Musar su Isaia 66:1

Let me first quote some words of the saintly author of Shaarey Or on the subject of the Holy Temple. The following is a quotation from the first chapter of his book entitled Shechinah: After the erection of the Tabernacle the שכינה, manifestation of G–d's Presence, was visible at all times over the camp of the Israelites. We derive this from the verse: "They shall make a Temple for Me so that I may dwell in their midst" (25,8). You need to appreciate an important rule. G–d's principal residence was in our world when He first created the universe and man. Although the "upper" regions had been allocated to the creatures of those regions and the "lower" regions to the creatures of the terrestrial universe, because G–d had His principal residence on earth, He thereby provided the unification of heaven and earth, allowed for unimpeded communication and transfer to our world of sources of blessing from the inexhaustible pools of the upper regions. All this is alluded to in the verse: "And the heavens and the earth were completed together with all their hosts" (Genesis 2,1). This means that each part of the "lower" universe was also a part of the "higher" universe and thus contributed to the other's existence. The conduits supplying sources from one region to the other worked perfectly without hindrance. This is what the prophet referred to in Isaiah 66,1: "The heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool." G–d is perceived as halfway between the earth and heaven, or, between terrestrial and celestial beings.

The Jewish servant maid leaves her employ after six years, the advent of the Jubilee year, or at the onset of puberty, whichever occurs first. We read in Deut. 22,23, כי יהיה נער בתולה, "when there will be a virgin girl, etc," and the word for maiden is spelled without the customary letter ה at the end of that word. The Zohar page 131 on פרשת בא (Sullam edition), explains that as long as a girl is a virgin, has not joined a male, she is called נער. Once she has lost her virginity through sleeping with a male, she is called נערה. Before creation G–d had been alone, solitary. Through the creation of the universe, the very universe became His throne, i.e. Isaiah 66,1, "the heaven is My throne, and the earth My footstool." The שכינה is referred to as both נער, and נערה, i.e. it is spelled נער but read as נערה. In chapter two of Pardes Rimonim, called ta-am ha-a-tzilut, this נערה is described as a very exalted concept.

When Moses (in his parting address to the Jewish people in פרשת וזאת הברכה) wanted that his blessing should apply to the people of Israel, he "awoke," or activated the six "pillars." The word אשדת in 33,2 is to be read as two words אש דת. The letters in those two words represent the first letters each of the four pillars אמת-שלום-דין תורה. The other two "pillars" חסד-עבודה are mentioned by Moses a little while later in verse 8 where Moses speaks of תמיך ואוריך לאיש חסיד"ך, referring to the tribe of Levi. Moses goes on to say in verse 10: ישימו קטורה באפך. We know that the choicest of all sacrifices i.e. עבודה is the incense, קטורת. At the very end of his blessings (verse 26), Moses speaks of רכב שמים בעזרך, that with Israel's (i.e. Yeshurun, Israel in its most ideal state) help G–d "rides" the heavens. When Isaiah 66,1 has G–d describe the Heaven as His throne, this is a reference to "G–d riding." When Moses says in 33,25 at the end of the blessings: וכימיך דבאך, "Your strength corresponds to Your days," this is an allusion to the six days of Creation. The six pillars are also called days. Torah is called "day," as we know from Exodus 19,1 where Israel's arrival at Sinai- the source of Torah- is described as occurring ביום הזה, "On 'this' day they arrived in the desert of Sinai." Rashi comments that the reason the Torah employs the words ביום הזה, "on this day," instead of the more appropriate ביום ההוא, "on that day," is to urge us to love the words of Torah as dearly to-day as on the day they were first received thousands of years ago. We know that עבודה is called "day" because the Torah (Leviticus 7,38) writes in connection with the service in the Temple: ביום צוותו, from which we derive that the service has to be performed by day. The connection between the pillar גמילות חסדים and "day" is found in Psalms 42,9: יומם יצוה ה' חסדו, "May G–d command His kindness by day." Our sages (Chagigah 12b) say that anyone who is preoccupied with Torah study at night will have a thread of G–d's kindness extended across to him from the day. We know that the pillar דין is related to "day" from Deut. 21,16: והיה ביום הנחילו את בניו, "On the day he will transmit his estate to his sons as an inheritance, etc." Judgments are not handed down at night. The pillar אמת is the integration of two opposing forces. This corresponds to the concept "day" which is the harmonious blending of opposites i.e. evening and morning into a single unit (Genesis 1/5).