Cytowanie Komentarza do Psalmów 11:4

A Psalm of David. Lord, who shall sojourn in Thy Tabernacle? And who shall dwell in Thy Holy Hill? – Thy Tabernacle: that is, the heavens, and he designates them a tent because they are spread out as a tent. And Thy Holy Hill is Mount Moriah, where the Holy House was, for it was the most glorious place in the earth. And in like manner he designates them (the heavens) a palace, as he says (Ps. 11:4): “The Lord is in His Holy Palace; the Lord, His throne is in heaven” as we have interpreted. So also, “He heard my voice out of His Palace” (ibid, 18:7). (The questions) Who shall sojourn? and Who shall dwell? have reference to the higher spiritual part (of man). He says that he who has done in his lifetime these works (about to be mentioned), his spirit shall dwell in the place of Glory after his death. And what are the works?

Having read Rav Idi's comment, we need to understand why these two letters appear in the reverse order, i.e. ה־י instead of י־ה. We may understand this with the help of some introductory remarks based on Tikkuney Hazohar 10. We are told there that the overall pool of souls of the Jewish people originates from an area beneath the throne of G'd which is called Heychal Kodsho, the Sanctuary of His Holiness. This aspect of G'd is called in our parlance א־ד־נ־י. Our halachic codifiers such as Tur Shulchan Aruch Or Hachayim 5 have told us that when someone utters the name of G'd during his prayers he must think of each single letter in the name of G'd he utters. When he utters names which we are permitted to utter and which are spelled in the prayerbook with the letters א־ד־נ־י, he must think of G'd in terms of His sovereignty. When he encounters the name of G'd spelled י־ה, he is to think of G'd in terms of His being eternal. When he encounters the Ineffable Name, i.e. י־ה־ו־ה, he is to think of G'd in terms of His being supremely powerful. He should also think of G'd as multifaceted as portrayed by the various ways His name appears in print. We have a verse in Psalms 11,4 where the ineffable name of G'd appears both before and after the words היכל קדשו, "the Sanctuary of His holiness." In that instance you will find that the letter ה at the end of the name of G'd before the expression היכל קדשו and the letter י immediately after the expression היכל קדשו form the reverse of the usual י־ה, i.e. ה־י just as in the sequence of the name החנכי. These two letters then may be viewed as the seal of the היכל קדשו, and together they represent the two letters י־ה which form the name of G'd most often manifest in our lives ever since the destruction of the Temple.

והשמותי את מקדשיכם, “I will make your Sanctuaries desolate.” The fact that the Torah still refers to these buildings as “sanctuaries,” is to teach us that even when they have been destroyed their sites retain their original sanctity (compare Megillah 28). We read in Midrash Tehillim (11,4) “Rabbi Pedot said that regardless of the Sanctuary being operative or destroyed, the Shechinah did not depart from that site as it is written in Psalms 11,4: ה' בהיכל קדשו ה' בשמים ה' בשמים כסאו, ‘the Lord is in His holy palace, the Lord- His throne is in heaven.’” The psalmist says that although G’d is in His Sanctuary in heaven on His throne, His Shechinah is in the Sanctuary on earth. The fact that this Sanctuary retains its sanctity is derived from Kings I 9,3: “My eyes and My heart will remain there forever.” Another verse in Scripture stating the same is found in Psalms 3,5: ”He answers me from His holy mountain selah,” (forever). Even though it is now only a mountain (as opposed to a Sanctuary) it retains its sanctity, selah. Another verse having a bearing on this subject is found in Micah 4,10: “for now you must leave the city and dwell (ושכנת) in the field;” the fact that the prophet says of G’d (Shechinah) that it will continue to “dwell,” means it will be at home. [According to the author’s version of Micah, the word we have as ושכנת was spelled as ושכנתי, “I will dwell”. Ed.] This means that although the area has become as desolate as a field, the Shechinah will continue to dwell there. Rabbi Acha said that the Shechinah has never departed from the Western Wall as it is written in Song of Songs 2,9: “there He stands behind our wall.”