Chasidut sobre Êxodo 25:8

Even in these days, everyone, even one who does not merit God speaking with him prophetically, should still perform the avodah of prophecy. Then God’s light and holiness will merge in everyone’s hearts and bodies alike. This is why, when it came to the receiving of the Torah, God did not merely command them with signs that the commandments issued from God (as He did in Egypt, where He gave them the first sign and then the second sign so that the people should believe that God appeared to Moses). Rather He spread forth His light until “and God descended unto Mount Sinai before the eyes of the entire nation...and they saw the God of Israel...and they envisioned God...and the glory of God (appeared) before all of Israel...”²⁰⁷See Exodus 24: 9-11, 16-17.and afterwards till “and they shall make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst,” as the Sages expounded “it does not say in it but rather in them (b’tokhom),” that the Holy One resides in the heart of each Israelite.²⁰⁸See Exodus 25:8. The interpretation, that God promises here to dwell within the people Israel themselves (rather than merely among them), is common in hasidic exegesis.

"These are the records of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Pact, etc." For it is known that Torah is the names of the Holy Blessed One. The Name of the The Blessed One is, "Was, Is, and Will Be - Eternal, Alive, Everlasting for Eternity." And Torah is also this. So what does it mean that this was the time that the Tabernacle was made and what does it teach us about the path today? The Torah should be read in order to teach us to way we should go. Surely at every time and season the Torah is clothed for the needs of that particular time and season. There are those who say: God created the world for the sake of the Torah which is called (Proverbs 8:22) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) way”, and for the sake of Israel who are called (Jeremiah 2:3) “The beginning (ראשית) of His (God’s) increase’." This is explained by way of a parable: A King who has wise children, capable of running the kingdom bring the King more satisfaction and joy than if he were to run the kingdom himself. We are the children of the Ever-Present, and this explains the phrase "No good comes to the world except through Israel." (Israel) makes a path to bring down the abundant flow to the lower realms. This is "Ascribe might to God, whose majesty is over Israel" (Psalm 68:35) Israel adds strength to the Entourage of Above, and the Angels do not sing praises above until Israel is singing them below. "When the morning stars sang together and all the divine beings shouted for joy" (Job 38:7). Israel is likened to the stars, and thus aroused all of the Heavenly beings there. This is the intention of the Creator that created all that is found because of Torah and because of Israel. The content of this intention of the Holy Blessed One was that each person of Israel would be a "Tabernacle" of the Holy Blessed One. As it is written (Exodus 25:8) "Make for me a Sanctuary and I will dwell within them. Within "it" is not written, rather, I will dwell within the children of Israel. "The Temple of the Lord, the temple of Lord are these. (Jeremiah 7:4). But isn't it impossible for a person to be a Tabernacle of Hashem while the Evil Inclination is within a person? "The couch is too short for stretching out" (Isaiah 28:20). )(Rabbi Yonatan) said: This bed is too short for two counterparts. (Yoma 9b) Thus it is said "Turn from evil" (Psalm 34:15) That a person should burn the evil from within him and thus it could be that Hashem Baruch Hu who is called, "The Lord is good to all" (Psalm 145:9) will reside inside of the person. This happens after a person fulfills "Turn from evil" and thus makes the repair that the "Good of the Lord" will be within you. “All the end-times have passed, and the matter [now] depends only on teshuvah” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 97b). And what is teshuvah? For when a person was in his mother’s belly, God’s “candle burned over his head, and he saw from one end of the world to the other… and they taught him the entire Torah” (Niddah 30b); for he was a dwelling-place [mishkan] for Blessed God, and this is [the meaning of] the candle that was over his head. But after he came out of his mother’s belly sin crouches at the door (Gen. 4:7), and an angel comes and slaps him on the mouth and makes him forget so that he will have free will, so he will have reward and punishment. And a person must do teshuvah to bring God back to him as at the beginning. And this is [the meaning of] Then the LORD your God will turn back to your captives (Deut. 30:3) – it does not say “return,” but rather “turn back to,” meaning that after the teshuvah Blessed God will return to dwell [lishkone] within the person. Now, the essence of teshuvah is abandoning sin with a full heart and regret. For what is written in the Books, that fasts correct sin, is because it is impossible for him truly to abandon the sin and truly regret until after he has afflicted himself; and then his uncircumcised heart will surrender and he will be able to regret and abandon the sin truly. And the root of the matter lies in the human’s being created by God’s Word. And he is called “engraving” on account of his being surely hewn in supernal holiness. Now, when a person sins he is made into a corpse; for on account of the sin, Blessed God’s life-force left him. But after verbal confession, along the lines of (incomplete)*

