From Racheli

The Haftarah read after this week’s parasha is taken from Melachim Alef and enumerates different vessels made for the first Beit Hamikdash. In Sefardi communities, they read among other vessels about the two pillars of copper made by Shlomo Hamelech that stood at the entrance of the Beit Hamikdash. Interestingly enough, the pillars were given names, an uncommon phenomenon for inanimate objects in the Torah. Different explanations are given for why they were given names and why specifically the names of Yachin and Boaz. According to Radak, the pillars were given names in order to provide a positive message for those who passed through the doorway to the Beit Hamikdash. Yachin, the Radak explains, is an expression of establishment that Hashem should keep the Beit Hamikdash established forever, and Boaz, which can be translated from “ba oz” conveys “strength within”- a blessing that Hashem should place strength within the Beit Hamikdash. Rabbi Torczyner (pronounced Torch-ee-ner) helps us understand why that message was imparted through the pillars next to the doorway and not through another part of the Beit Hamikdash. He suggests that there is already a precedent of imparting messages through our doorposts, as was done prior to Yetziat Mitzrayim with the blood of the lamb and is a powerful symbol until today with the mezuzot we place on our doorposts. An entrance to one place is an entrance to a new domain and is also a sign of an exit from the previous domain. He explains how the pillars marked the point at which the Jewish people transitioned from the mundane to the sacred- they left the outside world to enter Hashem’s sanctuary. Our houses, batei knesset, and we ourselves should be mikdashei me’at, where we are careful to fill ourselves and our places of living and of worship with holiness. The Chida (read about in Wellsprings of Torah) comments about the naming of the pillars by quoting Chazal who say that the yetzer hara is renewed each day and only with Hashem by our side can we conquer it BUT one will only receive help from Hashem if he/she chooses the fight the yetzer hara on his/her own. The Chida thus understands the message of the two copper pillars that if a person Yachin, will prepare himself and work to act against the evil inclination, with there be “Boaz,” strength within him to help him succeed in the battle.

My father a”h was a man who never stopped “lehachin”- he was a man who strived for and aimed toward increasing holiness in his middot and in his Torah learning. His countless sefarim that he owned and actually read are replete with notes to himself on how and where he would like to improve, his conversations with us always contained a dvar torah along with a check in that we were taking good enough care of ourselves, and the amount of Torah that he learned in the last number of years just increased and increased. He had seen and experienced the world of the mundane and just wanted to work on increasing the sacred. I miss him and his love terribly and draw upon his inspiration every time I listen to a shiur on a commute home or use free time to learn Torah. I pray that we, his descendants, are a credit to his holy neshama. Thank you so much for coming. May his neshama have an aliya.