Musar su Esodo 27:24

להעלות נר תמיד. The Torah here indicates that we will never be without the eternal light, even though the Temple may be in ruins due to our many sins. It remains a duty for us to kindle a symbolic eternal light in our synagogues which are called miniature sanctuaries in the parlance of our sages. This light is to burn from evening to morning and during the times when prayers are being recited. Nowadays prayers take the place of animal sacrifices. I believe that this Rabbinic commandment to light an eternal flame in the synagogue is mentioned in the famous book Menorat Ha-Maor. Rabbi Menachem Ha-Bavli wrote that the reason for this commandment is that since the sacrificial service had to be performed with particular intents, and the vestments were worn exclusively for such service, wearing them would jog the priest's memory ensuring he would have the correct thoughts when he performed his part of the service.

Commandment 99 enjoins the priests to clean and make ready the lamps on the candlestick on a permanent basis, for the Torah says: "Aaron and his sons shall set it up from evening to morning before the Lord" (27,21). This is what the Talmud calls the הטבת הנרות.

We must try and understand why Rabbenu Bachyah was so selective in his comparison of the creation with the construction of the Tabernacle. He could have cited additional parallels. A look at a lengthy Midrash in Shemot Rabbah 33,4 quotes Rabbi Berechyah as presenting a long list of parallels between the Tabernacle and מעשה בראשית. The list includes many items found in the heavens such as ערפל, זבול, עצי שטים, כרובים, אופנים and many others. In each case Rabbi Berechyah demonstrates that the Tabernacle contained something parallel.

We have now learned that the three parts of the Tabernacle correspond to the three parts of the universe concerning which King David said in Psalms 103,20: "Bless the Lord, O, His angels, mighty creatures who do His bidding, ever obedient to His bidding. Bless the Lord all His hosts, His servants who do His will; bless the Lord all His works, through the length and breadth of His realm." David's son Solomon also adopted his father's outlook when he alluded to this in three consecutive verses in Song of Songs 5,13-15. Three different parts of the human body form the subject of those verses, each one representing a different aspect of the universe and how man's composition reflects this division of the universe into three constituent parts. I (Rabbenu Bachyah) have explained this in detail when I discussed Jacob's dream of the ladder." Thus far the quotation from Rabbenu Bachyah.

The third stage, that when the hole is big enough to allow a small root to grow through it, signifies that we are now dealing with the עפר, earth, part of man, which causes all materialism, and grossness. Nonetheless, even עפר contains elements of spirituality, in fact it is its very root and essence. It is this essence which harbors the potential of growth something rooted in earth but ascending heavenwards. The same applies to the raw material man is made of. Man's growth potential is rooted in his raw material, עפר, and that is why it is described as "a small root." This raw material contains a "small" root, i.e. the soul, which is the root that, though physically small and invisible, has the value of a great root. When the sages of the Talmud call the disputations of Abbaye and Rava as "minor," they do so when comparing them to matters involving מעשה מרכבה, the carriers of G–d's entourage. Abbaye and Rava concern themselves with the practical observance of the laws of the Torah, i.e. something essentially physical, whereas the מעשה מרכבה is something essentially spiritual. Both matters, in fact, are very great indeed. Our Rabbis already debated at great length, whether תלמוד i.e. study or מעשה, practical performance, is of greater importance (Kidushin 40). The Zohar in Parshat Tetzaveh describes Exodus 27,20: "Pure olive oil beaten to produce the eternal light," as referring to Torah study, since Torah provides spiritual illumination. The olive is the size mentioned by Ravah in his fourth example above of an earthen vessel that needs to be rehabilitated from impurity. Olive oil dispenses physical light, whereas Torah study dispenses spiritual light. It is in the nature of Torah study to crush man's physical strength, and he is left as crushed as the olive when pressed to produce its oil. Finally, Rava's fifth example, a hole the size of pomegrantes. This is a veiled reference to the actual מעשים, performance of Torah commandments in practice. Israelites are described as "full of מצות, just like the pomegrantes" (Berachot 57a). So here we have a hint of the spiritual implications of the הלכה concerning the ritual purification of an earthen vessel which has become impure. This corresponds to the five levels of spirituality man could possess, namely, in descending order נפש, רוח, נשמה, חיה, יחידה. Our Rabbis have this in mind when they mention that the soul is similar to G–d in five respects (Berachot 10a).

