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V’asu Li Mikdash, v’shachanti b’tocham.
“And let them make me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Ex 25:8)."
This phrase is one that I come back to each year and it never ceases to fascinate me. Most of the commentators are concerned with when this command was actually given. Rashi following the majority of midrashim suggest that it was following the episode of the sin of the golden calf, a symbol of the fallibility of human nature. For Rashi and for many other commentators’, the Torah is not a chronological document. The other major viewpoint is given by Ramban, the thirteenth century Spanish Biblical Commentator, who reads the Torah chronologically and sees the Mishkan, the Tabernacle in which the Mikdash, the Sanctuary was contained, as a being a reward for accepting God’s Covenant.
However, I am interested in the phrase, b’tocham, and where God’s Presence will be manifest. Does this word mean, as is the usual translation, ‘among them,’ or more clearly, that God would dwell in the Mishkan and therefore, in the midst of the Israelite encampment? Or does it mean that God’s Presence would dwell in the body of the Community or, as is also grammatically possible, in each individual?
There is, of course, great merit in the traditional reading of b’tocham, indeed a very spiritual one. The Mishkan, the Tabernacle, is the place where God’s Presence would dwell amongst the people. This idea in and of itself would be Dayenu, enough. But if we take Ramban’s thesis that the Torah does flow chronologically, then the institution of the portable Mishkan of the Wilderness, its static form in the Temple of Jerusalem and its proliferation into the Synagogues of our people, are a deliberate act of Divine grace and thoughtfulness.
Following this reading, the purpose of the Mishkan, is that it represents a portable Sinai, reminding the people of God’s Presence that dwells amongst them. The twentieth century Italian Bible commentator, Umberto Cassuto suggests that: “The nexus between Israel and the Mishkan is a perpetual extension of the bond that was forged at Sinai between the People and God.” Remember what has happened just prior to the commandment to build the Mikdash: We have God’s Presence descending upon Sinai - Revelation in all its glory and drama. We have the courtroom drama with two parties a Pact – the Covenant with all its laws for leading a ritual and ethical life. And then suddenly we move to the seeming mundane description of materials to construct the Mishkan and all its furnishings.
In our own lives there are occasions, perhaps few in a life-time, that are so utterly unique, and awe-inspiring, when we are so aware of our mortality that God’s Presence is clearly Revealed to us. In these moments, we are very much aware the Covenant and our lives take on new meaning. Our response is often to renew our vows and commit to live in a certain way, maybe of ritual, sometimes of ethical, occasionally of both. As we move away from that unique moment of Revelation and Covenantal commitment, we move back into the mundane order of our lives. However, the Mishkan, is a constant reminder of God’s Presence. Whether constructed of expensive materials or just wood or bricks and mortar and cloth, it is always there amongst us. As Liberal Jews, we might describe the Mishkan as a perpetual reminder of Progressive Revelation, the continuing unfolding of God’s Revelation through our work on earth no matter how ordinary we may sometimes think it.
A second interpretation of b’tocham might be God dwelling in a Mishkan that is the people, b’tocham taken as the plural, amongst them. Perhaps God wanted the people to build the Mishkan not only so God’s Presence could dwell among them but also so that they, the people, would dwell amongst each other. In the project of building the Mishkan, Community would also be built. A Sacred Community, one big close-knit family working together on a common project. Every individual had a role, whether it was hands-on or through contributions to enable its construction. Building the Mishkan brought people together for a common goal and in turn established the separate tribes as One People, as One Community.
When we are a Sacred Community, it can be said that God’s Presence is living among us. The Community that has been built becomes the Mishkan. In all of its activity and the way it conducts itself; it has attained a level of holiness that is pure and commonly held through its constituent parts.
One more reading of b’tocham seems possible to me. That is taking the word as referring to each individual, in each one of them.
Ramban, writes of our verse: “Behold, they are holy, fit for a sanctuary for God’s presence to dwell among them. And so, the first thing God commanded was the Mishkan, that there should be among them a house dedicated to God’s name…” Ramban’s mystical leanings are to the fore in this reading. The people, after they have stood “face-to-face” with God and unanimously accepted the Covenant, have become vessels fit for the Presence of God.
Moses Alshekh, the sixteenth century Greek and then Safed-based commentator, furthers Ramban’s thought. He suggests that the Mishkan gives us an opportunity to cultivate God’s spiritual potential. By following a path of holiness, defined by right living, we ourselves become fit to establish God’s Sanctuary on earth. When we live in such a way, we are ready to be vessels to have the Shekhinah - the Rabbinic and mystical term for God’s Presence - poured into us. Each one of us is a vessel for the Divine light. When we attend to it, build it a proper Sanctuary within us, beautify it, lay a table, raise up an altar within, we feel the Shekhinah within us.
In Shir ha’Shirim, the Song of Songs, love poetry traditionally understood as allegory for God’s love for the people, Israel, and vice versa, we read: “I am asleep but my heart is awake” (Song of Songs 5:2). A mystical interpretation of b’tocham provides the belief that the Mishkan is ourselves and that the Shekhinah, the Divine light or however we may want to define it, dwells within each one of us. In this way, God dwells among us. Through much of our lives we may be unaware of God’s Presence manifest within us, but it is always there in our hearts. “I am asleep but my heart is awake”
It is perhaps at moments such as this, when, in quiet contemplation of things holy, special to us and outside of the mundane day-to-day runnings of our life – we might call it Sacred Time - that the Mishkan is unified. God’s Presence is here within the Mishkan that is the Sanctuary in our Synagogue. God’s Presence is here in the Mishkan that is our Sacred Community. God’s Presence is here in the Mishkan that is present within each one of us. How powerful is that unification. May this moment be one of unity, in which we build and tend to the Mishkan and allow God’s Presence to dwell among us.
Amen.
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