Marriage, in Judaism, is an act of Kidushin - a life that is consecrated and designated to a higher calling. Marriage is not a temporal union between a man and a woman, but, more so, it is a union infused with a great act of Kedusha and with a life devoted to fashioning their own sanctuary, their own home and their own מקדש מעט.
Thinking of the family as a sanctuary, I begin to focus on this week's Sedrah, Terumah, wherein we read the most influential directive found in Judaism,
ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם
" Let them make me a Sanctuary," says Hashem, "that I may dwell amongst them."
The Torah does not say בתוכו, "that I may dwell in
it," referring to the tabernacle, but rather, "that I may dwell among them, בתוכם," amidst the people of Israel. Thus, we are told, the building of the Mishkan is not an end in itself, but rather a means of bringing the people closer to our Father in Heaven.
Hashem dwells in the sanctuary of our personal lives when our activities are converted into divine encounters. Our aim is to bring Sinai into our daily existence.
G-D seeks to dwell in our lives, not to remain incarcerated in the walls of a building.
Every marriage brings two people together to forge a union that will create a family and a home into a Sanctuary of Kedusha.
One of the main objects in our Mishkan is the magnificent Aron Hakodesh, the Holy Ark, specifically the pair of Keruvim placed on top of the ark.
ועשית שנים כרובים זהב מקשה. " You shall make two Keruvim." Chazal describes to us what the Keruvim looked like. They possessed the faces of children, and their wings were outstretched lifted towards Heaven, and they faced each other.
We learn that each requirement of their appearance has a very important message in life and specifically to marriage.
The suggestion that the Keruvim figures were shaped like the faces of children, implies that just as children are very innocent in their actions and pure in thoughts, so must we live lives with purity of thought and action, unspoiled by the decadence of modern society.
In addition, just as the wings of the figurines were spread out above reaching, if you will, to heaven, so must we strive that our hands of action are always spread up to heaven, lifting ourselves above the transient to live lives that examine our actions, not in a temporal way, but rather for eternity.
We need a purity of attitude, "Not, only, what I can get out of it now, but rather our thoughts and actions are to be heavenward and to possess consideration for our tomorrow."
The last characteristic of the Keruvim, is perhaps most significant. The figures are to confront each other, face to face. Literally, each of us must always look toward one another and extend ourselves with warmth to the other. Man's attitude may be 'heaven bound', but his responsibilities must always be 'brother bound.'
The position of the Keruvim are instrumental in translating our lives into purity of action, with bonds of love and cords of friendship binding us together in Holiness.
As I think of the role that our Mishkan plays in our lives, I remember that the Aron, the Ark, was made of wood and overlaid with זהב טהור, pure gold, both on the inside and on the outside,מבית ומחוץ תצפנו.
From this requirement, our Rabbis promulgated a great and significant lesson, "A scholar whose inner life does not correspond to his outer appearance is not an authentic scholar".
In a like manner, every person must live a life that is מבית ומחוץ, in a manner that he is always,
תוכו כברו, alike inwardly and outwardly. This is our lesson for integrity of character. As we act outwadly should conform to what we really feel inwardly. We need to be true to our character, by our actions, and not to be hypercritical in how we project ourselves to the outer world.
These are amazing lessons derived from the building requirements for the Mikdash in Yerushalyim. They are,equally, the requirements for the building of our own individual מקדש מעט, our own personal Holy Temple, that will bring glory to ourselves and to כלל ישראל.
In this light we extend our sincerest Mazal and Bracha to our חתן וכלה, as they enter into the world of marriage, to build their Mikdash together. We are confident that they will do so, by merging all their efforts, using the lessons, that we have learned from the Keruvim, and the Aron Hakodesh.
May Hashem bless this zivug, and may all the parents and grandparents continue to have Nachas from this beautiful couple.
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