Last week, we briefly touched on the subject
of the Mizbe’ach HaZahav (Golden Alter) and how it atones for the spiritual
effect of sins on us. I would like to expound on this idea further this week.
As we explained last week, the Mizbe’ach
HaZahav atones for the spiritual effect of sins while the Mizbe’ach HaNechoshes
(Copper Alter) atones for the physical effect. This is why we bring animal
sacrifices on the Copper Mizbe’ach; the animal’s body takes the place of our
own and takes away our sins. Since the average height of a person is three amos
tall, the Copper Mizbe’ach was built to this height. Basically, every element
of the mizbe’ach was meant to represent a physical aspect of a human, which is
whom the mizbe’ach atones for.
However, it is not only the physical
body which needs atonement, the soul requires it as well. The human soul, to
put it simply, is more complex than an animal’s soul and therefore requires
something different from an animal sacrifice. So Hashem commanded Moshe to
bring the Ketores (incense) offering on
the Golden Mizbe’ach, whose smoke and smell would rise up in front of Hashem,
just as a person’s soul does, to atone for their sins.
Similar to the Copper Mizbe’ach, the
dimensions of the Mizbe’ach HaZahav are also significant to its purpose. The length
and width are both a single amah, representing the soul, which is called
singular. (This is because the soul is called “a part” of Hashem, who is also singular.)
It is two amos high, representing how the soul rises above this world to its place
beyond.
The Ketores is brought twice a day, in
the morning and at night, similar to the soul, which is returned to us in the
morning when we wake, and taken back at night when we go to sleep. It is
brought at the same time that the Menorah is lit at night and cleaned in the
morning. Just as the Menorah is cleaned in the morning, we hope the Ketores will
help bring our souls back “clean” to us at the start of the day, and just as
the flames of the Menorah rise up at night, we hope our souls will be able to
rise up high without any sins from the past day.
The ideas we have discussed about the
different utensils in the Mishkan seem esoteric. In fact, the exhaustive detail
written both in this week’s and last week’s parshah seems unnecessary. Why is
it important for us to know every single little detail? Why did Hashem deem it
necessary to tell Moshe every little detail about the Mishkan’s construction, why
not allow us a little creative freedom to determine how things should look? The
answer lies in Divrei Torah like these. Really, every single detail of the
Mishkan was extremely important, referencing important ideas on many different
levels, ranging from simple to mystical. Whether we understand them or not, it
is imperative of us to realize that none of these designs are only because of
how nice they look. They all in some way affect us, the Jewish People, for our
good.
Shabbat Shalom!
For any questions, comments, or to subscribe to our email list, please email us at AIMeMtorah@gmail.com.
Please check out our other AIMeMTorah project, Nation's Wisdom!
AIMeM
No comments:
Post a Comment