LET THEM MAKE ME A SANCTUARY THAT I MAY DWELL AMONG

THEM. EXACTLY AS I SHOW YOU – THE PATTERN OF THE TABERNACLE AND

THE PATTERN OF ALL ITS FURNISHINGS – SO SHALL YOU MAKE

IT.

The Renewal of Sanctity Requires a King, A

Prophet, and a Great Sanhedrin

The tribe, the false prophet and the High Priest,

are judged only by a Bet Din of seventy-one. An optional war is to be declared

only by Bet Din of seventy-one. The City and the temple yards are expanded only

by a Bet Din of seventy-one.

 (Mishna, Sanhedrin 1:5)

"The City" – Yerushalayim, whose holiness

is greater than the holiness of the rest of Eretz Yisrael.

"The courtyards" – Their holiness is

greater than that of Yerushalayim. Sanctity may be renewed, as is written (Shemot

25), "Exactly

as I show you… so shall you make it" – for all generations. Just as

the sanctuary was sanctified by Moshe – who took the place of the Great

Sanhedrin – so in future generations all additions to the City and the

courtyards are to be determined by the Great Sanhedrin.

 (Commentary

of Rabbi Obadiah from Bartenura, ibid., ibid.)

Expansion of the City and the courtyards is

determined by the king, by the prophet, by the Urim and Thumim, and by the

Sanhedrin of seven-one elders, as is written, "Exactly as I show you…

so shall you make it" – for generations, and Moshe our teacher was a king.

 (Rambam,

Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Temple, 6:11)

THE TABLE AND THE BREAD OF

DISPLAY

Gabriel Weil

In memory of my father and teacher

Rafael

ben Avraham, of blessed memory,

Lover

of peace and pursuer of peace

The parasha of Teruma

focuses upon the Mishkan – the Sanctuary – and its utensils. The Torah orders the construction of the

table: "You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one

gold molding around it." (Shemot 25:23-25)

And finally, "And

on the table you shall set the bread of display, to be before Me always." (Ibid.,

Ibid. 30)

We shall attempt to

understand the meanings which some commentators assign to the table, its

structure, and the Bread of Display.

It should be noted that

there exists an uncharacteristic degree of unanimity among the commentators of

various periods, seemingly because the Table and the Bread arouse universal

associations.

One commentator (quoted

from a collection in the "Rav Peninim" chumash) explains:

The Table and its

properties all allude to man's table as he eats, so that it be "a table

before God". And his table shall atone for him as does the alter, as

in the words of our Sages: Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yochanan both said: When the

Temple was in existence, the altar atoned; now man's table atones. Therefore, the table was overlaid with gold,

reminiscent of the charity which man must give to the poor before and during

his own dining, and of the guests at his table… And Rashi, of blessed memory,

explained: And thus indigents come and are supported and this is considered as

the offering of a sacrifice on the altar. And so, too, the manner in which he

gives to the poor with a full heart, with love and joy, and a smiling and

welcoming countenance… this is "and you shall overlay it with pure

gold" – literally, with his coin and his fistful which he gives to the

hungry and the thirsting.

The Table, then, symbolized

man's obligation to share with the hungry before he attends to his own food.

Thus the table atones for him, just as the sacrifice would atone for him when

the Temple was functioning. The gold of the Table symbolizes the giving to the poor, the charity. When you

eat, remember that there are those who have not what to eat.

Perhaps this the reason for

the presence of the Table and its coverings in the Mishkan, to teach us that

this obligation is holy; it is a religious

obligation.

Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, in

his commentary on the Torah, sees the table as:

… a symbol of the source

of a comfortable existence, i.e., that phase of national life which creates a

comfortable standard of living: the development of the material aspect of the

national life.

He then continues to detail

his understanding of the significance of the bowls (those forms which kept the

breads in their prescribed shape until the times for arranging them on the

table):

"Through this form,

every bread was equal (or almost equal) for the purpose of bearing the next

loaf (they were ranged on the Table in two stacks of six loaves each) as it

used for its own base. Does this express anything else than, putting all

selfishness aside, the giving oneself up to the interests of one's brother-man

as being the condition demanded for a comfortable standard of living? That

every man acquires and holds as much for others as for himself, grants as much,

or nearly as much of the abundance of his table to his neighbor as to his own

table.

