?These are the accounts of the mishkan, the mishkan of the testimony.? (Ex.38:21)
The words ?mishkan of the testimony? are really an abbreviated way of saying, ?the mishkan which contained the tablets of the testimony?, which is what the tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments were usually called (Ex. 25:16); that is to say, the tablets which testify to the covenant between God and Israel.
The midrash, however, finds here the thought that perhaps there is a sense in which the mishkan itself, by virtue of what is done therein, can ?testify? to all the world that the Divine Presence dwells in Israel and that God can be found in ordinary human experience.
Yet how were the people able to achieve this? In its answer, the midrash connects this question to the problem of the ?surplus?. It should be remembered that when Moshe called for contributions of materials for the mishkan, we are told: ?For the material was sufficient for all the work and there was left over.? (Ex. 36:7) So Moshe asked Hashem, ?What shall we do with the surplus?? Hashem said to him, ?Go and make with it a mishkan of the testimony.? (Leviticus Rabbah 51:2)
Had the people not been so generous and had given just enough, then the end result would have indeed been a complete mishkan: functional, aesthetically pleasing and halakhically kosher. However, it would not have been mishkan l?eidut (a mishkan for testimony), it would not have radiated any message of kedusha or shechinah to the outside world. Human constructions can radiate spirituality only when it is recognizable that something ?extra?, a special enthusiasm, a readiness to sacrifice, has gone into the effort.
We, in our day, have been called upon to build a national mishkan, a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael. Baruch Hashem, it has grown and developed with a Jewish population of close to 5.5 million. It is extolled as an economic powerhouse, as a regional super power, as a city of refuge, but it is still not a mishkan eidut, for there is no spiritual ?surplus?. The only ones who can achieve this are religious Jews, who recognize in the state of Israel the ?hand of God? and the fulfillment of Torah prophecy.
It is good to contribute funds, to buy vacation homes, to visit periodically and to send our young people to study in Israeli Yeshivot, but the ?surplus,? that extra dedication, will become visible and begin to radiate only when religious Jews begin to make aliyah in waves. Only then will the world realize that it is spiritual values that lie at the heart of Jewish homecoming.
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Rabbi Shubert Spero writes from Jerusalem.
Aloh Naaleh is an organization dedicated to building Aliya motivation among North American Jewry. Torah Thoughts contributed by Aloh Naaleh members appear in the Orthodox Union's Torah Insights publication. Contact Aloh Naaleh at aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il.
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Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.
The words ?mishkan of the testimony? are really an abbreviated way of saying, ?the mishkan which contained the tablets of the testimony?, which is what the tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments were usually called (Ex. 25:16); that is to say, the tablets which testify to the covenant between God and Israel.
The midrash, however, finds here the thought that perhaps there is a sense in which the mishkan itself, by virtue of what is done therein, can ?testify? to all the world that the Divine Presence dwells in Israel and that God can be found in ordinary human experience.
Yet how were the people able to achieve this? In its answer, the midrash connects this question to the problem of the ?surplus?. It should be remembered that when Moshe called for contributions of materials for the mishkan, we are told: ?For the material was sufficient for all the work and there was left over.? (Ex. 36:7) So Moshe asked Hashem, ?What shall we do with the surplus?? Hashem said to him, ?Go and make with it a mishkan of the testimony.? (Leviticus Rabbah 51:2)
Had the people not been so generous and had given just enough, then the end result would have indeed been a complete mishkan: functional, aesthetically pleasing and halakhically kosher. However, it would not have been mishkan l?eidut (a mishkan for testimony), it would not have radiated any message of kedusha or shechinah to the outside world. Human constructions can radiate spirituality only when it is recognizable that something ?extra?, a special enthusiasm, a readiness to sacrifice, has gone into the effort.
We, in our day, have been called upon to build a national mishkan, a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael. Baruch Hashem, it has grown and developed with a Jewish population of close to 5.5 million. It is extolled as an economic powerhouse, as a regional super power, as a city of refuge, but it is still not a mishkan eidut, for there is no spiritual ?surplus?. The only ones who can achieve this are religious Jews, who recognize in the state of Israel the ?hand of God? and the fulfillment of Torah prophecy.
It is good to contribute funds, to buy vacation homes, to visit periodically and to send our young people to study in Israeli Yeshivot, but the ?surplus,? that extra dedication, will become visible and begin to radiate only when religious Jews begin to make aliyah in waves. Only then will the world realize that it is spiritual values that lie at the heart of Jewish homecoming.
--------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Shubert Spero writes from Jerusalem.
Aloh Naaleh is an organization dedicated to building Aliya motivation among North American Jewry. Torah Thoughts contributed by Aloh Naaleh members appear in the Orthodox Union's Torah Insights publication. Contact Aloh Naaleh at aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il.
--------------------------------------------------------
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.