Walls connote protection. Sometimes to keep what’s inside from what is outside and sometimes to keep what’s outside from getting in. Some walls that we can face are much more common – psychological walls, which are a natural defense mechanism that we sometimes use to protect us from feelings and thoughts that can cause us more harm than we want to bear. These walls can help us cope with current stressors in the short term, but problems in future relationships may surface if we over-rely on these inherently artificial walls. Jews must fortify ourselves to not let any walls get in the way of our relationship with Hashem.
By building the Beis HaMikdash for Hashem to dwell in, our relationship to him and his resulting presence has imbued a continual holiness to even the Western Wall – the retaining wall that surrounded the Beis HaMikdash – as it says in the Zohar, Hashem’s presence never left the Western Wall. Whatever walls a Jew may encounter, metaphorically, physically, or spiritually, that may keep us from drawing close to Hashem, one must ask oneself what wall is getting in the way of your relationship with Hashem. What can help you draw down holiness in such an indelible fashion.
As we fight an enemy on our border, it’s not walls that will save us and establish peace. The Walls of Jericho didn’t provide protection to its inhabitants. Not solely due to military might, but through Yehoshua’s relationship to Hashem the walls of Jericho came crashing down. May the only walls we erect and rely on be those that Hashem establishes through our efforts to draw near to Him.
