Chasidut zu Schemot 25:15
בְּטַבְּעֹת֙ הָאָרֹ֔ן יִהְי֖וּ הַבַּדִּ֑ים לֹ֥א יָסֻ֖רוּ מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃
In den Ringen der Lade sollen die Stangen bleiben, sie sollen nicht herauskommen.
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 25,15. “the staves shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it” “you shall place within the ark the testimony (Tablets), etc.”
The reason why the Torah emphasized only in connection with the holy ark that the staves by means of which the ark will be carried must not be removed from it [although also the table was carried by means of such staves, and the boards of the Tabernacle itself were held in place by staves, Ed.] requires analysis.
The author says that in order to explain this he must give a lengthy introduction. He takes it for granted that man, i.e. a human being, is viewed as a microcosm of the universe
He also takes it for granted that the reader is aware that the 613 commandments are divided into 365 negative commandments and 248 positive commandments and symbolize the human body i.e. are expressions in tangible form of 613 different spiritual concepts, both 248 positive ones and 365 negative ones. Similarly, the various parts of the Tabernacle are also to be viewed as representing these 613 concepts that form part of the universe and are placed before our eyes as the universe in miniature. In other words, each component part of the Tabernacle represented one of the 613 commandments.
When analyzing these 613 commandments, the reader will find that not all of them are essential, in the sense that not all of them can be fulfilled by each Israelite, and some of them are in the nature of “rearguard actions,” i.e. when certain sins have been committed they are designed to repair the spiritual damage the universe, i.e. the collective soul of the Jewish people, has suffered and the performance of the commandment is designed to repair that damage. Other commandments are so important that we must never lose sight of them, and we are told to remember certain events on a 24/7 basis during all our waking hours. One of these is the commandment to remain aware that there is only one Creator and that it is He Who is the source of all the phenomena that we observe in the universe. The second such commandment is that He has no partners, senior or junior, and is the Only Deity. The third such commandment is that we are commanded to love Him, i.e. that it is our duty as an expression of our love for Him to perform acts that will please Him. The means we are to employ to please Him are observance of the laws of the Torah, turning to Him in prayer, performing charitable deeds for the needy, all of whom have also been created in G’d’s image. At the same time as loving G’d, we must also remain in awe of His presence, i.e. be on guard against transgressing any of the negative commandments in the Torah. Under no circumstances are we to commit acts that we know to contradict His expressed wishes. All the above-mentioned commandments are absolute and apply to each one of us at all times. Faith in the Lord includes that we remain constantly aware of these cardinal points of Judaism.
There are other positive commandments, i.e. wearing four-cornered garments with fringes, ציציות; putting on phylacteries, which are to be performed only during hours of daylight. The same applies to the offering of sacrifices, something that is not acceptable when performed at night. Nowadays, owing to our exile these commandments are incapable of being performed altogether.
The ארון, holy ark, represented the totality of all the commandments, [seeing that the written Torah was deposited within it in addition to the Tablets. Ed.]. In order to symbolize the concept that Torah is indispensable to the Jewish people at any time day or night, Sabbath or weekday, the staves which served as the supports for carrying the ark on the shoulders of the priests, (compare Joshua 3,15) therefore had to remain firmly attached to the rings that enabled them to perform their function.
There are still other words of G’d which are also hinted at in the text of the Ten Commandments, on the Tablets which were the principal item inside the holy ark. These too ought to be remembered at all times as if they were commandments that had been spelled out as such.
The table, which was also equipped with rings and staves as a means to carry it, symbolizes other commandments, and the Levites were charged with carrying it by using them (Numbers 7,9). The table too, had to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites who were descendants of Kehat, not transported on the wagons like the boards and roof coverings of the Tabernacle. The commandment to carry certain parts of the furnishings of the Tabernacle on the shoulders of the Levites charged with performing service in or around the Tabernacle shows how these furnishings symbolized the commandments, i.e. what is most sacred to the Jewish people. During the wanderings in the desert when the Tabernacle and its constituent parts were being moved regularly, carrying these parts on the shoulders was the way the need to observe the commandments at all times was being demonstrated. The Levites were agents, messengers, of the Jewish people and at the same time agents, i.e. messengers of G’d. The holy ark which symbolized the most important commandments, the ones that apply on a year round basis to every Israelite reminded its carriers of this fact when they considered the prohibition to detach the staves by taking them out of their rings.
