Witnessing of the Indwelling

This week’s Torah portions are Vayakhel, which means and assembled, and refers to Moses assembling the people, and Pekudei, which means reckonings. These portions repeat the instructions for building the Tabernacle, only this time, the actual work takes place. Moses calls for the freewill contributions to be brought, a chief architect, Bezalel, and his assistant, Oholiab, are appointed, and the labor commences. More than enough contributions come in; and Moses gives the word to the people to stop donating. In Pekudei, Moses gives an accounting of the value of what was brought. The vestments of the Priests are sewn and all the work is completed. Moses inspects it, approves it, and blesses all the people. God gives the instructions for Moses to set up, sanctify, and anoint the Tabernacle on the day of the New Moon, and then Moses erects it. The priests are dressed in their vestments and also sanctified and anointed.
When all was complete, the Holy Presence, represented by the Cloud of Glory, covered the Tent of Meeting, and filed the Tabernacle. The people had done everything right. They had followed directions and God showed them approval by a tangible manifestation of the Divine Presence, the Shechinah. At the beginning of Pekudei, the structure that was being erected is called Mishkan Ha-Edut, the Tabernacle of the Testimony, or the Tabernacle of the Pact. Pact comes from the word, EYD, witness. Therefore, these two words can also be translated as the Tabernacle of Witnessing. The word, Tabernacle, as we have said in previous weeks, comes from a word that means to dwell, so it can also mean indwelling. This structure, the Indwelling of Witnessing or Witnessing of Indwelling, serves to make tangible our witnessing of the Revelation, our witnessing of receiving the Torah, our witnessing of the reality of our relationship with God. God had said to Moses, “Make me a sanctuary, a Holy structure, that I may dwell among them.” The Israelites made it, and were witnesses to a daily manifestation of God’s concern and care. Eventually, after 40 years, when Moses had passed away and the Israelites were in their land, the people stopped using the Tabernacle. They built the great Temple, which, according to our tradition, stood for about 375 years. We are told that God’s Presence manifested there too, a tradition of witnessing that lasted for over 500 years. The great Temple too, was eventually swept away. A Second Temple was built; although we are told that the Holy Ark containing the Tablets was never placed in the Second Temple, and that the Shechinah, the Holy Presence, was never manifest on that structure. The Second Temple was destroyed in the year 70 CE by the Romans. The structures are gone. The symbols have been taken away, but what of the relationship? The Indwelling of Witnessing or Tabernacle of Testimony was a real structure that symbolized a truth: an aspect of reality that, until God spoke to Abraham, had been hidden: that there is an intelligence that is active in existence, or as Judaism understands it, a mind that directs and a heart that cares and loves. Just because there is no Tabernacle does not mean there is no God. A baby is enchanted by the game of Peek-a-Boo at about the age of 6 months, extending to one year and even beyond. This is because the child feels safe when the parent is there, and is filled with fear when the parent disappears. The game is a way of reassuring the child that, even though the parent can’t be seen, the parent still exists. Our problem with the Mishkan is very similar. The Chassidic Masters teach that all life, and especially we humans, are attached to God at what they call the root – that though our attachment can’t be seen, it is there, or we would not have any existence at all: we would not be alive. The question then becomes, if the Tabernacle is taken away, if we can’t se it, is it logical that God ceases to exist?
The S’fat Emet writes, “The point is that the love and attachment to God that Israel received at Mt. Sinai remain alive in them forever, even when sin prevents them from bringing this hidden love out into the open.” The Mishkan, the Tabernacle, or the Witnessing of the Indwelling, were merely symbols, even when they had what we would describe as an objective reality. The structure was wood and cloth. The Divine Presence merely a cloud. The Apter Rebbe has said, “God’s love needs vessels” but “ although the Torah describes the Shechinah as dwelling in the Mishkan, still the main resting place for the Shechinah is in the human being; and therefore, although the Torah speaks of the Mishkan, we must understand it as if it is speaking about we humans ourselves.” At the time of the Tabernacle, it was our labor and donations, our love and devotion that brought us to be able to witness God’s Presence. And that is still the case today. The symbols are gone, but we remain rooted to God, witnesses to that deeper reality than one that can be seen: a mind and a heart that responds to our love and devotion, to our deeds of kindness, our charity, our labor, and our willingness to open our hearts. A Divine Presence that gives us life and waits to dwell among us.