “ballel”, a root word describing the thorough mixing of a new ingredient into some substance – think cold butter into dough or adding a little more Portland into wet cement.  Hirsch observes that in prayer one “ballels” God’s divine truth into whatever one is struggling to understand and work through.  And the cool side benefit?  Others can benefit from our efforts!

So once again read these two stories with this in mind, watching Abraham do just that with the news about Sodom and Abimelech’s behavior.  

Science Catches up with the Bible

Although the Bible describes human and natural history, it should not be considered a history book or scientific reference.  However, it is refreshing to see when science works with Biblical descriptions.  Here’s a recent scientific report on the destruction of the Dead Sea area – Sodom and Gomorrah.

https://news.yahoo.com/giant-space-rock-demolished-ancient-104834793.html. – normal news article

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3  – in-depth science report, worth the read if you have time

Be well!

Neil

Torah Tidbit

Bereshis (in the start/beginning), Genesis 1:1 – 6:8

God creates all out of nothing, God creates man, tests man in the Garden of Eden, man fails, nine generations pass by and Noah appears.

In the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and the earth – when the earth was astonishingly empty, with darkness upon the surface of the deep, and the Divine Presence hovered upon the surface of the waters – God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  – Genesis 1:1-3

Walking the Walk

Ever see something appear from nothing?  You certainly have if you’ve seen a magic trick involving slight of hand.  Pulling rabbits out of hats, making a coin appear behind someone’s ear, a handkerchief disappears from one hand and shows up in the other.  When watching such things, it’s interesting how our minds naturally assume it’s a trick, because deep down within us we know that something can’t actually be formed from nothing.  Yet the existence of all that we see is the result of an incomprehensible amount of something appearing from nothing. That’s what the Big Bang theory is all about.  For years many scientists fought against this theory because the implication is immediate – something beyond the cosmos must have brought all into existence.  That Something did so by overriding all of the laws of thermodynamics, bringing massive amounts of energy, matter and order out of lower energy chaotic non-existence.   

Look around, wherever you are at the moment.  Seriously, look up and around you. Now imagine – it all came from a point smaller than pinhead.  Look around again and think about that – all from the size of a pinhead.  Think about it as you’re driving to work tomorrow, enjoying some water cooler talk, banging on a PC, chatting with the grocery check-out clerk.  All from a pinhead.

Why would God want it written that each act of His creating started with speech?   Why doesn’t the Bible just say, “He made XYZ. QED.  ‘Nuff said.”  How might the purpose and behavior of speech best describe the physical manifestations of God’s will?

God Spoke

Rabbi Zusya rarely heard his teacher’s sermon to the end.  For when the Great Storyteller (Dov Baer of Metzerich) began his lesson with a scripture that contained “God spoke”, Rabbi Zusya was overcome with ecstasy and screamed and gesticulated so wildly that he had to be taken out of the room.  He then stood in the hall, beating his hands against the wall, crying “And God said!”  But the truth is, if one speaks in the spirit of truth and listens in the spirit of truth, one word is enough.  And with that word the world can be uplifted and redeemed. – Rabbi Israel of Rizhyn

Greetings All!!

I hope you’ll forgive me for taking a break from newsletters this summer.  But I’m back now, for today (Monday) begins The Month of Preparation (Elul) for The Annual Review (Rosh Hashanah) on September 7.  It’s once again time to wake ourselves up, in spite of a good month of lazy summer remaining, and get back to work on improving ourselves with God and His ways.

Torah Tidbit

Deuteronomy 4:1-11:25 (Parashas Vayeschanan and Eikev)

After reviewing their experiences since leaving Egypt, Moses delivers a heartfelt personal appeal to every Israelite to be vigilant for their own benefit:

“Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things you have beheld and lest you remove them from your heart…”

“But you shall greatly beware for your souls, for you did not see any likeness on the day Hashem spoke to you at Horeb…”

“Beware for yourselves lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God…”

“…beware for yourself lest you forget Hashem…”

“Beware lest you forget Hashem, your God…”

“Beware for yourselves, lest your heart be seduced and you turn astray and serve gods of others…”

(Ibid 4:9, 4:15, 4:23, 6:2, 8:11, 11:16)

Walking the Walk

The Hebrew word for beware (“shemar”) is the same word used elsewhere for guarding something, such as “…if the Lord will not guard (shemar) the city, in vain is the watchman vigilant (shomer).”  Why is the watchman watching?  He is protecting the city’s possessions from being taken and the overthrow of the city’s ways of governing itself and its society’s modes of conduct.  In other words, he is protecting the city’s wealth and its ways of living.