The reason why the Torah emphasized only in connection with the holy ark that the staves by means of which the ark will be carried must not be removed from it [although also the table was carried by means of such staves, and the boards of the Tabernacle itself were held in place by staves, Ed.] requires analysis.
The author says that in order to explain this he must give a lengthy introduction. He takes it for granted that man, i.e. a human being, is viewed as a microcosm of the universe
He also takes it for granted that the reader is aware that the 613 commandments are divided into 365 negative commandments and 248 positive commandments and symbolize the human body i.e. are expressions in tangible form of 613 different spiritual concepts, both 248 positive ones and 365 negative ones. Similarly, the various parts of the Tabernacle are also to be viewed as representing these 613 concepts that form part of the universe and are placed before our eyes as the universe in miniature. In other words, each component part of the Tabernacle represented one of the 613 commandments.
When analyzing these 613 commandments, the reader will find that not all of them are essential, in the sense that not all of them can be fulfilled by each Israelite, and some of them are in the nature of “rearguard actions,” i.e. when certain sins have been committed they are designed to repair the spiritual damage the universe, i.e. the collective soul of the Jewish people, has suffered and the performance of the commandment is designed to repair that damage. Other commandments are so important that we must never lose sight of them, and we are told to remember certain events on a 24/7 basis during all our waking hours. One of these is the commandment to remain aware that there is only one Creator and that it is He Who is the source of all the phenomena that we observe in the universe. The second such commandment is that He has no partners, senior or junior, and is the Only Deity. The third such commandment is that we are commanded to love Him, i.e. that it is our duty as an expression of our love for Him to perform acts that will please Him. The means we are to employ to please Him are observance of the laws of the Torah, turning to Him in prayer, performing charitable deeds for the needy, all of whom have also been created in G’d’s image. At the same time as loving G’d, we must also remain in awe of His presence, i.e. be on guard against transgressing any of the negative commandments in the Torah. Under no circumstances are we to commit acts that we know to contradict His expressed wishes. All the above-mentioned commandments are absolute and apply to each one of us at all times. Faith in the Lord includes that we remain constantly aware of these cardinal points of Judaism.
There are other positive commandments, i.e. wearing four-cornered garments with fringes, ציציות; putting on phylacteries, which are to be performed only during hours of daylight. The same applies to the offering of sacrifices, something that is not acceptable when performed at night. Nowadays, owing to our exile these commandments are incapable of being performed altogether.
The ארון, holy ark, represented the totality of all the commandments, [seeing that the written Torah was deposited within it in addition to the Tablets. Ed.]. In order to symbolize the concept that Torah is indispensable to the Jewish people at any time day or night, Sabbath or weekday, the staves which served as the supports for carrying the ark on the shoulders of the priests, (compare Joshua 3,15) therefore had to remain firmly attached to the rings that enabled them to perform their function.
There are still other words of G’d which are also hinted at in the text of the Ten Commandments, on the Tablets which were the principal item inside the holy ark. These too ought to be remembered at all times as if they were commandments that had been spelled out as such.
The table, which was also equipped with rings and staves as a means to carry it, symbolizes other commandments, and the Levites were charged with carrying it by using them (Numbers 7,9). The table too, had to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites who were descendants of Kehat, not transported on the wagons like the boards and roof coverings of the Tabernacle. The commandment to carry certain parts of the furnishings of the Tabernacle on the shoulders of the Levites charged with performing service in or around the Tabernacle shows how these furnishings symbolized the commandments, i.e. what is most sacred to the Jewish people. During the wanderings in the desert when the Tabernacle and its constituent parts were being moved regularly, carrying these parts on the shoulders was the way the need to observe the commandments at all times was being demonstrated. The Levites were agents, messengers, of the Jewish people and at the same time agents, i.e. messengers of G’d. The holy ark which symbolized the most important commandments, the ones that apply on a year round basis to every Israelite reminded its carriers of this fact when they considered the prohibition to detach the staves by taking them out of their rings.
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Kedushat Levi
All this is alluded to in the words: אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדות. The word עדות is a reference to the Torah and its commandments; the word פקד means that a connection was established, a union, much as when a husband joins his wife in the marital bed in order to jointly produce a child which is the visible symbol of their union. [We read in Genesis 21,1 that Hashem פקד את שרה , as a result of which she became pregnant. In other words, the union of Avraham and Sarah was finally completed when Sarah conceived Yitzchok. Ed.]
