Ritual is, first and foremost, a mode of paying attention. It is a process for marking interest. …It is this fundamental characteristic…that explains the role of place as a fundamental component of ritual: place directs attention….[This] understanding of ritual is best illustrated by the case of built ritual environments—most especially crafted constructions such as Temples. When one enters a Temple, one enters marked-off space…in which, at least in principle, nothing is accidental; everything, at least potentially, demands attention. The Temple serves as a focusing lens, establishing the possibility of significance by directing attention, by requiring the perception of difference.
(לג) ...וַיְכַ֥ל מֹשֶׁ֖ה אֶת־הַמְּלָאכָֽה׃ (פ) (לד) וַיְכַ֥ס הֶעָנָ֖ן אֶת־אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד וּכְב֣וֹד יְהוָ֔ה מָלֵ֖א אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּֽן׃
(33) ...When Moses had finished the work, (34) the cloud covered the Ohel Mo'ed, and the Presence of יְהוָ֔ה filled the Mishkan.
That human beings have successfully brought God into their midst through the construction of a sacred sanctuary marks a dramatic shift in ancient Near Eastern mythology. The Mesopotamian Epic of Creation is typical in its depiction of the
gods creating their own dwelling place on earth, here to be named Babylon:
"The Anunnaki [Babylonian deities] began shoveling. For a whole year they made bricks for it.When the second year arrived. . . they had built a high ziggurat for the Apsu [other deities]."
The Torah, in contrast, imagines human beings teaming up to fashion earthly materials (precious woods, metals, fabrics) into a place where God's Presence will abide. The inversion is poetic and brings God's work of creation full circle. In the first chapter of Genesis, God creates a home for human beings to inhabit. In the last chapter of Exodus, human beings, Israelites charged with a holy purpose, create a home for God to inhabit.
(א)...ובפירוש הפסוקים מהתורה והנביאים שזכרתי פה נטיתי ממה שפרשתי בהם במקומותיהם ובחרתי עתה דרך אחר בפירושם כפי הצורך לענין הדרוש ואין בזה סתירה כי שבעים פנים לתורה.
[There are many parallels between the story of creation and that of the Tabernacle.] I have interpreted some of the verses in the story of creation differently in my commentary to Genesis than I do here, to fit the interpretation to the context, but there is no contradiction; the Torah has 70 faces.
Abarbanel's commentary shows remarkable flexibility with the Torah. How might we interpret our malleable tradition with its detail-oriented mishkan to build a Beit K'nesset of meaning? What does meaningful prayer look like today and how can we retool our spaces to be more conducive to that worship?
(א) רַבִּי הוֹשַׁעְיָה רַבָּה פָּתַח (משלי ח, ל): וָאֶהְיֶה אֶצְלוֹ אָמוֹן וָאֶהְיֶה שַׁעֲשׁוּעִים יוֹם יוֹם וגו'...דָּבָר אַחֵר אָמוֹן, אֻמָּן. הַתּוֹרָה אוֹמֶרֶת אֲנִי הָיִיתִי כְּלִי אֻמְנוּתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, בְּנֹהַג שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם מֶלֶךְ בָּשָׂר וָדָם בּוֹנֶה פָּלָטִין, אֵינוֹ בּוֹנֶה אוֹתָהּ מִדַּעַת עַצְמוֹ אֶלָּא מִדַּעַת אֻמָּן, וְהָאֻמָּן אֵינוֹ בּוֹנֶה אוֹתָהּ מִדַּעַת עַצְמוֹ אֶלָּא דִּפְתְּרָאוֹת וּפִנְקְסָאוֹת יֵשׁ לוֹ, לָדַעַת הֵיאךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה חֲדָרִים, הֵיאךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה פִּשְׁפְּשִׁין. כָּךְ הָיָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַבִּיט בַּתּוֹרָה וּבוֹרֵא אֶת הָעוֹלָם, וְהַתּוֹרָה אָמְרָה בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים. וְאֵין רֵאשִׁית אֶלָּא תּוֹרָה, הֵיאַךְ מָה דְּאַתְּ אָמַר (משלי ח, כב): ה' קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ.
(1) The great Rabbi Hoshaya opened [with the verse (Proverbs 8:30),] "I [the Torah] was an amon to [God] and I was a plaything to [God] every day."
...Alternatively, amon means "artisan." The Torah is saying, "I was the artisan's tool of Adonai." In the way of the world, a king of flesh and blood who builds a castle does not do so from his own knowledge, but rather from the knowledge of an architect, and the architect does not build it from his own knowledge, but rather he has scrolls and books in order to know how to make rooms and doorways. So too Adonai gazed into the Torah and created the world. Similarly the Torah says, "Through the reishit Adonai created [the heavens and the earth]," and reishit means Torah, as in "Adonai made me [the Torah] the beginning (reishit) of [God's] way" (Proverbs 8:22).