The Holy Temple: A World of Splendor \ Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
Tetzaveh
The Shiur was given in Adar B, 5763
The Holy Temple: A World of Splendor
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
Written by the rabbi
When we read the Torah portions dealing with the construction of the Tabernacle, we
receive a lesson in the Torah's approach to art, splendor, and beauty. We are made aware
of the fact that the Torah demonstrates aesthetic appreciation of forms of art such as
drawing and weaving. The priestly garments must be made with incredible perfection, right
down to their buttons and flowers. The same goes for the Ark and the Cherubim thereupon.
The Torah portions dealing with the Tabernacle dispel the mistaken impression that the
Torah instructs man to confine himself to an abstract spiritual world and that the entire goal
of the Jew should be to occupy himself with the Torah and the commandments without
entering into other exterior realms, without developing deep natural talents, like art, beauty,
imagination, and aesthetics.
This, though, is not the case. To the contrary, the Torah tells us to deepen all of our natural
facets, to develop all of our talents, not to relinquish even one capacity, but to adopt and
perfect it. For only through all of the existing channels can a person serve God. "This is my
God, and I will glorify Him." - "Adorn yourself before Him in Mitzvoth" (the Sages on Exodus
14:2).
Here, in the most holy of places, the location of the resting of the Divine Presence among
Israel, in the Holy Temple's Holy of Holies, here is where the height of artistic talent must be
employed in order to build the entire Temple and its vessels in all of their beauty and
magnificence.
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The Holy Temple: A World of Splendor \ Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
Tetzaveh
The Holy Temple is referred to as the "Splendor of the World." The Almighty is not satisfied
with the general commandment to construct a beautiful Holy Temple, magnificent, and
flawless, but gives a detailed plan of how to make each and every vessel, and how
everything ought to appear together. The Holy Temple is supposed to possess lofty and
Divine beauty. Everything in the Temple must be in accordance with what Moses was shown
on Mount Sinai. "And see that you make according to the pattern which is being shown to
you on the mountain" (Exodus 25:40); And you shall construct the Tabernacle in accordance
with that which was shown to you on the mountain" (Ibid. 26:30).
From here one may conclude that when Moses ascended to the heights of Mount Sinai, the
Almighty showed him the heavenly Holy Temple and commanded him to build a similar
earthly Holy Temple. The beauty, perfection, splendor, and magnificence of the Holy
Temple, then, stem from the greatest of heights.
"Yet," one might ask oneself, "Should not we be concerned that the emphasis upon
superficial beauty will damage spiritual concepts and cause a person to take a shallow
approach; instead of delving into the lofty significance of the Holy Temple in which the Divine
Presence rests, one is liable to become caught up in superficial and external appearance;
instead of discerning the face of the Divine in the Temple, one is liable to become caught up
in the beautiful and impressive vessels.
Such questions arise only because we have become distanced from our land and from the
days of the Holy Temple's glory, for when the Holy Temple stood and the Divine Presence
rested therein, faith would fill the entire heart. The dwelling of the Divine Presence in the
Temple was felt in all of the spiritual senses, and there was no conflict between a person's
outer and inner senses, between the "lights" and the "vessels." Rather, there was perfect
harmony between all of the spiritual facets, and it was impossible for it to be otherwise, for
the greatness of the Divine Presence appeared in the complete magnificence of the vessels.
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The Holy Temple: A World of Splendor \ Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
Tetzaveh
Only after the Destruction, in the Exile, was a contradiction between the content and the
vessels themselves born, and only then did a conflict between the external and the internal
make itself felt. Such is the sick nature of exile. This is not the case, though, when the Holy
Temple is standing and the nation is healthy.
This is what we are anxiously awaiting - the speedy reconstruction of the Temple, in which,
and through which, all of the facets will unite in perfect harmony, such that the Divine
Presence once again reveal itself in the House of God, the "Splendor of the World."
E-mail : beitel@yeshiva.org.il
For more Shiurim from the site: www.yeshiva.org.il
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