"Rather only at the place that Hashem, your G-d, will choose from all your tribes to place His Name there, you shall seek out His resting place and come there."
What clearly jumps out at you in this week's parsha is the expression that the Torah uses over and over again, some fifteen times in the course of just four chapters: "Only the place that G-d will choose to place His Name" meaning, the place where the future Temple will be built. Why doesn't G-d just tell us where His House will be built? What's all the fuss about? Why doesn't the Torah just come out and say: "My resting place, which is in Jerusalem"? Why all the suspense?
It would take over 400 years for the Jewish people to finally figure our where G-d's resting place was supposed to be, for from the time that we entered the Land under Joshua until King David, G-d had no permanent dwelling. It was not until David finally understood that the House of the "Mighty One of Jacob" was to be on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.
The Rambam gives three reasons why the name Jerusalem was omitted with reference to the Temple. He writes that if the Torah had announced Jerusalem at the outset, then
1) many nations would have tried to conquer it beforehand, knowing how valuable it is to Israel;
2) those in possession of it would have exerted every effort to ruin it, leaving scorched earth before it would fall into the Israelites hands; and
3) every tribe would desire that the site of the Temple would be located in its portion, and this would lead to internecine strife.
How true the words of the Rambam are, for we find today in our struggle with the children of Ishmael and the nations of the world over the Land of Israel, that for nearly two thousand years, while the Land lay desolate, no one was interested in her and no one built her up.
But as soon as Jewish renewal to the Land came and the Jews started to come home, all the nations try to claim her as their own.
But the strange terminology of the Torah, to repeat itself over 15 times, "the place that I will choose" runs deeper than this. As the Sifri points out, we "must seek her out" through the mouth of a prophet, but if you think this means you should wait until a prophet tells you, the text says you shall seek her and there shall you come." This means that the obligation to seek and build our G-d's House is upon each and every one of us.
The Malbim explains that Hashem will not make the first step in revealing the location of the Sanctuary through His prophets; rather, the people of Israel must take the initiative by seeking. Then, when conditions are suitable, He will bestow the prophetic spirit to respond to their search.
In this light ,the Talmud teaches us: G-d says, "I will not enter the heavenly Jerusalem until Israel enters the earthly one". G-d, so to speak, is waiting for us to make it happen, to take that first move. Only then will there be Heavenly help from above.
This, then, is the "big secret" in our pasha: It is not enough to wait around hoping for something to happen, waiting for the Redemption to come about. Rather, it is upon each of us to arise and seek it out, as King David said: I shall not enter the tent of my house, nor shall I give sleep to my eyes, until I find a place for Hashem, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Ya'akov.
How sad it is, then, that so many of us today are "too comfortable" with our daily lives seeking out vacations, new cars, partying, looking for our next adventure, while all too few of us "seek Her out". It must be upon us continuously, like King David, to neither rest or sleep until we all do our utmost to come home to Israel and help bring the Redemption closer.