When commenting on 27,2: ויקחו אליך שמן זית זך, "They shall take for you pure olive oil," the Talmud in Menachot 86 points out that the Torah emphasises the word "for you," not "for Me." The message is that G–d does not need the light of the Candlestick. When the Tabernacle is lit up, however, this reflects glory for the Jewish people. The Table stood in the North, the Candlestick in the South of the Sanctuary. G–d needs neither the bread offered on the Table nor the light of the Candlestick. We read in Kings I 6,4 that Solomon made windows for the House (Temple) שקופים אטומים. This means that the windows were narrower on the inside of the walls than on the outside, emitting light rather than allowing light to come in from the outside. This architectural anomaly reflected the message that whereas G–d does not need our light, we are very much in need of His light, the one that is emitted from the Sanctuary.

On the difference between the מרכבה on earth and the מרכבה in the Celestial Regions: One must appreciate that just as there is a carrier of G–d's Presence here on earth, so there is a parallel carrier, מרכבה in the heavenly regions. This is alluded to in Song of Songs 3,10 ומרכבו ארגמן, "its carrier was purple red," and in Song of Songs 6,12 where we find: מרכבות עמי נדיב, "amid chariots of Ami Nadiv.” We will first explain what is meant by the "purple red carrier," and later, with G–d's help, the meaning of the words מרכבות עמי נדיב. The land of Israel and the Holy Temple have their counterparts in the Heavenly Regions. The Holy Temple consists of a Sanctuary called קדש, holy, as well as an inner sanctuary, קדשי קדשים, Holiest of Holies, and we find an altar outside the Sanctuary as well as a golden altar inside the Sanctuary close to the Inner Sanctum. Both altars were square seeing the Torah describes them as such i.e. רבוע יהיה (Exodus 27,1). Because the Torah has given the exact dimensions of the altars, the statement "it shall be square," seems superfluous. We understand it therefore as an allusion to the heavenly counterparts of these furnishings of the Sanctuary, each one of which is also four-cornered representing four celestial armies headed by the angels רפאל, גבריאל, מיכאל, and נוריאל. The word ארגמ"ן is an acronym composed of the first letters respectively of the angels heading these four armies plus the letter א meaning the One and Only, i.e. G–d. He, of course is the One, who is "carried," i.e. supported by these four armies.

ואתה תצוה את בני ישראל. The word ואתה, occurs four times in connection with the construction of the Tabernacle and in each instance it appears to be superfluous. In Exodus 27,20, the word could have been omitted without changing the meaning of G–d's instructions to Moses. In 28,1 the Torah could have simply written: Karev! In 28,3 the Torah could have written: Dabber, and in 30,23 the Torah could have written: Kach lecha. We will concede that on the fifth occasion the Torah uses the word אתה, i.e. in connection with the commandment not to build the Tabernacle on the Sabbath (Exodus 31,13), there is some justification for use of the word אתה. G–d referred to the fact that Moses had a special standing relative to the Sabbath because it had been he who had chosen the Sabbath legislation while the Israelites were still in Egypt, something we mention every Sabbath morning in our liturgy when we recite: ישמח משה במתנת חלקו, "Moses rejoiced when he received his share, etc." The other four occasions when the Torah writes ואתה, present a serious difficulty.

G–d hinted to Moses that He would select the Levites at a future date in order that they could prepare themselves spiritually for that task and become purified. It is also in line with what our sages have said, that if a person takes some steps to sanctify himself while here on earth, then much more sanctity is added to him from the Heavenly Regions (Yuma 39). The Levites needed this preparation even though they had been predestined for their task from the day they had been born, as we know from the statement of Jacob when he forbade Levi to be among his pallbearers (compare Rashi on Genesis 50,13). If nonetheless they needed to prepare themselves for their task, this shows how much a person always has to sanctify himself in order that sanctity should be added for him from Heaven.

There is yet another altar above the one on which the archangel Michael offers the souls of the righteous, just as there were two altars in the Tabernacle on earth. There is an outer and an inner altar. When the Torah gives the measurements of these two altars we are told that they should be square (Exodus 27,1 and 30,1). This is strange since the Torah had already given the measurements of both the front and the sides of these altars, i.e we know that they were to be square. The extra words רבוע, square, may therefore be understood as an allusion to the corresponding altars in the Heavenly Sanctuary. The "outer" altar in the Heavens corresponds to the encampment of the Israelites in the desert which was square and which was guarded by the four angels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael. The "upper" altar in the Heavens was supported by the four חיות which Ezekiel saw in his vision in which he was shown the מרכבה (Ezekiel chapter 1). This is where the crown of the good name is at home. The crown of priesthood is immediately below. The border or crown around the Altar represents the righteous in the World to Come who sit around the table wearing their crowns and enjoying the splendour of G–d's presence.