The Holy Temple and you. Terumah 5786

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 “Ve’asu Li Mikdash veshachanti betocham.”  (Shemot 8.)  This is the Mitzvah to build a Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and a traveling Sanctuary in the desert. The basic translation of the above verse is “They shall make me a Holy Sanctuary and I will dwell amongst them.” 


Let’s think about this concept. Sounds like Hashem is asking for a house where he can live. How can that be?  On one hand Hashem’s presence is everywhere. He is the Creator of everything and it is only the constant flow of Divine energy that keeps everything in existence. So how is one place more a home for Him than another?


On the other hand, how can Hashem “live” in a physical building?  The only way this universe can exist as an independent entity, Chassidus explains, is when Hashem concealed Himself, because were Hashem’s energy to be revealed, nothing else could exist outside of Him. 


King Solomon himself wondered about this when he finished building and furnishing the Holy Temple. “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; much less this Temple that I have erected” (Melachim 1 Ch.8:27).


I want to answer this question on two levels. 


The reason that the finite and infinite can’t mix is because those are the rules that Hashem set up for the world. Since Hashem is omnipotent, you can’t say that anything is impossible for Him. So even though the infinite can generally not be limited or fit into anything finite, if Hashem wills it, it can happen. 


The Talmud (Megillah 10b) says: “the space of the Ark was not measured in the room.”  Meaning that even though the room was 20 cubits wide, and the Ark was 2 1/2, if you measured the space on either side of the Ark it was10 cubits. This is a physical impossibility. But for Hashem, Creator of finite and infinite and the rules that separate them, this is also possible. 


So the physical building of the Temple was in fact able to contain Hashem’s presence in a way that was not possible in the rest of the world, because Hashem willed it.  There were also many additional visible miracles that happened constantly in the Temple, ten of which are enumerated in Pirkei Avot 5:5. 


Another way to address the question is by carefully examining the terminology in the original verse. They shall make me a Holy Sanctuary and I will dwell amongst them. The word “betocham” can be translated as “amongst them” or as “within them.”  And in fact our Sages taught that “veshachanti betocham” means within each one of us. 


Just as the physical Temple was transformed from physical stone (and the traveling Sanctuary from wood, gold and cloth) to a home for Hashem’s presence to be revealed, so each of us is commanded to transform our physical to a place of Hashem’s revelation. 


When we use our possessions for Mitzvot they become a vehicle for Hashem’s presence to be revealed on Earth. When we use our talents to further Torah and goodness, and when we harness our passions to holy pursuits, we ourselves become a Holy Temple and a home for Hashem’s light. 


The more we do this, the closer the world at large comes to being transformed to a place revealing Hashem as opposed to hiding Him. This is what will happen when the transformation is complete. Moshiach will come, the Holy Temple will be rebuilt, and we will see with our physical eyes how the entire universe is, in fact, Hashem’s home and beautiful garden. 

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