And you

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

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

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

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,

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

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

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

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

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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