The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting... There is to understand that the beginning could have only been "And He called" without explaining who was calling, bu after this it's explained "And the Lord spoke to him". The matter is that Hashem Yitbarach brought us out from Egypt and gave us immediately the commandments of Pesach and circumcision. After this (God) split for us the sea, and then brought us into the wilderness (under) a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. After this (God) gave us the Torah and after this commanded us to build the Mishkan as is said (Exodus 25:8) "And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them." In "it" is not written, etc. As a parable (states): One that was from the world in a dark place and never saw light in his days. If he were brought out suddenly to the openness of the world, he would not be able to stand the light. Thus, it's need to show it to him on the level that he can begin. Make for him a small crack that he can see from there a little light, and after this, widen the crack until it becomes a window, and only then bring him out to the openness of the world and show him the light. Thus Israel was in Egypt: they were sunk below 50 gates of impurity. If they were suddenly shown the rays of God's light, they would not have been able to stand it. Thus they need each level as it were. And the essence of the purpose (of these levels) was "Make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in them"

Rabbi Moshe Alshich’s commentary on Exodus 25,8 in which ‎G’d instructs the Jewish people through their leader Moses to ‎build for Him a Tabernacle, (residence) on earth in their midst, ‎was not intended to imply that this signaled G’d’s move from the ‎celestial regions to earth, is well known. The purpose of the ‎Tabernacle is to signal that the principal Presence of G’d was to be ‎on earth, i.e. amongst the Jewish people, as is clear from the ‎words: ‎ושכנתי בתוכם‎, “I shall take up residence amongst them;” ‎the operative word in that line is the word ‎בתוכם‎, which ought to ‎be translated as “within them,” within the hearts and minds of ‎the Israelites, as opposed to G’d’s presence being confined to a ‎Temple.‎
‎When commenting on Leviticus 1,11 ‎ושחט אותו על ירך המזבח ‏צפונה‎, “he is to slaughter it (the sheep or goat offered as a burnt ‎offering) on the northern side of the altar,” our sages comment ‎‎[seeing that it is quite unclear who is the subject of the ‎word ‎ושחט‎, Ed.] that it includes also a gentile who offers ‎a burnt offering consisting of a sheep or goat. [I could not ‎find the source of this statement. Ed.]‎
We need to explain what prompted our sages to make the ‎comment we just quoted. It is generally accepted that the idea of ‎animal sacrifice contains a large measure of symbolism, i.e. that ‎the donor presents the animal in lieu of his own self, who if the ‎sacrifice was in expiation of a sin committed by the donor, should ‎have paid for this with his own life. The expression ‎לכפר עליהם‎, ‎‎“to atone on their behalf,” (or a similar formula) appears dozens ‎of times in the Torah in conjunction with animal sacrifice. Our ‎sages therefore saw fit to understand the subject in our verse of ‎the word ‎אותו‎ as not being the animal, but the person presenting ‎it as a sacrifice. They do not,- if I understand the author ‎correctly,- consider this as an act of contrition by the donor of ‎the burnt offering, [seeing that a burnt offering does not ‎atone for transgressions of negative commandments, Ed.] ‎but as an expression of the donor’s love for Hashem, his ‎preparedness to prove that love with his own life.
There are four basic elements making up a healthy animal [of ‎the categories fit for offerings on the altar], and the four elements ‎each require a day’s observation before the prospective animal is ‎approved. The four days therefore symbolize a progressive ‎‎“spiritual” ascent in the fitness of such an animal to substitute ‎for its owner. Only then is it slaughtered. Once the animal has ‎passed the tests concerning its health, it is perceived as being as ‎close to a human being as is possible, so that it is able to take the ‎place of the human being on whose behalf its being offered.‎
The chapter that we are discussing described the state of the ‎nation on the eight’s day of the consecration of the Tabernacle, ‎‎(9,1) the first day of Nissan, a day on which the priests had ‎already completed seven days of preparation. During the ‎preceding seven days the need for an animal sacrifice to atone for ‎the people or the priests did not exist, as both had been ‎sufficiently refined spiritually during those days so that they were ‎in a state of physical and mental purity. The only reason that ‎these sacrifices were presented nonetheless, was to enable the ‎people to rejoice in the presence of the Lord, so that as a result ‎the Shechinah [which had not been manifest since ‎the sin of the golden calf, Ed.] would once more manifest ‎itself as being present among the nation. When the Torah ‎therefore wrote in 9,3 that the people were to take (as a sacrifice) ‎a he-goat, as a sin offering as well as a calf and a sheep as a burnt ‎offering, there was nothing strange in this being done without ‎the customary preparation for these animals for four days prior ‎to their being slaughtered. In fact the words ‎והקרב לפני ה'‏‎, “and ‎present as sacrifice in the presence of the Lord,” (verse 2) may be ‎understood as specific permission to dispense on that occasion ‎with the usual examinations and waiting period.‎ ‎