Parasha Truma: Our nation, our bodies, our Temple

How secure should we feel about the future of Israel? Certainly, our future is far more secure here than in any Diaspora community.

By SHLOMO RISKIN
Oil (photo credit: (weisssi@bezeqint.net) http://artframe.co.il)
Oil
(photo credit: (weisssi@bezeqint.net) http://artframe.co.il)
‘They shall make a Sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them’ (Exodus 25:8) “The word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, ‘This Temple that you build – if you follow My decrees, perform My statutes and observe all My commandments to follow them, then I shall uphold My word with you that I spoke to David your father. I shall dwell among the Children of Israel, and I shall not forsake My people Israel.’” (I Kings 6:11 – the concluding verse of the Haftara reading for Truma).
How secure should we feel about the future of Israel? Certainly, our future is far more secure here than in any Diaspora community. If there is anything to be learned from history, it is the precariousness of Jewish life in any “host” country, no matter how long we enjoy relative freedom and prosperity.
Witness Babylon, Spain and Germany – countries where Jews experienced “golden ages,” only to find that the gold could turn to ashes under a cruel tyrant who “did not remember Joseph.” I believe in – and insist on proclaiming – the Prayer for the State of Israel every Shabbat and festival. In it we declare that this is the “beginning of the sprouting of our redemption.” There are many facts which would buttress this pronouncement: our phoenix-like return to Israel after almost 2,000 years of exile; our miraculous victories on the battlefield; the in-gathering of the exiles from the four corners of the globe; the phenomenal growth of our agriculture and economy alongside the amazing development of our scientific and hi-tech industries after only six decades of statehood. Moreover, despite the anti-Zionist/anti-Semitic canards, many countries and many Christian leaders stand squarely in our corner – an amazing sea-change after two millennia of persecution.
Indeed, I am thrilled every time I read Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Halevy Herzog’s response to a delegation of prominent American rabbis who came to the New York airport in an attempt to dissuade the great Torah luminary from returning to Israel after the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1947 (when it looked as if Israel would die before it was born). He assured them that they need not worry; “Our Bible mentions only two destructions [in the portion of Behukotai in Leviticus, and in Ki Tavo in Deuteronomy]; this third Commonwealth must lead us to the days of the Messiah, and will never be destroyed.” Nevertheless, “the beginning of the sprouting of redemption” is a rather modest declaration – sprouts do not always make it to fruition. Other variables can interfere. And although the classical commentators would seem to take our verse – “They shall make a sanctuary for Me so that I may dwell among them” – as a guarantee, we dare not forget that the desert sanctuary was only temporary, the two Holy Temples were destroyed, and we were forced into exile after the demise of the two previous commonwealths.
Yes, our prophets promised eventual return, repentance and even world Redemption, but these are clearly dependent upon our repentance, as Maimonides rules in his Mishne Torah (Kings 11: 12). Take note once again of our biblical verse: “They shall make a sanctuary for Me so that I may dwell among them.” Note that it’s not “so I may dwell in it,” but rather “in order that I may dwell in [each and every one of] them.” Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch links our verse to a phrase sung by the Israelites in the Song of the Red (Reed) Sea: “This is my God, and I shall become like His house.” My being and my body must be vehicles to express His unconditional love, His compassion, His loving-kindness and His Truth. The Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote that just as the skins and walls of the sanctuary housed the presence of the divine, so must our human skin and mortal bodies manifest God’s will in our every word and deed. God’s sanctuary will endure only as long as we – His people – express his message of compassionate righteousness and moral justice; “I shall make you a great nation, [but] through you must be blessed all the nations of the earth” (Genesis 12:3).
Hence in the prophetic reading cited above, King Solomon is clearly told by God that the existence of the Temple is dependent on the Israelites’ fealty to His voice.
The Midrash Raba to the words “And I shall dwell among them” links our verse to the prophecy of Jeremiah: “Mend your ways and your deeds and I will cause you to dwell in this palace” (7:3). The prophet of the destruction of the First Temple warns that we dare not listen to the lies of those who claim that since the Temple is God’s, He will never destroy it. They are false prophets! Jews must become the living expression of God’s compassion for all the weaker vessels. Then and only then will our presence in the Temple and the Land endure.
The writer is the founder and chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges and Graduate Programs, and chief rabbi of Efrat.