Kaisipang Hudyo sa Exodo 25:40: Torat HaOlah, Guide for the Perplexed & Halakhah and Aggadah

The only possible conclusion is that those [sacrificial] elements below constitute a pattern aligned with counterparts above, as said David a"h, "All this that the LORD made me understand by His hand on me, I give you in writing—the plan of all the works" (1 Chronicles 28:19). And it is written about the construction of the Temple, "The patterns which are being shown to you on the mountain" (Shemot 25:40). This teaches that things are aligned above and below. And to that, I say that the sum total of the world is called a supernal Temple, in that it is the activity of God, may God be blessed. And indeed the total world is called a "house of God," according to the explanation of Maimonides (Part 1, chapter 54), in his Guide for the Perplexed. About this is said, "At Bet El [lit. 'House of God'] he would meet Him, and there speak with Him" (Hoshea 12:5). For it is through God's activities, when they are revealed, that we encounter God. That's what it means by "He would meet Him there."

IT might be thought that the Hebrew words temunah and tabnit have one and the same meaning, but this is not the case. Tabnit, derived from the verb banah (he built), signifies the build and construction of a thing—that is to say, its figure, whether square, round, triangular, or of any other shape. Comp. “the pattern (tabnit) of the Tabernacle and the pattern (tabnit) of all its vessels” (Exod. 25:9); “according to the pattern (tabnit) which thou wast shown upon the mount” (Exod. 25:40); “the form of any bird” (Deut. 4:17); “the form (tabnit) of a hand” (Ezek. 8:3); “the pattern (tabnit) of the porch” (1 Chron. 28:11). In all these quotations it is the shape which is referred to. Therefore the Hebrew language never employs the word tabnit in speaking of the qualities of God Almighty.

Halakhah, however, is no less a work of art than aggadah. Its art is the greatest in the world – the art of life and the paths of life. Its material is the living person with all the impulses of his heart. Its methods are personal, communal, and national education. And its fruits are a continuum of days of proper deeds and lives, the paving of a way of life through the twists and turns of the individual and the group, a proper way for a person in the world, and a refined path in life. The creations of halakha’s hands are not like the creations of the hands of other arts, such as sculpture, drawing, architecture, song, and poetry, which are concentrated and unified in matter, space, and time. Rather, they join together little by little, point by point, from all of the flow of a man’s life and deeds that, in the end, give over one final product, one form, whether complete or damaged. Halakhah is the guiding art and the teaching art of an entire nation. So all of its developments upon the national soul, great and small, are cut from the holy spirit, with supernal wisdom that sees the end from the beginning (alluding to Isaiah 46:10). Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, it is focused on casting only one form – the essence of the creatures, the divine image in man. [Likewise,] the Cathedral of Cologne, the Cathedral of Milan, and Notre Dame in Paris were perfected in their beauty and became what they became by the efforts of world-class artists for hundreds of years, each one of whom, in his time, gave his life and the best of his creative powers exclusively to this holy work. And there is no doubt that it was only from all of their subjugation to one central idea, which they felt to be very lofty, that their “heavenly work” succeeded to such a degree. This idea – to build a house of God – was what hovered in front of all their eyes; akin to, like the vision that is being shown you (alluding to Exodus 25:40). And He had the holy spirit descend upon them. So that was what moved the ruler, the plane, the chisel, and the brush in their hands and called out into their ears for every point and chisel, and every small brick and large brick that, after hundreds of years of the work of people divided by time and place, joined together into one lofty and beautiful building.