If, G’d forbid, attributes such as love and awe, etc., instead of being utilized in accordance with Torah principles are “wasted” on unworthy objects or ideas, the Torah, or its representative the Tabernacle, is perceived as not enjoying מנוחה a state of calm satisfaction; similarly, if these attributes are abused by being squandered on useless objects or alien concepts and their representatives, G’d is in a state of restlessness, His mind not being at ease.
There is still another aspect to this subject of the attributes of G’d and our duty to emulate them. When the attributes of G’d are constantly being emulated by His creatures, in this case by the Jewish people, this results in this “union” influencing the dispensation of G’d’s largesse due to the connection to our Divine source being a constant, never interrupted for even a brief period. Putting the various vessels of the Tabernacle to use on a daily basis, seeing that each represented part of a Divine attribute, the unbroken connection was assured. Only in the desert, or subsequently in Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, was it possible to ensure that unbroken contact with the Divine origin of these attributes, which served as a reminder to G’d that His people were serving Him by trying to emulate His attributes. The distinction possessed by the city of Jerusalem in this regard, was also accorded to Shiloh and other locations where the Tabernacle stood before Solomon built the Temple, though only on an ad hoc basis.
The difference between the status of Shiloh and Jerusalem was symbolised by the Tabernacle in Shiloh, which, though not being a collapsible structure as the one in the desert, did not have a permanent solid roof (although it functioned for more than 300 years). (Compare Zevachim 112) The Torah had alluded to this distinction when speaking of מנוחה and נחלה as separate concepts in Deuteronomy 12,9. The stage of נחלה, ancestrally owned territory, would not be reached until the erection of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. [The capital of Israel that had been captured only during the latter part of David’s reign, more than 450 years after Joshua crossed the Jordon with the people. Ed.] The author sees an allusion to this already in Exodus 25,15, where the Torah refers to the poles that were to be used to carry the Holy Ark were to remain permanently in the rings attached to the Ark for that purpose, and that they were not to be removed even temporarily under any circumstances. The reader will ask himself why the Torah added this restrictive clause as applicable only to the poles used to carry the Ark, and not to the poles used to carry the Table, for instance? Our author suggests as an answer to this question that we remember that he had described the very trek of the Israelites through the desert as a spiritual ascent, i.e. return of the “sparks” that had fallen from the Shechinah in disgrace on a previous occasion, and that it had been the act of dismantling the Tabernacle that had enabled these “sparks” to grasp an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves. (compare pages 533-534). Clearly, the process of the fallen sparks could not continue indefinitely, for how long would G’d rebuke the same evildoers to return in penitence without finally giving up and subjecting them to their deserved punishment? On the other hand, it is perfectly plausible to hold up a reminder to sinners, that there is a method through which they could rehabilitate themselves.
The Holy Ark’s function is to serve as a reminder to man that at all times he must strive to repent and rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Lord. The regulation that the poles that serve to carry the Holy Ark in the desert, [although once it had been positioned in the Temple, the Ark was never to be removed from there so that its poles became strictly symbolic in nature, Ed.] served as this reminder. The “sparks” themselves, are not only to be viewed as parts of the Shechinah which had somehow gone astray, but they symbolize parts of the human personality which had gone astray and were in need of rehabilitation. Man (and in the first instance the Jewish man) is supposed to be the “carrier” of the throne of G’d, in a sense similar to the poles of the Holy Ark on top of which were the cherubs between whose outstretched wings the Shechinah is presumed to reside while the Ark is within the Temple. [Some of these words are my own, but I am confident that they supplement the exegesis of our author. Ed.] It did not matter that the Ark, physically, once it had come to a place of מנוחה ונחלה as stated in Deuteronomy 12,9 would no longer be in motion. It is enough that we keep before our mind’s eye the picture of the Holy Ark to remind us of the need to constantly strive to rehabilitate any weakness in our personality that manifested itself through our not emulating one of G’d’s attributes by transgressing one of His commandments.
It is this thought that prompted our sages in Keritut 6 to state that whenever we pray we must always include the habitual sinners in our prayers, i.e. express the wish that they too turn to G’d for forgiveness of their sins by changing their lifestyles. This is our contribution to “repatriating” holy sparks that had gone astray.
