And you shall make a lamp stand of pure gold,

hammered work it shall be made,

its base and its shaft, its cups, its calyxes and its blossoms,

shall be from that work

And you shall make its seven lamps,

and its lamps shall be mounted

 and give light in front of it...

(Shemot 25:31,37)

 

 

And give light in front of it - Make the six lamps at the heads of the branches, which protrude from its sides, leading towards the central one, so that the lamps when lit will shed light towards it, their lights directed towards the central shaft.

(Rashi ibid. ibid. 37)

 

And He further commanded to place there the candelabra, and all agree that this symbolized the light of rationality and knowledge, and I have already written that the ark symbolized the wisdom of the Torah and prophecy which is the wisdom which comes only through the appearance of the Lord in prophecy, and the candelabra symbolized that which man can learn with his intelligence to comprehend with the faculty of reason, This is the difference between wisdom and understanding, and the wisdom of the Torah is not to be found in the world of the angels, for they requested to receive the Torah but it was not granted them, but there can be found among them intellect and understanding which nature implanted in them, and they bestow in abundance this type of intellect and reason upon man... and the fruits of this intelligence are the seven fields of wisdom which men discovered with their intellect. On the other hand was the menorah which symbolizes the light of intelligence, seven branches all facing the central lamp, which was the divine wisdom...

(Commentary of the Malbim, Allusions of the Tabernacle, Shemot 25:37)

 

 

They imagined thee, not as thou art really

Gil Nativ

Dedicated to the memory of my sister, Shelomit (Nativ) Sela,

whose tenth yahrzeit falls on 28 Shevat, 5771

The 3500 year struggle to distance the corporeal from God and God from the corporeal bore little fruit. This is because "Man sees only what is visible" (Shmuel I, 16:7). A god who has neither body nor semblance of body is fine for the philosopher who sits tranquilly at his desk; those who fear and love God need a tangible image of a god who is near to all who call upon him. "They imagined thee, not as thou art really" (Hymn of Glory - An'im Zemiroth). Therefore, only a few chapters following the injunction: "You shall not make with Me (=of Me?) gods of silver and gods of gold" (Shemot 20:23), the Children of Israel are commanded to contribute gold (ibid., 25:3) so that the living God will make his voice heard between the two golden statues of the cherubim. Just a few chapters following the promise "In every place that I make my name invoked, I shall come to your and bless you" (Ibid. 20:24), the Children of Israel are commanded to worship God and request his blessing only from within a rectangle measuring 100 cubits by 50 cubits.

Every believer creates his god in his imagination. Each of the patriarchs had a unique image of the Lord, and therefore we recite in our prayers "Lord of Abraham, Lord of Yitzhak, and the Lord of Yaakov." One God with multiple names and images, and just as men's faces differ, so no two mortals believe in exactly the same god.

The Torah does not always observe chronological order. The commandment to erect the tabernacle (Parashat Terumah) appears in the wake of the golden calf. "Had Moshe commanded the erection of the Tabernacle earlier, the Children of Israel would not have made the calf" (Eldad, Hegyonot Mikrah, p.122). Those celebrating around the calf point to it and say: "These are your gods who brought you up..." (ibid. 32:4). In contrast to the calf which was a symbol of God's presence, the spread-wing cherubim were but a channel for the voice of God speaking from between them "And I will meet with you there and speak with you from above the covering between the two cherubim". But for the common man, the line dividing between the calf-created and the cherubim-created realizations of God's presence is very thin. Religious exuberance, the yearning for proximity to God, is liable to lead to the crossing of this fine line. Biblical scholar Professor Umberto Cassuto, explains the need for erection of the Tabernacle. After having been privileged to witness God's revelation on Mt. Sinai, they are about to continue their journey and move away from the site of the Revelation. Cassuto writes:

As long as they encamped at Mt. Sinai, they felt the proximity of the Lord. When they departed, it seemed to them that 'the package had become unraveled', and therefore there was a need to erect a tabernacle, as a tangible sign of God's presence in their midst.

