​Parashat Terumah 5784, 2024: "To Become Hashem’s Mikdash"

Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל, בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
The best-known pasuk in our parasha is, “And they shall make Me a sanctuary (mikdash) and I will dwell in their midst.” (Sefer Shemot 25:8, this, and all Bible translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach) It is followed by many verses that specify every possible detail of the constitutive elements of the Mishkan. Yet, as the Mechilta d’Rabbi Yishmael notes, the very act of constructing a mikdash for Hashem is problematic: “And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst;” why was this ever stated? After all, was it not already said, (Sefer Yirmiyahu 23:24) ‘Behold I fill the heavens and the earth?’ [As such, how can any dwelling contain Hashem?]” (Translation and brackets my own)

The Mechilta d’Rabbi Yishmael teaches us the idea of building a mikdash for Hashem seemingly makes no sense. This is similar in kind to Yeshayahu’s famous declaration: “So says Hashem, ‘the heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool; which is the house that you will build for Me, and which is the place of My rest?’” (Sefer Yeshayahu 66:1)
The great Lithuanian Torah sage, Rav Chaim of Volozhin (1749-1821), was acutely aware of the conceptual challenges posed by the mitzvah to build a mikdash for Hashem. He addressed them by emphasizing the later part of our pasuk, “and I will dwell in their midst,” and suggests this revolutionary interpretation:

Behold, there is no doubt whatsoever, that the very idea of the holy (hakodesh), the sanctuary (hamikdash) and the in-dwelling (shriyat shechinato) of the Holy One blessed be He refers to man, himself. [This is the case,] for if he sanctifies himself in the proper manner through the fulfillment of all the mitzvot…then he, himself, will be the sanctuary of Hashem (hu atzmo hamikdash mammash) and within him will be Hashem, may His Name be blessed. (Nefesh HaChaim, I:4, this, and the following translations and brackets my own)
 
The depth of Rav Chaim’s chiddush cannot be overestimated: If we sanctify ourselves through the performance of the mitzvot, then we will be the ultimate mikdash of Hashem.  Rav Chaim bases his reasoning upon a verse from Yirmiyahu, and a well-known statement of our Sages found in the Midrash Aggadah:

[As proof for what I have suggested,] we have the text from Sefer Yirmiyahu: “…The Temple of the Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem are they.” (7:4) This is similar in kind to the utterance of our Sages, may their memory be blessed, “and I will dwell in their midst”— “It does not say, ‘in it’ [that is, the physical Mikdash,] rather it says, “in their midst,” [that is, literally within them.]
 
At this juncture, it seems the physical structure of the Mikdash, or even of the Beit HaMikdash, is well-nigh superfluous, as it is superseded by the Jewish people, themselves. A careful reading of Rav Chaim’s next words seem to support precisely this approach:
In addition, according to our manner of explanation, one should not think that the essential purpose of My [G-d’s] intention [regarding the commandment to construct the Mikdash] is the creation of the physical Mikdash itself (hamikdash hachitzoni).
 
What, then, is the rationale inherent in the construction of the Mikdash? For Rav Chaim, it is nothing less than the creation of the greatest teaching device the world has ever known:
​
But you should know that My [Hashem’s] overarching purpose and desire regarding the Mikdash’s construction and all its vessels, is solely to indicate to you [the Jewish people individually, and as a people,] that you should model yourselves after these physical entities and reconstruct yourselves and all of your actions, so that they will be as proper to Me as the building of the Mikdash and all its [sanctified] vessels. [For in truth,] all of you are holy, fitting, and prepared (kedoshim, re’uyim u’muchanim) for My holy presence to literally dwell within you (lehashrot shechinati b’tochchachem mammash). This, then, is the true meaning of, “And they shall make Me a sanctuary (mikdash) and I will dwell in their midst.”
 
Rav Chaim’s message is unbelievably inspiring: We, the Jewish people, are holy and fitting for the Schechinah to dwell amongst us, for in truth, we are His mikdash. With Hashem’s help, may we rededicate ourselves to His holy Torah and the fulfillment of His mitzvot, and become His mikdash soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.
Shabbat Shalom
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
Please contact me at [email protected] to be added to my weekly email list.
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: http://tinyurl.com/8hsdpyd
 
*** I have posted 164 of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link: The Rav

---