So it is with Israel – they have an incredible wealth of knowledge and first-hand experience as to God and His instructions for living life to its fullest.  This wealth in turn dictates and guides how they are to govern themselves and behave as individuals and a society.  No nation can overcome them if they protect and practice these ways of living; if not, their natural degeneracy creates a power vacuum that draws in conquering nations.  Moses repeatedly stresses both the great wealth they have acquired and the need for active vigilance to retain and grow it.

We too have acquired a good amount of knowledge and experience through our study and application of God’s ways for us gentiles – the Noahide path.  During this month of preparation take the time to look back over the past few years at what you have learned and acquired in mind, heart and soul.  From Bloomenstiel’s lessons to Lapin’s prosperity to Brody’s emuna – value it, thank God for it, be inspired by it, renew your commitment to it.  Then brainstorm with God about a simple way you can implement – and maintain – a change in how you receive and respond to a persistent annoyance in your life.

And Regarding Wealth…

“It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service. But idleness taxes many of us much more, if we reckon all that is spent in absolute sloth, or doing of nothing, with that which is spent in idle employments or amusements, that amount to nothing. Sloth,by bringing on diseases, absolutely shortens life. ‘Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright’, as Poor Richard says. But ‘dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of’, as Poor Richard says.”

            – Benjamin Franklin, from “The Way to Wealth”, a narrative compiling many maxims on wealth from his “Poor Richard’s” Almanacs

Have a great week!

Neil

Torah Tidbit

Parashah Shelach (send out), Numbers 13:1-15:41

Upon God’s “suggestion”, Moses and Israel send spies into the land of Canaan.  The spies bring back a bad and misleading report, Israel buys it and God delays their entry into the promised land by 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  God commands Moses regarding offerings and other activities to be performed in the land.

“Hashem said to Moses, ‘How long will this people provoke Me, and how long will they not have faith in Me, despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst?  I will smite them with the plague and annihilate them, and I shall make you a greater and more powerful nation than they.’” – Numbers 14:11-12

Walking the Walk

Here we go again with the cycle of Israel falling away from God, God jerks their chain and Israel repents. But this time, God reacts in an all too typical human – “that’s it, I’ve had enough of you idiots!  I can’t take any more!”  Like us humans, He appears to be surprised by this event.

But is He surprised?  Of course not, He saw that day coming from an eternity away.  He sustained and guided each and every Israelite to that event.  Every moment of their lives He was well aware of their thoughts, along with all their bodily functions and health.  “From His dwelling place He oversees all inhabitants of the earth. He Who fashions their hearts together, Who comprehends all their deeds.”  (Psalm 33).  

So why the charade of acting like a frustrated and exhausted parent who threatens but has no real intention of serving punishment?  Drive home to Israel the punishment they truly deserve.  All of them could relate as humans (especially as parents) to how God expressed Himself, helping them take to heart both the level of their offense and how much they hurt the One who loves them so much.  Perhaps they had elevated themselves enough such that this method of communication would now resonate with them.

It also provided a clear example of how one righteous person, through prayer and other means, can save the lives of many. “And Hashem said, ‘I have forgiven because of your words’” (v. 20). Moses pleaded that the nation not be destroyed, yet also left room for the destruction of the perpetrators should God so choose.  And that’s how it worked out, with forty years more of desert training added for Israel’s ultimate benefit and survival.