The attempt to distance God from the concrete has continued throughout Jewish history. Hezekiah smashed the copper serpent which our teacher Moshe had molded, because he understood that the masses of Israel imbued it with inherent holiness; they raised their eyes to the serpent as if it itself cured the ill. The Sages retroactively sanctioned Hezekiah's behavior (Mishna Pesahim 4). The Prophets' assertions that the God of Israel has no need for food or drink were ignored. The masses who brought their offerings during the period of the First Temple - and apparently the Second - fully believed that the pleasant fragrance of the burnt sacrificial meats reaches the nose of the Almighty and deflects His anger from Israel. The understanding that sacrificial worship is inseparable from the primordial corporalization of God is one of the reasons which prompted Rabbi Kook to learn from the passage "Then the offering of Judah and Yerushalayim will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years" (Malachi 3:4) that in the future Bet Hamikdash there will be no animal offerings, but only meal offerings, from the vegetable world... [The Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace, end of Chap. 15, Siddur "Olat R'iya"]. True, even meal offerings are liable to encourage a perception of God as dependant upon the food of humans, but they are not as tangible and attractive to eye and heart as the burning of flesh, fat, and blood upon the altar.

We are still in need of a place where God's presence and its tangible symbols will be reduced to His presence inside us. Synagogues serve and will continue to serve as means to nurture the feeling of "God's closeness to me is good" (Psalms 73:28) without violating the boundary between 'a small temple" and "This is the house of the Lord and this is the gate of the heavens". May it be His will that the building of the Third Temple not realize the craving for meat and the predatory animal inclination which may be aroused by the sight of blood sprinkled on the base of the alter. May it be His will that the Third Temple be a vegetarian temple. May it be His will that the offerings of meal and oil to be offered there not be in amounts which will deny food from the mouths of hungry children, but will rather serve a symbolic gift expressing the message: "All is from You, and it is Your gift that we have given to You." (I Chronicles 29:14)

Gil Nativ is rabbi of Congregation Magen Avraham in Omer

 

"That they take for Me a donation". Me, to my name.

(Rashi, Shemot 25:2)

 

"That they take for Me" Nothing is to be given directly to God, but the gifts of each individual are to be given to the community, for the Divine purposes. This implies that it is not the individual, but the community, who has to erect the institutions for God's purposes, and it is not for single givers but for the community that these arrangements have to be established.

                (Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, ibid. ibid, translated by Isaac Levy)

                                               

What is the holiness above? "And I shall dwell within them" and not "within it."

'And you shall make the boards for the Tabernacle' - Said Rabbi Avin: This is like a king who had a beautiful portrait.. He said to a member of his household: Make me one like it.

He replied: My master, the king, how can I make one like it?

He said: You with your paints, I with my glory,

So spoke the Holy One, Blessed Be He to Moshe: "Look and make'.

Said he to Him: Master of the Universe, am I a god, that I can create such as these?!

He replied to him: As in their form, blue and purple and scarlet, and just as you see above so shall you do beneath, as is written "boards for the tabernacle of acacia-wood, standing up" - as exists in the heavenly court, and if you imitate those above below, I will appoint heavenly ministers and will cause my presence to rest upon you below.

(Shemot Rabba, Parasha 35)

 

...Another midrash mentions a sentence spoken by Solomon to God: "Can God dwell on earth?!" (I Kings, 8:27) and the midrash continues: 'Said the Holy One Blessed Be He to Moshe: It is not as you understand, but rather twenty boards on the north side and twenty boards on the south side, and eight on the west, and I will descend and contract my presence below . . and yet more, I will descend and contract my presence into a space "one cubit by one cubit."

The reference in the phrases 'a cubit by a cubit' is to the cubit between the two staves of the Ark of Testimony in the Tabernacle, from between which Moshe our teacher heard the voice of God "speak to him from above the cover which was on the Ark of Testimony, between the two cherubim" (Bemidbar 7:89).

This description teaches us that man can worship God beyond the concepts of area, because one who intends to really serve God is found in the proximity of about whom it is written 'the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain you', and if man does not intend to sincerely serve God, even heaven and earth will not suffice.

The Tabernacle (literally, the dwelling place) was not erected to be a sanctuary for God, but be a sanctuary for Israelites who accept the authority of God's word, and this is not at all conditional upon measurements.

(Y. Leibowitz: Seven Years of Discussions about the Portion of the Week, P. 370)

 

"And I will dwell in your midst, - it does not say 'in it" - thus teaching us that the place that they will set aside for his dwelling will be in the midst of the Children of Israel.

