And you shall make two golden cherubim; you shall make them of hammered work, from the two ends of the ark cover.

And make one cherub from the one end and the other cherub from the other end; from the ark cover you shall make the cherubim on its two ends.

The cherubim shall have their wings spread upwards, shielding the ark cover with their wings, with their faces toward one another; [turned] toward the ark cover shall be the faces of the cherubim. (Shemot 25:18-20)

 

Where did the Cherubim Face?

How did they stand? R. Yohanan and R. Elazar [disagree about it]: One says they faced each other, the other says they faced the Temple. How does the one who says they faced each other deal with the verse, and they faced the Temple (II Chronicles 3)?

There is no difficulty - one refers to times when Israel does God's will [and they face each other] the other refers to times when Israel does not do God's will. How does he who claims that they faced the Temple deal with the verse and they faced each other (Shemot 25)? [The answer is that] they turned slightly away [to look at each other]. It is taught: Onkelos the Convert said: The cherubs (II Chronicles 2:3) were formed like children and they turned their faces [to the Ark] like a student taking leave of his teacher.

(Bava Batra 99a)

 

The two cherubs took the form of angels which were called "cherubs" and took the form of little children in order to show that if a rabbi is like an angel of the Lord of Hosts and innocent of sin like a year-old infant, than they will ask [to hear] the Torah from his mouth. He must fulfill his obligations towards God and humanity. In order to fulfill them towards God the cherubs spread their wings upward and in order to fulfill their duties towards humanity they faced each other in a gesture of the peace granted to those who love Torah, and they were together harmoniously in peace and friendship. The faces of the cherubim were to face the ark-cover because they should be completely directed towards the Torah in the Ark, not like those who are wise in their own eyes, seeking their own honor but not the honor of the Torah.

(Kli Yakar 25:17)

 

The Tabernacle as a Place for Encounter Between Man and God

Yoel Kretzmer-Raziel

Parashat Trumah begins the third section of the book of Shemot. The first sections dealt with the Exodus from slavery to freedom and the reception of the Torah and the commandments; the third section is concerned with the house of God - they shall make me a sanctuary and I shall dwell among them.

The book of Shemot does not seem to reveal to us the full significance of the Tabernacle's construction. It is only with the beginning of Vayikra and the first revelation within the Tent of Meeting that we understand how the sanctuary operates. There we discover that humans are to worship God by offering sacrifices in the Tabernacle.

Can Shemot be read without Vayikra? In other words: can we identify the focus of the Tabernacle from its architectural details alone, detached from extended descriptions of the sacrificial rite?

Literary analysis of this last section of Shemot shows that when read as a separate unit it places the Tabernacle and its essence in a different light.1 We will attempt to demonstrate that the Tabernacle has several competing foci, and that the section presently under discussion places the Ark of the Covenant in the center of things, whereas the conventional model gives the sacrificial altar pride of place. The conclusion of the book of Shemot can be read as seamlessly continuing with the beginning of Vayikra: and Moses completed the work. And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud rested upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle... And He called to Moses, and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying... However, there are two additional verses which conclude the book of Shemot: When the cloud rose up from over the Tabernacle, the children of Israel set out in all their journeys. But if the cloud did not rise up, they did not set out until the day that it rose. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the Tabernacle by day, and there was fire within it at night, before the eyes of the entire house of Israel in all their journeys. These verses create a break between Shemot and Vayikra and lend Shemot a festive conclusion.²

What, then, is the message of the independent and extensively detailed section which ends the book of Shemot? The architectural structure of the sanctuary in described in our parasha in the following order: Ark, ark covering, table, Menorah, Tabernacle building, the curtain and screen, the altar, the Tabernacle courtyard. The viewpoint moves from the inside out, and mentions the coverings that hide things, creating an aura of mystery. One who enters the sanctuary will not see the Holy of Holies nor the Ark within it. The reader of our parasha will first come across the Ark and its covering before any other element of the Tabernacle. This is the Torah's way of marking the Ark's centrality - it comes at the very beginning of the list of the vessels, but it is hidden from the eye by curtains and screens.

Compare the Ark with the altar and its location. The altar is only mentioned after the vessels located within the structure are described. Naturally, the sacrificial altar has to be outside. The description of the Tabernacle which proceeds from the inside outwards leaves the altar at almost the very end of the list. Furthermore, after describing the vessels kept inside the Tabernacle - the Ark and its covering, the table and Menorah - the Torah goes on to talk about the strips of cloth and the planks and then describes not only the screen which separates the Tabernacle from the courtyard, but also the curtain [parokhet], which should have been mentioned after the Ark and its covering. It seems that the Torah is interested in setting up a lengthy textual partition of thirty-seven verses between the inner vessels and the altar outside.

