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You’re only Half Way There!!

Written by Benjamin A Rose

“And the dimensions of the Aaron should be – two and half Amos its length, one and a half Amos its width, and one and a half Amos its height.” Why are the dimensions of the Aaron in half Amos (by the Shulchan the dimensions are 2 Amos x 1 Amah)?

I saw two answers to this this week:

The Baal HaTurim says, Chazal teach that the Aaron represents Torah. The significance of halves is to teach us, one must break himself (in half) over the Torah. In order to reach a high level in Torah, one can not sit back and relax. Rather, he must be “Maymis Atzmo Aleha” – kill himself over toiling in Torah, as we learn in Pirkei Avos.

Kli Yakar offers a different answer. Since the Aaron represents Torah, halves are representing the fact that even an accomplished Talmid Chachom is never finished learning. There is always more to learn and understand. A person is never more than a fraction of the way to completing the Torah.

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