We live in an age overflowing with opportunities to pray for others.  Do we?  Or do we just shake our heads and fuss over it?  Let’s make it harder – what about those in government?  How much more so should we be praying for them too. “Pray for the welfare of the government, for if people did not fear it a person would swallow his neighbor alive” (Ethics of the Fathers).  Especially in this day and age do all governments in our country need our honest help.  For us who walk with the Creator, it is incumbent on us to do so, starting with prayer. 

Had God Followed Plan A

Father: Son, you were adopted. 

Son: What?! I knew it! I want to meet my biological parents!
Father: We are your biological parents. Now pack up, the new ones will pick you up in 20 minutes.

Meanwhile at the White House 

“I Pray Heaven To Bestow The Best Of Blessings On This House And All that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof.”   -John Adams, in a letter written to Abigail Adams from the President’s House in 1800.  This quote was engraved on the mantel of the White House State Dining Room in 1945 during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Have a great week!

Torah Tidbit

Parashah Tzav (command someone), Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36

God further instructs Moses on acceptable offerings and how to perform them.  The priests perform the first seven days of their eight day consecration/induction ceremony.

“You shall not consume any blood, in any of your dwelling places, whether from fowl or from animas.  Any person who consumes any blood – that soul will be cut off from its people.”  – Leviticus 7:26-27

Walking the Walk

This parashah’s contents is really for the Jews only.  As for the above verse, non-Jews actually have the opposite instruction.  Using God’s instructions to Noah as a reinforcement to the laws received at Sinai,

“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, like the green herbage I have given you everything.  But flesh, with its soul its blood you shall not eat.”  – Genesis 9:3-4

the sages derive that non-Jews are prohibited from taking flesh from an animal that is alive, or as the verse states, still has the soul clinging to it.  Some basic details:

1. Flesh (baser) is meat.  Skin, tendons, bone, blood, etc. are not considered meat and so can be taken from the animal while it is alive.  However that action is prohibited as cruelty to animals.
2. The blood is mentioned separately from the meat.  This implies that the prohibition is restricted to animals for which Torah distinguishes the meat from the blood – essentially all mammals that reproduce on land save for mice, moles, voles, etc.  Reptiles, amphibians, insects, arachnids and all aquatic life are exempt.  
3. Yes, blood can be eaten.  So go enjoy that haggis this weekend.

Note that non-Jews receive absolutely no spiritual merit by adopting any of the Jewish kosher laws and instead might bring harsh judgement upon themselves.  Instead of doing that, take more care to make sure the meat you buy was not taken from the animal before its soul had fully left the body.  With each meat meal, make an effort to appreciate how HaShem nourishes using that meat.   

One of the most difficult areas in our lives to control is what we eat – look at how Adam and Eve got evicted from the Garden. God’s expectations for our self-control regarding the eating of meat is ultimately a gift that will help us gain self-control in the rest of our eating habits.

By the way, any non-Jew may bring a sacrifice to the Temple.  However, offerings are limited to elevation offerings, where the whole animal is burnt and none is eaten.  Although Jews can only bring offerings to the Temple and no other location, a non-Jew may offer an elevation offering anywhere, whether the Temple exists or not (Talmud Zevachim 115b)!  However, for a great many reasons the sages strongly advise against doing so (Ramban, Rashi, Tosafos, etc., etc.).

Have a great week!

Torah Tidbit

Parashah Vayikra (and he called), Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26

God calls out, from within the tabernacle, to Moses and then instructs Moses on acceptable offerings and how to perform them.  

“He called to Moses and Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying:  Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When a man amount you brings an offering to Hashem: from animals – from the cattle or from the flock shall you bring your offering.”  – Leviticus 1:1-2

Walking the Walk

These verses play and turn on variations of the root word kar (kuf-resh):

1. Calling out to someone – kara (kuf resh aleph) – interrupting someone’s direction so that they draw near to you instead.  In this case, God asking Moses to approach Him.
2. Brings – karav (kuf resh bet) – instead of the normal verb for taking or carrying something, this is the word for drawing close to something.  The implication is that in bringing the offering one appreciates the animal and its representation of the giver’s intentions. 
3. Offering – karban (kuf resh bet nun) – this isn’t a present or gift, as the word “offering” implies.  Nor is this a “sacrifice”, which implies giving up of something typically dear to the giver.  Instead, note by its spelling, the karban represents the one who wants to draw close (karav) to Hashem.  

