Our Sedrah this week ,Parshas Trumah, speaks about the building of the Mishkan , the portable Tabernacle that accompanied the Jewish People through the desert.
The Torah states , ועשו לי םקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, " and you shall make Me a sanctuary, that I shall dwell among you".
Reading this directive I am reminded of a story that a colleague of mine related ; He was visiting the interior of his Synagogue with the children from his Hebrew school. He described and explained the different parts of the Sanctuary and especially the Ner Tamid, the Eternal Light which burns constantly over the the Aron Hakodesh.
Shortly after the visit he received numerous thank you letters from the students and he remembered one in particular, from a third grader who thanked him for all the explanations especially the one about the "Internal" light. My colleagues remarked "Out of the mouths of babes a profound truth is found."
The light over the Aron is, indeed, eternal but even more so in each one of us there is an "Internal" light of spirituality that is always aglow. Even when it seems not to be there , that "Internal" light is always present.
The Rav , when discussing the Mishkan posed the following question, "Why was the Mishkan necessary? Does G-D need a home?"
The Rav brings to mind that when Shlomo dedicated the Beit Hamikdash in Yerushalyim he asked a similar question and evidenced this dilemma by stating;
הנה השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך אף כי הבית הזה אשר בניתי
" Neither the heaven nor the heaven of the heavens, can contain Thee. Certainly not the house that I have built for Thee".
The Rav, searching for an answer presented the following response;
Whenever the term בית הי, the House of G-D, is used we should realize that it does not refer to the house of Hashem , but rather to the House of Man. There is no need for Hashem to have a home, for Hashem embraces the entire universe , He is Makom shel Olam, the universe is within G-D. However, man needs a spiritual home that will give him total security. Such a home can only be found within Hashem Himself.
Thus, we begin to realize that when Hashen instructs Moshe to build a Mishkan , He was providing him with a home which the Almighty offers humanity. A man who feels close to Hashem feels he is protected by G-D'S guiding Hand. He is a person that has a true home to dwell in.
When Hashem dwells , so to speak, in the Beit Hamikdash, he does so to satisfy our need to be close to Him and to feel His presence and His protection.
As we dwell with G-D on a daily basis , our "Internal light is aglow and we thus feel the Brachos of Hashem upon us.
It is this "Internal" light that endows the Jew with his specialness, with his creativity , with his ability for greatness, because it is an "Internal" light, a spark, a glow of the Divine, that is kindled in each of us.
As we experience the depravity of society around us , from the killing of innocent lives, and the growing anti Semitism and that the State of Israel is the scape goat for the world powers, we begin to realize more and more the need for our Home of protection that the Beit Hashem can offer us.
However, to do so, we must dwell in the House of The Lord, not by ourselves , but to extend the invitation to all Jews throughout the world to dwell under the canopy of peace and security that the House of Hashem provides for all of us.
כי ביתי בית תפילה יקרא לכל העמים
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