Vayakheil-Pikudei: manifestation

The second half of the book of Shemoth deals with the construction of the mishkan, the tabernacle, Gd's abode.  At the end of this repeated list of components ( sanctuary, ark, cover, table, candelabra, incense altar, partition, sacrificial altar, laver, curtains, posts, priestly garments, etc.) Gd descends and occupies the sanctuary.  A cloud is the visible manifestation of this event .  The cloud becomes the guide in the wilderness, directing the travels of the Israelites. 

To the modern Jew, this is all quite foreign. The structures,  the sacrificial rite  associated with them, the rituals associated with the table and the candelabra, are all foreign and do not conform to ethos of the prayers and customs that are purported to have originated from them. Although some of the core prayer is directed at reconstructing the temple that was destroyed 2000 years ago, it seems to be motivated more by the longing, the reminder of the persecution, and the intimation of our ambivalent relationship with Gd,  than the actual desire for the construction project. The founding of the State of Israel and the conquest of Jerusalem has made such a project physically possible.  Were that to occur, its consequences for Judaism, as we now understand and practice it, would be catastrophic. 

We preserve the details of the construction of the tabernacle in  41/2  chapters at the end of Shemoth. It is the great project of the newly liberated Israelites. Previously they were building storage cities, Pithom and Ramses.  Now they are building a sanctuary for the source of all, and by doing so, creating a community, working together for a common goal without a master.  Moses and Bezlelel and Oholiav were project managers, but the contributions of material and labor were voluntary. 

The most disturbing aspect is the end. The cloud that comes to occupy the sanctuary.  This localization of Omnipresent is a little less disturbing in the context of quantum mechanics which considers location to be a density with infinite emanations in all directions ( wherever you are, you are mostly there). But in the usual sense, it seems to violate the properties that define the deity. These characteristics, omniscience, omnipresence, eternity, etc. are later constructs. The Gd of the Torah may not be bound by them.   The attribute of Gd that is an article of faith is Unity, oneness.  That unity encompasses an understanding and direction of all things.  May we understand the crises for good. 

As we end the book of Shemoth, we say Be Strong, Be Strong and we will be Be Strong. This year, no one person has the privilege of that blessing.  My it be distributed over us all.