That’s the primary intention of the sacrifices – drawing closer to HaShem. These are done after repentance, surviving crises, or just plain thankful for all the blessings He provides.  Thus these are only done in a state of joy.  The experience is then taken back to the real world and helps with making one’s life better align with His expectations (commandments).  

These “offering” services have absolutely nothing to do with appeasing an angry vengeful god through the taking of life.  Invariably the assumption creeps in that one can manipulate the god through the giving of the right sacrifices – much like Baalam instructing Balak so that Baalam will hear from God.  This is the opposite with God – HE is unmovable, unshakeable, unchangeable, the rock and shelter.  We draw close to Him and His expectations – not the other way around.

As a side note, kar (kuf resh) is used for what appear to be “chance” meetings – drawing together without any intention to do so.  However, we should be careful to not consider any occurrence to be by chance, correct?  Every moment of our lives is carefully crafted by the Creator for our best benefit.

Have a great week!

Torah Tidbit

Parashahs Ki Sisa (when you count)  Exodus 30:11 – 34:35 

God concludes His instructions for building the tabernacle, appoints craftsman by name to lead the project and creates the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments.  Meanwhile down below in the camp the Israelites go off the rails by building and worshiping a golden calf as their new intermediary between them and God.  Moses crashes the party and the tablets, eliminates the ringleaders and argues/prays with God over 40 days to forgive Israel.  Israel as well repents during that time and at the end, God inscribes a second set of tablets that Moses first carves out from rock.  

“They have strayed quickly from the way that I have commanded them.  They have made themselves a molten calf, prostrated themselves to it and sacrificed to it, and they said, ’This is your god, O Israel, which bought you up from the land of Egypt.’” – Exodus 32:8

Walking the Walk

How in the world could a peoples, who had experienced so many major nationwide laws-of-science suspended miracles, including God talking to all of them, fall prey so quickly to the seemingly ludicrous activity of worshipping a statue instead of the Infinite One?

In times past, mankind had an intense desire towards idolatry.  All things have their opposite balance in this world, so the stronger the positive draw towards the Infinite Eternal One, the stronger the negative draw to the opposite – a physical (not infinite and not eternal) being that can be immediately comprehended with our normal intellect.  The Talmud relates that at the time of the Second Temple the Jewish sages cried “uncle” to God and asked that this desire be diminished.  Their prayers were answered so well that now we can’t comprehend such idolatrous desires – but we also can’t comprehend the stronger desire towards God as well.

However, aspects of idolatry are still alive and well in our time.  Even those who deny the existence and demands of a Creator, are invariably betrayed by their souls and attempt to strive towards the Divine.  However, their striving is corrupted as it works through their intellects, causing them to adopt surrogate “gods” and “religions”  Amazingly enough, the scientific community, after two centuries of actively promoting humanism, is now turning more popular hypotheses and theories into issues of belief, guilt, fear and repentance.  Those who disagree are called “unbelievers” and are actively driven out of scientific communities.  

For the Noahide, the laws against idolatry help develop an awareness and resistance to these still alluring distractions.  In general, these Noahide laws match those of the Jew, both in nature of prohibitions and punishments.  It all boils down to several simple concepts:

– Don’t worship anything that has physical form, including things made to represent the infinite.  God is infinite and non-physical.  Anything physical takes us away from that hard-to-grasp concept.

– To count as worship, there has to be physical action – bowing to, praying to, giving offerings, etc. – Although only believing (but not doing any actions) that such Gods exist is more or less permissible, it is discouraged nonetheless.

Torah Tidbit

Parashah Tetzaveh (shall command), Exodus  27:20 – 30:10 

God describes to Moses the priests’ uniforms they are to wear while on duty and how the priests are to be ordained into their tabernacle duties.

