This Shabbat we learn of the donations collected to build the Mishkan as well as the mitzvah of bringing the half-shekel to support the ongoing maintenance of the Beit HaMikdash. Thus we also begin the festive countdown to Purim and Pesach.
In the weekly Torah reading, we begin reading of the design of the Mishkan for two weeks until we read of the construction, separated by the parsha with the account of the Golden Calf and Moshe’s intimate encounter with the Divine. This year. the intervening parsha, Ki Tisa, will correspond to Purim in Yerushalayim. This Shabbat we also read the first of the four special readings that precede Pesach, Parshat Shekalim.
Over the course of these coming weeks we will, with Hashem’s help, explore aspects of the Ramchal’s classic text Mishkenei Elyon that correspond to information in the parsha. Mishkenei Elyon is a small but profound text that explains the spiritual significance of the detailed structure of the third Beit HaMikdash that was witnessed and reported on by the navi Yechezkel. This text in Yechezkel provides the haftara for next week’s parsha when it doesn’t correspond with one of the four special parshiyot. The haftara for the last of the special parshiyot – HaChodesh – tells of the sacrificial service witnessed by Yechezkel in the Beit HaMikdash.
In Mishkenei Elyon, the Ramchal is focused on the third Beit HaMikdash as described by Yechezkel, so the source text is in the Navi, not our parsha. Most of the particulars are specific to the geography of Yerushalayim and the Temple Mount. Therefore, the two texts don’t readily imprint on one another; there are considerable differences in the order of the accounts and its emphasis. However, one intriguing parallel concerns the ideal divine source for the architecture of the Sanctuary. The Ramchal speaks at length of the differences between the three Batei HaMikdash, but he doesn’t address the Mishkan explicitly at all. However, all of the earthly structures are imperfect attempts to express a paradigm – the supernal Mikdash, or heavenly court of the Divine Presence, as it abides in realms above.
Although this shouldn’t have to be said, all descriptions of the Divine in terms of anthropomorphizing to form or “inhabiting” a space by any expression of the term can only be purely allegorical. The “House of Hashem” on earth is not literally a structure to contain Him, nor can any hypothetical palace on high be a “home” to Him up there. Hashem is not framed by and doesn’t reside in any place whether above or below. However, He may choose to manifest Himself in any place He deems fitting for this purpose, and from these manifestations we learn powerful lessons about the creation of the universe and its ongoing maintenance.
Ramchal explains in the introduction to Mishkenei Elyon that when Hashem created the universe and He allowed aspects of His emanated light to filter into parts of His creation, there was an established pattern to this process and various ways in which the light could be reflected upon and perceived by the wise in this world. The physical structure of the Mikdash, when constructed with the proper skill in the appropriate place and time, presents a symbolic correspondence to aspects of His mastery of and immanence in the world that we perceive. Each of the structures that have been built (and will be built) according to this tradition is an imperfect presentation of this light and its mysteries. In the structure of the Sanctuary and in the various movements and rituals that take place within it, much that is by nature hidden comes to be revealed.
Specifically, regarding the correspondence of the third, eternal Beit HaMikdash with the heavenly one, there are different opinions about whether these are the same building. It is agreed that Yechezkel saw the third Beit HaMikdash, but there are differences of opinion as to the nature of this vision and where and when was the site of his vision. (We may return to this question in a few weeks. It would be an appropriate discussion surrounding the haftara of Parshat Parah as noted above.)
In Mishkenei Elyon the Ramchal dedicates an entire chapter to the dimensions of the Mizbe’ach, the altar of the outer courtyard, the design of which is given in our parsha. It should be noted that the actual size and position of the Mizbe’ach in the courtyard will vary, based on whether or not the Kodesh Kedoshim is standing in its place on the Temple Mount. So the Mizbe’ach of Moshe was distinctly different from that observed by Yechezkel. Nevertheless there are numerous similarities in the overall structure, and the dimensions remain essentially the same.
In his introduction to Mishkenei Elyon, Ramchal describes how the various letters of the Divine Name are fragmented as the physical world is extruded from the ideal world of the plan of creation. On the Mizbe’ach, the four corners are topped by four “horns” and these four fragments of divine light are bound back together. Whether in the wilderness or in Yerushalayim, when the Mizbe’ach is used as designed, it causes the experience of the Divine from higher realms to interface in the physical world with the basest materials – the dirt of the structure itself and the bodies of sacrifices being burned upon it.
It is from this interface that the manifestation of the Divine Presence, i.e., the Shechina, can be perceived by us in our experience of the world. This revelation is described as kavod, usually translated as “honor,” but clearly denoting so much more. On numerous occasions when it becomes necessary for the Divine to intervene in affairs of this world, we encounter descriptions of the kavod of Hashem being manifest before the people in the presence of the Mishkan and of the Mizbe’ach.
