Furniture First?
Furniture is an important part of our home. How we furnish our home; the colors, designs and art that we choose, says a lot about the people we are and, perhaps more importantly, about the people we strive to be.
Despite its importance, furniture is rarely the first thing we purchase when we decide to acquire a home. First we build a home and then we fill it with furniture.
Indeed, when the Jewish people built a home for G-d in the desert, Betzalel, the chief architect made this very point to Moses.
For Moses commanded Bezalel to first make the furnishings and afterwards the Mishkan… Betzalel responded, “It is common practice to first make a house and then to put furniture into it.” [1]
Moses agreed with Betzalel, and indeed, first the Tabernacle was constructed and only later did they build the furniture.
This leaves us with a question: why did Moses initially command Betzalel to make the furniture first and only later to build the home? Moses surely knew that doing so is indeed unusual.
The home with its walls and its roof provide shelter from the outside environment, the home allows the person to take control of and shape his or her environment. The furniture represents specific actions that fill our day. The furniture facilitates specific things like eating, sleeping, studying, etc. Betzalel’s perspective was that it is pointless to focus on performing a given action before one is in control of his environment. Betzalel argued that taking one positive action before there is a holy environment is like having a couch but no home. Betzalel argued that “the common practice”, the logical approach, is to first ensure a protective environment, secured from the rain, the cold and the outside elements; to first create a spiritual environment in which we are protected from the chaos and confusion of the material world. We must begin by creating a tranquil and holy environment, by removing all negative influences from our surroundings. Only then should we focus on doing a positive action. After all, what would be the purpose of one single positive action, if the rest of one’s day is full of unholiness?
Thus, argued Betzalel, first comes the home and then comes the furniture.
Moses agreed with Betzalel that under normal circumstances one should build a home and then bring in the furniture. Moses agreed that in principle one should first transform one’s environment before focusing on a specific action.
Yet, initially, Moses told Betzalel to first build the furniture and then build the home. Why?
Because Moses knew that unusual times would be coming.[2] There would be times when a person would feel that the darkness is too great, that the unholy is too dominant and that he or she is too weak to build a home, too weak to shelter oneself from the storm. Moses taught us that in those times we should first create the furniture - the action. Moses taught us to choose just one moment of our day and use it for a holy purpose. Moses taught us that even if we don't have a protective home, we should and could engage in holy actions.
Moses told us to fill our life with specific positive moments of holiness.
The energy produced from these moments will ultimately empower us to build a beautiful home, full of material and spiritual blessings.
[1] Rashi Exodus 38:22.
[2] See Lekutey Sichos Pikudey vol. 31.