Hirsch goes on to say:

Apart from one's

fellow-men, Jewish wealth is to be directed to God. But directing one's wealth

to God is again only to be achieved by using it for the support of one's

fellow-men… brotherliness is one of the first conditions for our prosperity

and welfare.

 (Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, The Pentateuch,

Shemot 25, translated from German by I. Halevy)

Rabbi Hirsch, then, moves

the discussion to the collective plane. The national welfare, symbolized by the

Table, is conditional upon solidarity, upon everyone's ability

to maintain a mutual relationship with the his fellow-man, upon his giving.

Here too, according to this explanation, there is no separating the mitzvoth

between man and God from those between man and his fellow – all are

inter-twined, defying differentiation.

The Jewish-French philosopher,

Emanuel Levinas (whose essays "Nine Talmudic Readings" have recently

been translated and published in Hebrew) speaks about the Table of the Mishkan

in a chapter of his book "Beyond the Passage" )L'Au Dela du Verset 1981).

In his view, the gold molding around the Table is a crown of sovereignty (as

per Rashi: "A gold molding – symbol of a kingly crown for the table has

wealth and greatness, as people say 'a table of kings'). The king, he whose

table is open, is the one who provides food for man. The Table with the Bread

of Display symbolizes the unceasing concern which the political rule must

exercise in order to satiate humanity's hunger. This is not a assignment for

the end of days, but for now; now

we must attend

to the needs of hungry humanity. According to Levinas, Jewish government is

always modeled after Yoseph the righteous who fed Egypt. He believes that this

is the primary goal of the political establishment, and this view is unique to

Jewish tradition.

The Bread of which we speak, the Bread of Display (translated

into French as "The laid out bread") is the "Lechem HaPanim"

[literally – Bread of the Faces]. Why? Rashi explains that it is

because the Bread had two faces – two sides which face the two sides of the

Mishkan. According to Ibn Ezra, "Lechem HaPanim" is so

called because it always faces

God.

Levinas sees the

explanations as being similar; what is bread which faces God doing – if not

facing man? Towards which goal is it to be directed if not to the nourishment

of people? The horizontal direction of the look (i.e., the look between man and

man) is the continuation of the look which comes from above (i.e., the look

between God and Man). "Horizontal" and "vertical" are

concepts which are today being discussed in the search for the meaning of

religiosity; is the emphasis upon 'between man and his fellow' as against 'man

and God' – or the converse? In L's view, both directions focus the same

movement.

Undoubtedly there is, in

these symbols, a tie between the spiritual and the nourishment of humanity.

They remind us of the political character of the hunger problem. Despite the

progress of modern thought and technology, despite the U.N. and UNESCO, western

politics have not succeeded in solving this problem. Therefore, maintains

Levinas, the Table and the Bread of Display are real and current issues.

In summation, he stresses

that we are dealing with "holy bread". The symbolism relates to bread

for the hungry; this merits its becoming holy bread.

Levinas's explication,

then, emphasizes another plane – beyond that of the individual and the

relations between individuals; the State plane, the plane on which

governmental care of the poor and hungry must be of primary concern. Again,

this obligation is symbolized in the Mishkan, i.e., it is a religious responsibility.

It seems that in a period

of economic crisis, with its privatization, globalization, the state's tendency

to disencumber itself of caring for the weak, and the weakening of the

solidarity between various sectors of society, the above-described messages

must learned again and again. The

concern for the weak is embodied in the Mishkan, it is a religious obligation. Do we meet this standard on

the individual and national plane? Does the religious world represent these

values and fight for them? Is not the construction of the national table for

those in need of it, in a period when soup kitchens are on the increase, is

this not the true establishment of the Temple?

Dr. Gavriel Weil, a member

of Kfar Maimon, is a clinical and educational psychologist

WHAT IS HOLINESS ON EARTH?

"I SHALL DWELL IN THEM" AND NOT "IN IT".

