Parshat Terumah, 7th Portion, Exodus 27:9-19, February 13, 2016

“And you shall make the courtyard of the Mishkan on the southern side [there shall be] hangings for the courtyard of twisted fine linen, one hundred cubits long on one side.” (Exodus 27:9)

This portion is about the courtyard around the Mishkan. Perhaps one could say, if we are Mishkan, then the courtyard is the life we build around us. A teacher would tell us, “Take care of your life and your art will take care of itself.” Perhaps he was saying something similar. You can’t plop something good in the middle of something that is haphazard.

Another teacher would tell me, “If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right.” Over the years I’ve seen plenty that fulfills each quadrant.

I’ve come to realize that there isn’t much that isn’t worth doing. After the “take care of your life...” teacher told me that the greatest discovery of his life was that corners pick up dirt, I started to realize that it is all worth doing. Another artist, visiting for the day, talked about how she kept her students from going down bad paths. I asked her what were some of those paths... I’d like to give them a try. Years later, we were colleagues. I asked her the same question. She said she had changed her mind. There are no bad paths.

In Torah study, we talk today about Reform Jews and prayer. An hassidic rabbi (and our head rabbi’s mentor) last weekend said that Reform Jews don’t do prayer very well. There was a lot of discussion with our head rabbi about his mentor’s statement. I like the way our head rabbi said that just the fact that the hassidic rabbi’s statement had been bothering people for a week meant that his visit was worthwhile.

I wish I could say more about prayer. If you believe in a God that pulls strings if you say the right thing, then prayer makes a lot of sense. If you believe that prayer is an opportunity to express and align our intentions with our actions, then prayer still makes sense. I’m reminder of the book of the Russian Pilgrim who searched through Russia to learn to pray. Finally, on top of a mountain he finds a man who teaches him the Jesus prayer, to be said unceasingly. The man learns to pray. The next volume describes his travels back through Russia teaching others to pray.

Buiding a beautiful Mishkan and a fitting courtyard are prayer. They are caring from their Tabernacle as one should care for the divine. That seems like prayer.