(Ohr HaHayyim, Shemot, 25:8)

 

"And they will make for me a holy place and I will dwell in their midst". It should have said "in it". But it says 'and I will dwell in your midst', because every person is obligated to make a holy place, and this is an ongoing practice. In the Zohar it states (Part I, p. 29b) that the phylacteries - which are the secret of the chariot which man adorns-- is the holy place, and also that man should purify himself and all parts of his body, and then he will take on the form of the Tabernacle and Temple.

(Y. Horowitz, Shelah, Tract. Taanit 28)

 

Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk used to say: The Shekhina (Holy Presence) can be found wherever He is allowed to enter...

Regarding the Tabernacle it is written (Shemot 25): "Gold and silver and copper" but there was no iron. Regarding the Temple it is written (I Kings 6): " and the hammers and the axes and all iron tools were not heard in the house during its construction". This is because the sword is made of iron; the sword destroys the world, whereas the temple guarantees its existence.

(Rabbi Bahayeh, Bereishit 27:40)

 

"If you observe my laws..., "And I will place my dwelling in your midst" - if we study these passages, two things become absolutely clear:

1.      That "I will dwell in your midst" extends far beyond the mere presence of God in the temple, but that it means the proximity of God in our midst, showing itself in accordance with the covenant, in the whole happiness and prosperity of our private and national life under His protection and blessing.

2.      But this blessing and protecting Schechina - proximity of God-- is not brought about by the mere correct erection and upkeep of the Sanctuary, but can only be won by consecrating and giving up our whole private and public lives to carrying out the divine Torah. A fact that is not only proved historically by the destruction of the Sanctuary, once in Shiloh, and twice in Jerusalem, but which is distinctly emphasized as a warning, not only in the Torah itself ... If, then our text does nevertheless promise "And I shall dwell in their midst" as a result of "And they shall make a Sanctuary:, then evidently the meaning of the Sanctuary can be nothing else but the expression of all that is required of us to bring about the promised Schechina-Presence in Israel.

(Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Shemot 25:3-8 Trans. Isaac HaLevy)

 

And why was the Torah given in the desert? To teach that just as the desert is ownerless, open to everyone, so are the words of Torah ownerless, available to all who wish to learn, so that no man say "I am a son of Torah and the Torah was given me and my fathers, but you and your fathers were not sons of Torah, but your fathers were strangers/converts", therefore it is written (Devarim 33) "A heritage for the congregation of Jacob - whoever congregates with (the congregation of) Jacob, even converts who study Torah, are as important as the High Priest, as is written (Vayikrah 18) "...those which man will perform and live by them, I am the Lord your God" - it does not say 'Cohen (priest). Levite, and Israelite", but rather 'man' therefore "One Torah and one ruling shall there be etc (Bemidbar 16).

(Tanhuma Vayakhel 8)

 

The ger - the stranger - mentioned in the Torah, as explained in the Oral Law, is not just any alien living in our midst; it refers to whoever converts within the Israelite people.

This is the place to note that there is a Rabbinic inclination to picture great scholars of Israel as "Sons of converts", or as grandsons of converts. It seems that they do so even in instances where there is no historical basis. The reason for this would seem to be their tendency to give the lie to those who associate the Torah with an Israelite racist bias.

For example, it is told that Shemaya and Avtalyon were converts, and perhaps this is a historical fact, but the Midrash is not content to note that they were converts, but adds something which cannot be grounded in historical knowledge, as it claims that they were grandchildren of Sisra, that Sisra who is described at length in Judges (Chap. 4) commanding general of Israel's enemy, Yavin, king of Canaan.

Chazal tell us that Shemaaya and Avtalyon taught Torah publically. Why? In order to teach you and that there are none so great as one who is involved in Torah, that Torah which was given equally to Israel and converts.

(Y. Leibowitz: Seven Years of Discussion of the Portion of the Week, P. 376-377)

 

Midrashei Tsafon

From the Pen of Ronen Ahituv

And the cherubim shall spread wings above, shielding the cover with their wings, and their faces, each facing his brother… (25:20)

Do cherubim have faces?! But it is of Israel that the Torah speaks, as is written "Speak to the Children of Israel" (25:2). Said the Holy One, Blessed Be He, to Moshe: The testimony is in the ark, and the cover is on the ark because Israel is in need of atonement (lit. cover) for not having observed the testimony. How shall you atone? Above the ark-cover are cherubim, as is written "shielding the cover with their wings", they shall atone, because as long as Israel themselves observe "each facing his brother", I will grant them atonement, as is written, "And I shall meet with you... between the two cherubim" (25:22)

 

 

 

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