After the high excitement of the first six Torah readings of Shmot, we now have the very boring material of the mishkan. The portable temple or tabernacle of the desert is described in the kind of detail that makes one pine for a visit to the dentist for a root canal procedure. And if all that wasn't bad enough, the whole thing gets repeated a couple of weeks down the line. I guess that's in case anyone stayed awake through the first go round. What I would like to do this week is try to understand what?s going on with this material.

Before we can try to take on the problem of the details, and why they are catalogued ad nauseam, I believe we must first try to get a perspective on the meaning of the temple. Maybe developing an opinion on the purpose of having a domicile for Hashem in our midst will help us to formulate a position about these parshiot. Obviously it would be heresy to assume that in any way Hashem is truly 'housed' by the temple. Shlomo Hamelech said at the dedication of the first temple, 'Heavens and earth can not contain You, how much less so this house which I have built.'

There is also a famous misconception about the need for this sanctuary. Rashi says that these parshiot are out of their correct chronology. The command to build the mishkan, according to this scenario, came after the golden calf incident. Based upon this point of view many observers claim that Rashi believed that the necessity for this structure resulted from the sin. R. Ovadiah Sforno forcefully argues that Rashi held that the mishkan was a l'chatchila, had always been planned for. Such a major part of Torah and mitzvoth could not be just a sop to human frailties. So, a major approach to understanding the temple is discarded (Even though many others continue to accept this explanation.).

Well, what is the value of this structure? I believe that our more rational approaches fail us in this endeavor; we require more esoteric venues. The Malbim (Rav Meir Leibish ben Yechiel Michal, in the mid-nineteenth century), a normally very rational source, explains the meaning in an essay entitled 'Secrets of the Mishkan.' In this work he describes how the mishkan (and, of course, later the temple) and all its accouterments are fraught with heavy symbolism. He then begins to expound upon these symbols. Without going into the details of every building reference, utensil, or furnishing (which the Malbim does) I can state that he proposes two ways of explaining the overall idea of the mishkan. First, the mishkan represents the entirety of creation. All the details mentioned in the many verses of instructions on how to build a mishkan have direct correspondence to the physical and metaphysical worlds. To elucidate, let me give just one important example. The heichal or sanctuary building contains two rooms. One room is called the 'holy' and contains the following three items: 1) the seven branched candelabrum, 2) the table holding the special bread, 3) a golden altar upon which the incense was offered. These three items represent this physical realm. Our world is established upon Torah (the menorah), divine service (the golden altar), and acts of loving kindness (the bread holding table) all of which are reflected by these three items. The other chamber is called the 'holy of holies' (famous for its part in the service of Yom Kippur, the only time this room is entered). In this room resides one item only, the ark containing the tablets. Just as the outer room of three items represents this three dimensional world (I know that this universe contains more dimensions, but for the sake of this symbol man normally thinks of this world as being 3D, this is a metaphor not a physics lecture) so this inner sanctum represents the spiritual realm where all is connected to the One.

The Malbim then goes on to explain that there is another way of looking at this structure. It represents man. The 'holy of holies' is the brain; the altar represents the stomach, and so on. These two powerful ways of understanding the temple are not contradictory, rather they are complementary. And is one explanation for why the material is presented twice. We say that the first approach describes the mishkan as a 'small universe (Olam Katan),' and the other makes it a 'big man (Adam Gadol).' The mishkan becomes a visual aid or teaching device to understand our world, ourselves, and their relationship to Hashem.

Now we can understand the (or at least one of many) meaning of the temple. The verse says, 'Make for me a sanctuary and I will dwell in your midst.' Hashem is truly everywhere (to quote the famous philosophy of Chabad), but getting Him into our midst requires an effort. That effort is fundamentally educational. We must comprehend that through our service to Hashem we relate to the entirety of creation. We have cosmic impact when we become connected to Hashem. The temple is the symbol of that connectedness. The midrash says that the point of contact between this world and spiritual sphere is the temple. The first thing you encounter on the other side is the celestial temple. The temple\mishkan is a portal. It's our gateway to vaster horizons.

All this is fine, but we don't have a temple. How can we fulfill the temple's role without it? More important, perhaps, is the question so often asked by the Netivot Shalom (Reb Shalom Noach Barkovsky, the Slonimer Rebbe) where is the necessary eternity in this Torah precept if we can?' perform it? The Slonimer himself gives the famous answer given concerning sacrifices, 'All those involved in the study of the Torah about sacrifices the Torah considers it as if he has accomplished the sacrifice.' So, our study of the temple, its parts and their meaning is fulfilling the mitzvah. The S'fat Emet, I believe, adds to this answer. He is concerned with the rabbinical statement that all those who don't build the temple it is as if they destroyed it. How, the Rebbe asks, can it be that all the righteous of the generations since the destruction are considered demolishers of the temple. They are not, he responds, because the building of the temple, like redemption, is a process. All those who contribute to the process will be reckoned builders. This process is trying to fathom the deep meaning in all the vast details presented to us about the mishkan.

Yes, indeed, it is boring to pore year after year over these building plans, but each article and instruction has a message that we must decipher. It is a puzzle and a challenge to break the code. And in this enigma is the path to an ever closer relationship with Hashem. And now we can understand the Talmud in Brachot 33a, 'One who has knowledge it is as if he has built the temple.' We must utilize our intellectual curiosity to break through the fog, and in the clarity attained is a continually developing image of the edifice and its role in our relationship with ourselves, the world and Hashem.

Comments, ideas, questions? Send Rabbi Walk a note at:rwalk@yhol.org.il

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