And he spread the tent (ohel) over the tabernacle (mishkan), and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as God commanded Moses. Exodus 40:19
God’s blueprint for a traveling sacred space to accompany the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness has now been completed. As the Israelites travelled, they would carry a place for God Presence and for revelatory encounters with God.
Cha”zal, our sages of blessed memory, noted that the instructions for building the Mishkan and their actualization contain distinct parallels to the creation of the world. In both the creation of the world and the creation of the Mishkan, work ceases on Shabbat. In the descriptions of the creation of both the world and the Mishkan, the work is judged to have been appropriately done, after which the same Hebrew verb is used to describe the completion of both the Mishkan and the world. Just as God had built a space for humanity, human beings were to build a space for God.
An earlier verse in Exodus in Parshat Terumah, the first of the four “Construction Parshiyot”, explains why the Israelites are to build this “Mishkan”.
And let them make Me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
From this verse we learn that God understands the people need tangible evidence of the indwelling of the Divine Presence—a place for God to live among the people. At the same time the verse suggests that the Sanctuary in addition to being a place for God to be, it was also a place for encounters with God to be enacted.
The following midrash from Shemot Rabbah offers great relational insight to the idea that God will “live”.
The midrash tells of a person who gives their only daughter in marriage to a suitor from another place. The person says to their daughter, “I cannot ask you not to move away, but it makes me so sad to know you will be far from me. Please, wherever you live, build an extra room for me, so that I can come to visit you.” The Israelites are like the daughter, creating a space for God even when God feels distant, and a place for encountering God when we feel or seek God’s presence visiting.
This parable explains that the people needed two things from this relationship: to be assured of God’s presence among them during their journey, as well as a place for special moments to elevate their worship.
Shabbat Shalom –
Rabbi David M. Eligberg
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