Still, we could suppose that this partition is meant to emphasize the importance of the altar rather than the importance of the Ark. Let us examine two additional pieces of evidence - one physical and the other textual - in order to resolve the matter.

The Tabernacle's inner vessels were made of Gold: the Ark is covered with gold, as are the table and the Menorah. The altar, however, is covered with copper. The Torah saw fit to emphasize this difference, and the word nehoshet - copper - is repeated five times in the course of the description of the altar and gold is mentioned no less than seventeen times in connection with the inner vessels. The literary contrast becomes sharper in light of the fact that the Ark, table, and menorah were made of acacias wood, further distinguishing the inner vessels from the outer ones.

The contrast between the vessels is also reflected by their respective functions. The Torah is quick to tell us the roles of the various vessels: the Ark and its cover - and you shall place the ark cover on the ark from above, and into the ark you shall place the testimony, which I will give you. I will arrange My meetings with you there, and I will speak with you from atop the ark cover from between the two cherubim that are upon the Ark of the Testimony, all that I will command you unto the children of Israel (Shemot 25:21-22). The table - and on the table you shall set the bread of display, to be before Me always (25:30). The menorah - the lamps shall be so mounted as to give the light on its front side (25:37). However, when it comes time to talk about the altar the Torah does not describe its function. And if you say that the altar's purpose is obvious, the same could be said of the Menorah, but the Torah still took the trouble to mention the lighting of its lamps.

All of the above leads to the conclusion that our parasha sets up a sharp contrast between the inner vessels, and especially the Ark on the one hand, and the altar on the other. The Tabernacle includes the testimony and the meeting, the bread and the light, but not - for the time being - the sacrifices.

It appears that this description fits the division found in the book of Vayikra itself. The passage dealing with the milu'im ["ordination"] sacrifices (Vayikra 8-9) places the sacrificial rite at the center of the activities of Moses and the priests. In contrast, parashat Aharei Mot (dealing with the service of the High Priest on Yom Kippur) actually focuses on the Ark and the High Priest's entrance into the center of the sanctuary - the Holy of Holies. True, many sacrifices are offered in that parasha, but they serve as nothing more than preparation for the High Priest's entering the Holy of Holies, which itself is the act of worship in this case. Sacrifices do not attain Israel's atonement; rather they serve the High Priest to make expiation for himself and for his household. However, by entering the Holy of Holies he has made expiation for himself and his household, and for the whole congregation of Israel. Later, when King Solomon describes the Temple and its purpose in his prayer, he makes no mention at all of sacrifices and focuses instead on prayer and its various occasions. True, Scripture does describe the huge number of sacrifices offered at the Temple's dedication (I Kings 8:62-63), but it does so almost incidentally and in laconic language.

If so, our parasha forwards a model of the sanctuary which focuses on the divine/human encounter, hearing God's word and speaking to God. The altar occupies a secondary role in this system and the Torah prefers to first describe a sanctuary to us which does not focus on sacrifices.

Now the direct connection between the various sections of the book of Shemot becomes clear: after leaving slavery for freedom, the Israelites receive the Torah, which is placed in the Ark which itself occupies the center of the space where humans encounter God.

1. The reading suggested here is consciously hermeneutical; it does not concern itself with scientific insights regarding the division of the text among various sources.

2. Note how the book of Devarim ends with the words, before the eyes of all Israel, and how the Children of Israel are mentioned in the concluding verses of the books of Vayikra and Bamidbar.

Yoel Kretzmer-Raziel is a member of Kibbutz Ein Tzurim. Until recently he served as a RaM in Yeshivat HaKibbutz Hadati.

 

Regarding the Tabernacle, it is written (Shemot 25): Gold and silver and copper, no iron whatever was used; regarding the Temple it is written: no hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the House while it was being built. Iron was used for the making of the sword, which destroys the world, but the Temple preserves the world.

(Rabeinu Bahayey, Bereishit 27:40)

 

What is the Holiness of Things Below? And I shall dwell among you and not within it [the Tabernacle]

And you shall make the boards for the Tabernacle R. Abin said: It can be compared to a king who possessed a beautiful appearance, and gave instructions to a member of his household to make a bust exactly like him. "But your majesty," - exclaimed the other - "How can I possibly make one exactly like you?" The king replied: "You shall [paint it] with your materials, but I will appear in my own glory." This is what God said to Moses: And see that you make them after their pattern, etc.

Moses said to Him: "Lord of the Universe! Am I a god that I should be able to make one exactly like it?"

He told him: "Make after their pattern in blue, purple, and scarlet; as you have seen above, copy the pattern below," for it says, of acacia wood, standing up, that is, just as it appears in the heavenly precincts. If you will make below a replica of that which is above, I will desert My heavenly assembly and will cause My Shekhinah to dwell among you below."