“…you shall take them from their hands and cause it to go up in smoke on the Altar, on the burnt-offering, as a satisfying aroma before Hashem; it is a fire/burnt-offering to Hashem.” – Exodus 29:25

Walking the Walk

The tabernacle, its contents and the priestly activities provide a spiritual focal point for both the nation of Israel and its individual members.  The nation, inspired and guided by the tabernacle activities, improves its ways of working in the world, which will in turn encourage the nation to seek more inspiration and guidance from these activities.  

Although sacrifices get most of the attention for tabernacle activities, they are empty and dark if the participants have not properly prepared themselves first in prayer.  As the oft quoted statement from Isaiah, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples”.  Sacrifices are for inspiring one to renew his efforts in living a life more in accord with God’s ways.  That requires prayer at all stages – before recommitting, during the recommitment ceremony, and much more prayer after returning back home to the “hum-drum” of normal life routines.  In fact, this recommitment can be achieved at any time, by any human, without the need for sacrifices.  Thus David, when repenting of his sin with Bathsheba, said:

“O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.  For You do not desire a sacrifice, else I would give it; a burnt offering You do not want.  The sacrifices Gd desires are a broken spirit; a heart broken and humbled, O God, You will not despise.” – Psalm 51:18-19

Prayer is not one of the seven Noahide laws.  However, we know full well it makes sense to do and brings us positive benefits in this world.  And this is exactly what a great majority of the Jewish sages say as well.  So we too can apply this principle to any activity, whether Jewish or otherwise, to help determine if it brings spiritual benefits to us and those around us:

1.  Does it makes sense?  Does it have a logical reason behind it?

2.  Does it benefit the person performing it and/or the society around them?

From Rotary International

For Rotary, The Four-Way Test is the cornerstone of all action. It has been for years, and it will be in the future. Of the things we think, say or do:

            • Is it the TRUTH?

            • Is it FAIR to all concerned?

            • Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

            • Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Have a great week!

Torah Tidbit

Parashah Terumah (portion), Exodus  25:1 – 27:19 

God commands Moses and Israel to build a tabernacle, describing the furnishings, structure and surrounding courtyard.

You shall make two Cherubim of gold – hammered out shall you make them – from both ends of the Cover…..The Cherubim shall be with wings spread upward sheltering the Cover with their wings with their faces toward one another; toward the Cover shall be the faces of the Cherubim.. – Exodus 25:18, 20

Walking the Walk

Cheribum show up several times in the Bible – guarding and preserving (but not blocking) the way to the tree of life; “bearing” God as He swoops in to help David (Psalms); standing guard outside of the holy of holies in the first temple (I Kings); and Tyre’s cherub-like protecting of Israel (Ezeikel).  On the ark of the covenant they act as both protectors of the tablets that testify of God’s commandments and “bearers” of God’s glory.

These cherubim present an unmistakable lesson for Israel.  The more Israel draws together to guard (through both study and implementation) God’s ways of living, the more Israel becomes “bearers” of God’s glory in this world.  

Similarly God has given the Noahides a set of commandments – expressions of how He wants us to act and live in this world – to guard and in so doing, carry with us some of His presence.  Prayer and action are part of how we learn from Him, while these statements of His expectations draw boundaries and yet open up vast fields of opportunity for new ways of truly living full lives in this topsy turvy world.  As we continuously cycle through the three principles of talking to Him, studying His ways and then acting upon these principles, we bear more of His light and life within and around ourselves.  

This mission remains the same regardless of the upheavals of society and government around us.  Yes, these are trying times, but we have yet to endure anything close to what Israel has continuously endured through the ages – rises and falls of empires, pogroms, ghettos, burnings, exiles, inquisitions.  Yet here they are today, a dedicated remnant still vibrant, still ever fresh, ever renewing themselves and working towards a closer walk with Him.  Thank God that He has placed us in this place and time, to seize the opportunities to help bear His presence in this world. 

From the Sages

Shimon the Righteous was among the survivors of the Great Assembly (last of prophets at start of second temple).  He used to say: The world depends on three things – on Torah study, on the service (temple services and prayer) and on kind deeds.  – Ethics of the Fathers