Posted February 8 2008
Deep Thinking: Where is G-D?
Do you ever wonder why we need a Synagogue or a Temple to serve G-d? I mean, He’s everywhere, why focus our service of Him on a building?
Sometimes I find myself cleaning my desk, and after a while I realize that I’m just trying to bring order to my life. It stands to reason that if I can act out, physically, issues that I am experiencing internally, the physical plane is an appropriate place to work on internal issues. You would think you could just take a good look inside, and then play around with what you find on the inside, but it doesn’t work that way. Whether you are working on anger, or depression, or humility, or generosity, you will find that the actual work will always be done on the outside.
I imagine it working like a T.V. weatherman. While it looks to the television viewer like the weatherman is standing in front of a screen with images playing across it, he is actually standing in front of a blank, green, board. The images we see are superimposed on the board in a manner which looks as if they are actually on the board, but they are not; for the weatherman it remains a blank, green, board. He watches a television monitor in front of him, and uses that as a guide for where to point. That’s why they always look awkward when they point to something on the board, they have to look somewhere else to see what it is they are pointing at. Our insides are equally blank for us, we need to look at something outside of us to guide us on where to point.
“And they shall make me a sanctuary and I will dwell amongst them.” Shemot 25/8
The Torah should be written: “I will dwell in it.” Why does it say: “I will dwell amongst them?” Some suggest it means that when we build the Mishkan/Sanctuary, the Shechina/G-d’s Divine Presence will dwell within us.
The Kotzker Rebbe once asked his students: “Where is G-d?” They answered that He is everywhere. The Rebbe said that was not the answer he was looking for. He wanted them to answer: “G-d is where you let him in.”
Our goal when building the Mishkan/Tabernacle, or even a synagogue, is not to have a place to worship G-d on the outside, but to open up a space, within ourselves, for G-d to dwell.
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