(Shemot Rabbah 35, following Soncino translation)

 

...another midrash has Moses uttering Solomon's verse, But will God indeed dwell on the earth? (I Kings :27). The midrash continues: "The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: It is not as you imagine, rather [the dimensions of the Tabernacle are only] twenty boards at the north and twenty boards in the south, and eight in the west, but I descend and shrink my Shekhinah below... and not only that, I shrink My Shekhinah to fit in a space of a cubit by a cubit."

The expression "a cubit by a cubit" refers to the cubit between the two drapes of the Ark of Testimony in the Tabernacle, between which Moses heard God's voice, speaking to him from the two cherubim above the covering which was over the Ark of Testimony, and He spoke to him (Bamidbar 7: 89).

This description teaches us that humans can worship God beyond the concepts of space, because one who wishes to genuinely worship God stands near to He who cannot be contained by the heavens or by the heavens beyond the heavens. If one does not intend to truly worship God, then all heaven and earth will not be room enough.

The Tabernacle was not built to serve as God's residence, but rather to be a residence for Israelites who take God's word upon themselves - and that is not at all a matter of physical dimensions.

(Y. Leibowitz: Sheva Shanim Shel Sihot al Parashat HaShavua, pg. 370)

 

And I will dwell in their midst - and He did not say in its midst, in order to say that the place they sanctify for His dwelling will be in the midst of the Israelites.

(Or HaHayyim Shemot 25:8)

 

And he said, And may the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us (Psalms 90:17) as it is said, And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst (Shemot 25:8) - it does not say in its midst, but rather in their midst, because the Shekhinah is principally for Israel's sake. That is why he said that God's pleasantness - that is, the light of His Shekhinah's glory, may He be blessed, will be upon us, and the work of our hands establish for us, and the work of our hands establish it. It seems that the word konenehu - "establish it" - refers to the Shekhinah, since this verse refers tacitly to the Shekhinah. That is why it says the work of our hands, i.e., the Tabernacle established the conditions for the Shekhinah to stay together with us in one dwelling-place, for the Tabernacle is a dwelling place for both the higher and lower ones together. That is why he said both established for us as well as establish it. Similarly it is said, Your habitation, which You made, O Lord (Shemot 15:17). That is what I saw fit to add to what the commentators said regarding this psalm, by explaining it in reference to the Tabernacle.

(Kli Yakar Shemot 25:43)

 

And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst (Shemot 25:8). It should have been in its midst. Rather, the verse comes to say that I will dwell betokham ["in their midst" but also "inside of them"], for every person is obliged to make a sanctuary, and this is always to be practiced. And the Zohar writes (Part I 129b) that tefillin are the mystery of the Divine Chariot, so that when someone dons them he becomes the Sanctuary. A person should also purify himself and the parts of his body, and then he will have the form of the Tabernacle and Temple.

(R. Yeshayahu Horowitz, Sefer HaShaLaH, tractate Ta'anit 28)

 

The plain sense of Scripture has it that since the Israelites said, We shall perform and We shall hear they accepted the Torah with such a willing heart and soul that they mentioned performance before hearing. The Holy One, blessed be He, immediately told them: Take for Me an offering... to build a sanctuary, as it is later written, And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst - within your hearts the Temple of the Lord are they (Jeremiah 7:4). And they shall merit this when they take control of their hearts...

(Yitav Panim part II, 12b)

 

Where Does the Shechina Reside?

R. Menachem Medel MiKotzk used to say: "The Shekhinah is present in every place it is allowed to enter..."

For the Jewish nation in general, the service of God is expressed through the observance of the commandments, and one of these is the commandment of prayer. Prayer is not a statement about God, but it is an expression of man's relating to the Almighty.

A midrash relates that The Holy One, Blessed Be He, says to Moses, that if Israel observes the divine service in the Tabernacle, He "constricts his holy presence into a square cubit." If a person intends to serve God, he is found inside that cubit, in the presence of God who cannot be contained by the heavens nor by the heavens of the heavens. If a person does not intend to serve God, then even the heavens and earth and all their hosts are - as far as he is concerned - void of all content, and the Shekhinah cannot be materialized in them. Therefore the later prophet says; And Israel forgot its maker, and he built halls (Hosea 8:14), thus teaching us that the building of halls is not necessarily testimony to the resting of the Shekhinah in Israel.

He did not say, And I will dwell in it - but rather in them to teach us that the Shekhinah does not rest on the Temple because it is the Temple, but rather because of Israel, for they are the hall of God.

(Tzeida LaDerekh, quoted by N. Leibowitz: Iyyunim BeSefer Bereishit, p. 339).

 

In my heart will I build a Tabernacle to glorify His honor

And in the Tabernacle I will erect an altar to the rays of His splendor

And for an Eternal Lamp I shall take the flame of the akeida,

And for a sacrifice I will offer Him my only soul.

(From the Sefer Hareidim of Hassidei Ashkenaz)

 

 

 

 

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