And He called...

(Leviticus 1:1)

Adar 29, 5778/March 16, 2018

When we fall in love with someone and desire to spend the rest of eternity with them, we need to create a space for them in our lives, a physical, emotional and spiritual space, and invite them in. To stay. Forever. This is the basic story line which describes G-d's relationship with man, beginning with "In the beginning... " in which G-d created time and space so that He could share that space with His creation, and with Man, the crown jewel of His creation. G-d created a special space, called it the Garden of Eden, and put Man in it, but Man, it appears, was not quite ready for this relationship, and opted to strike out on his own, independent of G-d. The rest, we know, was a painful history, of starts and stops, misunderstandings, misreadings and missteps. G-d was pushed aside and discarded, and cataclysmic flood and devastating destructions were the result. Both partners in this stillborn relationship were in pain. And then Avraham appeared, and, at long last, reciprocated, on man's behalf, G-d's primordial gesture to Man, and opened up his world, (our world), to G-d, creating a space in his heart and soul, in his life and in the lives of his associates and passers by and in his family and his progeny. Man and G-d are, for the first time, looking directly into one another's eyes, as Avraham stated on Mount Moriah, when he declared, "HaShem will see, as it is said to this day: On the mountain, HaShem will be seen." (Genesis 22:14) A courtship has begun.

Fast forward to the construction of the desert Tabernacle, built, as per G-d's wishes, "so that I may dwell among them." (Exodus 25:8) With the completion of the Tabernacle, Israel has made for G-d a place in man's world (our world), which G-d had made long ago as a place for man in G-d's world. This is beginning to sound like a serious relationship happening. And it gets better.

The book of Vayikra (Leviticus), which we begin reading this week, begins with a whisper in Moshe's ear, a profound gesture of intimacy on G-d's behalf, words that we don't hear because they don't need to be heard. They were spoken. And that is enough. This intimate opening is the introduction to a book which, in its entirety, describes a profoundly intimate relationship between G-d and Israel, a relationship which never grows old and never grows stale. Within the four walls of the Tabernacle courtyard, G-d opens up yet another space for man to dwell within His Presence. Within the four physical walls that Israel has created, as per G-d's detailed instructions, G-d has dropped His name of Elokim, the name which signifies Divine judgment, stricture and limitation. Throughout the entire book of Leviticus G-d is called only by His name HaShem, the name signifying G-d's undying, limitless, ever emanating love for His creation, for man. And this is the Divine light that G-d shines upon Israel continually in the Tabernacle/Holy Temple. This is the light with which G-d receives and blesses the korbanot, the drawing near offerings of Israel, day after day. By disrobing of His aspect of Elokim, G-d has created yet another space for man to step into and to shine.

And how does man respond in kind? How does Israel reciprocate G-d's gesture of ultimate intimacy, ultimate closeness? By performing the korbanot drawing near offerings on the altar in the Tabernacle/Temple courtyard, man is shedding his baser instincts, his animal self, his own burden of restriction and limitation. The spiritual energy generated by the process of the offerings liberates man, allowing him to reciprocate G-d's no-holds-barred, loving embrace. This moment in space is the reason for and the purpose of creation, the fulfillment of G-d's promise to Avraham that "You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them, for four hundred years. And also the nation that they will serve will I judge, and afterwards they will go forth with great possessions." (Genesis 15:13-14) Great possessions which will be used to create a Tabernacle where My Presence will dwell forever in perfect love with your seed.

When G-d first instructed Moshe to "build for Me a sanctuary," (Exodus 25:8) our sages tell us that Moshe protested that G-d's infinite Presence could not possibly be confined to an earthly structure. G-d replied simply, "Twenty beams on the north, twenty on the south, and eight in the west will suffice." Yes, G-d can be 'contained' here on earth, here within us, if we but make a Place for Him. The book of Leviticus is the third of the Five Books of Moses, the center and the heart of Torah. The two books which preceded, Genesis and Exodus, are as the beams of the north and the south, and the two books which follow, Numbers and Deuteronomy, are as the beams in the west. What's past is past, and what is yet to come will be. But the Tabernacle/Temple experience, the korbanot drawing near offerings are now. Everyday, fresh and new, never growing old, never dying. This is the meaning of true love. This is G-d's desire for Israel, for man, for G-d.

-The Temple Institute