Construction in the Desert
Reading the second half of the book of Exodus one begins to wonder why the Torah spends so much time on a project that, by design, was only supposed to be temporary.
This week’s portion, Terumah, begins with the commandment to build a home for G-d:
And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst.[1]
In this portion, the Torah elaborates on the details of the “sanctuary”, and we learn that G-d was not referring to an enduring temple of stone, similar to the one the Jewish people built, centuries later, on the temple mount in Jerusalem. Instead, G-d was referring to a more modest structure that was assembled from beams of wood for the walls and curtains for the roof. This sanctuary was designed to be temporary. It was designed to be assembled and disassembled as the Jewish people traveled through the desert, it was never meant to serve as the permanent structure in Jerusalem, which was the placed referred to in the Torah as “the place that G-d will choose to establish his name there”.
The temple was the spiritual capital of the Jewish people. It was the place where they were commanded to visit three times year, on the three pilgrimage holidays of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. It was, and continues to be, Judaism's holiest site. Why then does the Torah spend so many chapters on the details of the construction of the sanctuary which the Jewish people built in the desert? Doesn't the sanctuary of the desert pale in comparison to the size, beauty, grandeur and permanence of the temple in Jerusalem?
The construction of the sanctuary represents more than a conventional building project. Our sages explain that the verse, quoted earlier, “And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell within them”, employs the plural “I will dwell in them”, (instead of the singular ”I will dwell in it”), in order to teach us that every Jew is commanded to construct a figurative sanctuary within their own heart, and, indeed, the Divine presence dwells within the heart of every Jew.[2]
The commandment to construct the sanctuary is the core purpose of the creation of the universe and our mission on this earth. G-d desires that we create a home for Him in the most unlikely of places, constructed of the most unlikely materials. He empowers us to construct a home for Him built of the stuff of daily life, our material possessions and experiences. Every time we use our body or our possessions for a good purpose we are creating space for the Divine presence to dwell and we are sanctifying that part of ourselves and of the world.
Of all the sanctuaries built for G-d, the most precious to Him is the one built, not in the holy city of Jerusalem, but in the inhospitable desert. In our life, we experience “Jerusalem” moments, moments when we feel uplifted, inspired, connected. There are, however, other moments when we feel that we have been exiled from Jerusalem and we find ourselves in a spiritually inhospitable environment. We may feel fragmented, disconnected and deflated of the joy of life. At those moments we must take to heart the message of this Torah portion.
The sanctuary to which the book of Exodus devotes no less than four portions is the sanctuary of the desert. For it is precisely the sanctuary of the desert that captures the transformative power granted to us through the Torah and its commandments. No matter where we may find ourselves, geographically, emotionally, spiritually or psychologically we are able to transform our environment, and create a home of peace and tranquility amidst the inhospitable desert. No matter how challenging the external circumstances, we can take the material of the world and construct a haven, a home, where we can experience the presence of G-d in our life.[3]
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[1] Exodus 25:8
[2] Indeed, the commentators, both the classic commentators as well as the mystics, seek to explain how each of the details of the temple is an expression and reflection within the life of the Jew.
[3] Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Likutey Sichos Terumah vol. 21 sicha 1.