A Thought On Parshios VaYakhel-Pekudei
A Thought On Parshios VaYakhel-Pikudei
"...u'kvod HaShem malae es ha'mishkan..."
"...and the glory of G-d filled the shrine..." (40:35)
The theological difficulties with the above verse, at a literal level, are many. The notion, even the mental image, of HaShem's Presence filling up a material space, is problematic for us. Even when that room is the sacred mishkan, the shrine dedicated for the purpose of our communing with that sense of His Presence, it is challenging and even confusing to picture HaShem's intangible glory, the sense of His Divine Presence, taking on dimensional limits or contours which might occupy or fill a space.
This is why the Bechor Shor offers that the verse first must be transposed in order for us to better understand it. The verse should be translated as "and the shrine was filled with the glory of G-d." This means that upon entering the mishkan, one was overwhelmed with a sense of that Presence. That is an image which we can grasp. The Torah did not write it that way, but this is what we are meant to understand. Yet, had the verse been worded that way, it would imply that the mishkan actually constrained the Shechina, as if the Presence was secondary to the room which contained it.
By wording the scene as "the glory of HaShem filled the mishkan", we appreciate that it is HaShem Who is central and paramount, and it is the mishkan which was secondary, as if it was enveloped within that Divine Presence. The Presence is the subject, and the mishkan is the object, of the verse.
At the peak of Har Sinai, a once-in-an-eternity phenomenon of Shomayim kissing aretz took place. It was as if the mountain was enveloped and encased within a heavenly aura. This never happened again. Never again was there a moment when the sense of Heaven- meeting-earth occurred. The closest the universe ever came to an echo, a trace, of that event was in the mishkan. There was a sense of HaShem's Presence being somehow close, or present, there. It seemed to overtake or supercede the reality that there was a structure, a place, a material three-dimensional enclosure there. This is best captured by the verse saying that the G-d's glory filled that place. This is what dominated the senses, feelings and mental impression there. The meaning of our verse is that when one entered the mishkan, the five sensory modalities of sight, hearing, touch, taste and scent receded into the background of awareness; the dominant experience was that a sense of holiness pervaded consciousness.
Good Shabbos. D Fox
"...u'kvod HaShem malae es ha'mishkan..."
"...and the glory of G-d filled the shrine..." (40:35)
The theological difficulties with the above verse, at a literal level, are many. The notion, even the mental image, of HaShem's Presence filling up a material space, is problematic for us. Even when that room is the sacred mishkan, the shrine dedicated for the purpose of our communing with that sense of His Presence, it is challenging and even confusing to picture HaShem's intangible glory, the sense of His Divine Presence, taking on dimensional limits or contours which might occupy or fill a space.
This is why the Bechor Shor offers that the verse first must be transposed in order for us to better understand it. The verse should be translated as "and the shrine was filled with the glory of G-d." This means that upon entering the mishkan, one was overwhelmed with a sense of that Presence. That is an image which we can grasp. The Torah did not write it that way, but this is what we are meant to understand. Yet, had the verse been worded that way, it would imply that the mishkan actually constrained the Shechina, as if the Presence was secondary to the room which contained it.
By wording the scene as "the glory of HaShem filled the mishkan", we appreciate that it is HaShem Who is central and paramount, and it is the mishkan which was secondary, as if it was enveloped within that Divine Presence. The Presence is the subject, and the mishkan is the object, of the verse.
At the peak of Har Sinai, a once-in-an-eternity phenomenon of Shomayim kissing aretz took place. It was as if the mountain was enveloped and encased within a heavenly aura. This never happened again. Never again was there a moment when the sense of Heaven- meeting-earth occurred. The closest the universe ever came to an echo, a trace, of that event was in the mishkan. There was a sense of HaShem's Presence being somehow close, or present, there. It seemed to overtake or supercede the reality that there was a structure, a place, a material three-dimensional enclosure there. This is best captured by the verse saying that the G-d's glory filled that place. This is what dominated the senses, feelings and mental impression there. The meaning of our verse is that when one entered the mishkan, the five sensory modalities of sight, hearing, touch, taste and scent receded into the background of awareness; the dominant experience was that a sense of holiness pervaded consciousness.
Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 9:06 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home