Book A Tour  |  

Parshat Pekudei
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

??"?

????? ?????

Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

????? ?' ??? ?? ?????

 

"Awaken, awaken! For Your light has come; arise, shine! Awaken, awaken, sing a song; the Honor of HaShem is revealed upon You!" (Lecha Dodi)

The 'Honor of HaShem', referred to in 'Lecha Dodi' in greeting the Shabbos Queen and in our title quote, refers to the Holy Presence in regard to the realm of time. In parallel, the ultimate resting place of the Holy Presence in the realm of location, as is well-known, is the Temple in Jerusalem. This Temple, as we have shown for the past several issues, came after a gradual process of 'seeking' the Holy Presence in various cities in the Holy Land, culminating with a period of 50 years in Givon before Jerusalem. The number 50 reminds us of the Jubilee cycle, and indeed it seems that the concept of the 'Jubilee' is very dominant in understanding the status of the Temple. Just as the Jubilee year involves laws which raise the Land to 'supernatural' levels, such as 'the Land is God's', calling for the return of all lands in the Holy Land to their previous owners, so too the Temple represents the supernatural sanctity of a certain part of the Holy Land raised above all others lands.

To be more exact we may say that this concept of 50 may be divided into the 48 levels leading up to the 50th level, the 49thlevel which represents Jerusalem, and the 50th level which represents the Temple itself. Interestingly, the numerical value of 'Yovel', Jubilee, is 48. These 48 levels can correspond to the 48 days from the Exodus before the 'three days of separation' before the giving of the Torah on the 50th day, Shavuous. Also, we find that the Torah enumerates 48 holy cities of the Holy Land set aside to be either Levite cities (42) or Refuge Cities (6) such as Hebron. We see the number 48 again in context of the period of time it took from the Exodus to reach the Temple in multiples of ten, 480 years (Kings I 6, 1). Also, the period of time it took from the building of the First Temple to the Second Temple is also exactly 480 years (410 First Temple + 70 Babylonian Exile).

Although there is very much to discuss about the Temple in Jerusalem we should make mention of the Temples' parallels to the Patriarchs of Hebron who instituted the service of HaShem at the Temple Mount. Thus, Rabbis assert that the First Temple corresponds to Avraham, and the second to Yitzhak, both of which had offspring that left the path of Judaism, indicating that these Temples will be destroyed. Here we should also mention that, although the First and Second Temple were obligated to be at the same location (also the Third Temple), they had five fundamental differences that existed in the First Temple but not in the Second: the Ark, the Divine fire, the Holy Presence, Divine inspiration (Ruah Hakodesh), and the Urim Vetumim (a divine manuscript which gives the Priest's breastplate prophetic power). It is clear that these differences point to a lack of the level of Divine spirituality in the Second Temple in comparison to the First Temple. Nevertheless, the Prophet Hagai (2, 9) says that that the Second Temple is 'greater' than the first, and commentators explain that the Second Temple had greater physical grandeur and lasted more years than the First. These differences highlight the inherent advantages of the Patriarchs Avraham and Yitzhak one over the other.

This said, our hope and wish is for the Third Temple which corresponds to the Patriarch Yakov considered to unite the characteristics of both Avraham and Yitzhak together, so that the Third Temple will stand in the harmony of both spiritual and physical supremacy, forever. 

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Real Stories from the Holy Land #160

"One day, I was told that there was a problem with a key to a certain hall that I was given permission to use by the landlord, so I decided to call this landlord to find a solution/fix the key. However, before I was able to call him, he 'happened' to give me a ride in his car for the first time in about three months, allowing me to talk to him face to face..." M.I

Sources: Likutei Halachot Mincha, 7

Comments, questions, and/or stories,email  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.