Make for Me a Sanctuary

by Yedidah on February 12, 2014

The ark of the covenant with the cheirubim

“Make for Me a sanctuary so I may dwell within them.” (Exodus 25,8)
Rabbi Ashlag teaches us that the Torah is both a way and a destination. Its essence is beyond all human understanding, being one with the essence of God and with the soul, in the inner meaning of the phrase from the Zohar, “The Torah, The Holy Blessed One and Israel (the soul) are one.”

Thus the Netivot Shalom, the great chassidic work of our time, teaches us that the sanctuary, the Mishkan, which occupies such a large portion of the Torah in its planning, its implementation, its structure, its vessels and the service within it, is like a map. It details both the essence of the soul, that is its makeup, and also guides us on the way that we as human beings can come to the soul’s fulfillment in actual practice.
So we may indeed become a sanctuary, each one of us, for the Holy Blessed One to dwell within.

Rabbi Ashlag shows us how the building of the sanctuary is thus as relevant now for us today as it was for the Children of Israel in the wilderness. It is our inner sanctuary we must now build.

This podcast is dedicated to לעלוי נשמת אבי מורי אהרון בן מנחם מנדל ז”ל; my father, Aaron ben Menahem Mendel z”l

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