If, G’d forbid, attributes such as love and awe, etc., instead of being utilized in accordance with Torah principles are “wasted” on unworthy objects or ideas, the Torah, or its representative the Tabernacle, is perceived as not enjoying מנוחה a state of calm satisfaction; similarly, if these attributes are abused by being squandered on useless objects or alien concepts and their representatives, G’d is in a state of restlessness, His mind not being at ease.
There is still another aspect to this subject of the attributes of G’d and our duty to emulate them. When the attributes of G’d are constantly being emulated by His creatures, in this case by the Jewish people, this results in this “union” influencing the dispensation of G’d’s largesse due to the connection to our Divine source being a constant, never interrupted for even a brief period. Putting the various vessels of the Tabernacle to use on a daily basis, seeing that each represented part of a Divine attribute, the unbroken connection was assured. Only in the desert, or subsequently in Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, was it possible to ensure that unbroken contact with the Divine origin of these attributes, which served as a reminder to G’d that His people were serving Him by trying to emulate His attributes. The distinction possessed by the city of Jerusalem in this regard, was also accorded to Shiloh and other locations where the Tabernacle stood before Solomon built the Temple, though only on an ad hoc basis.
The difference between the status of Shiloh and Jerusalem was symbolised by the Tabernacle in Shiloh, which, though not being a collapsible structure as the one in the desert, did not have a permanent solid roof (although it functioned for more than 300 years). (Compare Zevachim 112) The Torah had alluded to this distinction when speaking of מנוחה and נחלה as separate concepts in Deuteronomy 12,9. The stage of נחלה, ancestrally owned territory, would not be reached until the erection of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. [The capital of Israel that had been captured only during the latter part of David’s reign, more than 450 years after Joshua crossed the Jordon with the people. Ed.] The author sees an allusion to this already in Exodus 25,15, where the Torah refers to the poles that were to be used to carry the Holy Ark were to remain permanently in the rings attached to the Ark for that purpose, and that they were not to be removed even temporarily under any circumstances. The reader will ask himself why the Torah added this restrictive clause as applicable only to the poles used to carry the Ark, and not to the poles used to carry the Table, for instance? Our author suggests as an answer to this question that we remember that he had described the very trek of the Israelites through the desert as a spiritual ascent, i.e. return of the “sparks” that had fallen from the Shechinah in disgrace on a previous occasion, and that it had been the act of dismantling the Tabernacle that had enabled these “sparks” to grasp an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves. (compare pages 533-534). Clearly, the process of the fallen sparks could not continue indefinitely, for how long would G’d rebuke the same evildoers to return in penitence without finally giving up and subjecting them to their deserved punishment? On the other hand, it is perfectly plausible to hold up a reminder to sinners, that there is a method through which they could rehabilitate themselves.
The Holy Ark’s function is to serve as a reminder to man that at all times he must strive to repent and rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Lord. The regulation that the poles that serve to carry the Holy Ark in the desert, [although once it had been positioned in the Temple, the Ark was never to be removed from there so that its poles became strictly symbolic in nature, Ed.] served as this reminder. The “sparks” themselves, are not only to be viewed as parts of the Shechinah which had somehow gone astray, but they symbolize parts of the human personality which had gone astray and were in need of rehabilitation. Man (and in the first instance the Jewish man) is supposed to be the “carrier” of the throne of G’d, in a sense similar to the poles of the Holy Ark on top of which were the cherubs between whose outstretched wings the Shechinah is presumed to reside while the Ark is within the Temple. [Some of these words are my own, but I am confident that they supplement the exegesis of our author. Ed.] It did not matter that the Ark, physically, once it had come to a place of מנוחה ונחלה as stated in Deuteronomy 12,9 would no longer be in motion. It is enough that we keep before our mind’s eye the picture of the Holy Ark to remind us of the need to constantly strive to rehabilitate any weakness in our personality that manifested itself through our not emulating one of G’d’s attributes by transgressing one of His commandments.
It is this thought that prompted our sages in Keritut 6 to state that whenever we pray we must always include the habitual sinners in our prayers, i.e. express the wish that they too turn to G’d for forgiveness of their sins by changing their lifestyles. This is our contribution to “repatriating” holy sparks that had gone astray.
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