"And you shall make

the planks for the Mishkan" – said Rabbi Avin: This may be compared to 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?"

Said the King: "You with your materials; I will

appear in my glory myself." So said The Holy One, Blessed Be He to Moshe: "See

and do."

Said he to Him: "Master of the Universe, am I a

god, that I can make such as these?"

Said He to him: "In their form, of blue and

purple and crimson yarn, and just as you see above, so shall you do below, as

is written "acacia wood upright" – as are placed in the royal

suite above – and if you make those below as they are above, I will

place there councilors from above, and will rest my Shekhina in your midst

below."

 (Shemot

Rabba, Parasha 35)

… another midrash places an utterance of Shelomo in

Moshe's mouth: "But will God really dwell on earth?" (I Kings

I:27) and the

Midrash continues: Said The Holy One, Blessed Be He to Moshe: Not as you think,

but 20 planks at the north and twenty planks at the south and eight at the

west, and I shall descend and constrict my presence below . . yet more, I shall

descend and I shall constrict my presence within a square cubit.

The phrase "a square cubit" refers to that

cubit which is between the two poles of the Ark of the Testimony in the

Mishkan; between them Moshe would hear the voice of God "addressing him

cherubim." (Bemidbar 7:89)

This description teaches us that man can serve God

beyond the concepts of place, for whoever desires to really serve God is found

in the proximity of Him whom heaven and the heavens of heaven cannot hold, and

if man does not intend to really serve God, then even heaven and earth are

insufficient.

The Mishkan was not erected in order to be a dwelling

for God, but to be a dwelling for Israel who accept upon themselves the word of

God, and this is not at all dependent upon dimensions.

 (Y.

Leibowitz: Seven Years of Discussion on Parashat Hashavua, p. 370)

"And I shall dwell in them" – He did not say in it; that

the place which they shall consecrate for his dwelling shall be within the

Children of Israel.

 (Ohr

Hachayyim, Shemot, 25:8)

And it says "And may the favor of the Lord

our God be upon us" (Psalm 90:17) [is best understood bearing in mind] that which is

written "And they shall make for me a sanctuary and I shall dwell in

them" – it does not say "in it"

, but in them, for the Shekhina is

primarily for Israel. There [in Psalm 90] he said

that the favor of God, i.e., the shining glory of his Shekhina, blessed

be He, will be upon us, "establish

for us the work of our hands; the work of our hands establish thou". It appears that that the

word "konneneyhu" – "establish thou" refers to the

Shekhina; therefore he said that the work of our hands – the Mishkan – made

preparation for the Shekhina and for ourselves so that we dwell together in one

compartment, for the Mishkan was a dwelling place for the higher beings and the

lower beings as one, and therefore he said "establish for us…

establish thou". Similarly it is written "the place, O Lord

which you have made for your dwelling" (Shemot 15:16). This it what I have to add

to all the commentaries on this psalm, to explain it as referring to the

erection of the Mishkan.

 (Kli

Yakar, Shemot, Ibid., 43)

"And they shall make for me a sanctuary and I

will dwell in them". It would have seemed proper to say "in it".

But it says "and I will dwell in them," for every man must make a sanctuary, and this

is an everlasting obligation. The Zohar writes that the tephillin, which are the

secret of the carriage which man wears which is the Mikdash, will also purify

man and all his limbs, and then he is the image of the Mishkan and the Mikdash.

 (Sefer

HaShelah, Rabbi Yeshaaya Horowitz, Tractate Taanit 28)

A simple way [of understanding this], since Israel

proclaimed "We shall do and we shall hear" we see that they received

the Torah with willing heart and soul, so much so that they preceded doing to

hearing. Immediately The Holy One, Blessed Be He, answered "Let them

take for me an offering etc." to establish a sanctuary, as is later

written, "And they shall make for me a sanctuary and I will dwell in

them" inside their

hearts they are a sanctuary of God, and they merited that their heart be in their domain…                             

(Yeytiv

Panim, II, p.12b)

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotsk used to say: The Shekhina can be found wherever one lets Him in…           

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