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Adapted from Torat Moshe;
translated and condensed into English by Eliyahu Munk
The three-week long mourning period from the 17th
of the month of Tammuz through the 9th of Av is primarily to
commemorate the events surrounding the destruction of both the First and Second
Temples. While it is difficult for many in this modern age to relate, the
Alshich helps us understand our great loss.
They will make a sanctuary for me.
(Ex. 25:8)
The message is mind boggling! Who can imagine that G-d's
Presence can be contained on earth, much less in a man-made structure! When
Solomon beheld that the presence of G-d filled the Temple he had built, he was
awed. He realized that this was only possible because the site of Mount Moriah
had been the gateway to Heaven since Creation. Our sages express this by stating
that the sanctuary on earth is opposite G-d's sanctuary in Heaven. For that
reason Adam and Noah offered their sacrifices at that site, and so did Abraham
and Jacob.  | | " When Israel erected the Tabernacle, G-d told the angels to erect a celestial counterpart..." | | |
When Solomon, at the dedication (Kings I:8) said, "I
have built a residence", repeating the word "I have built" ("bana baniti"),
he indicated that what he had accomplished here on earth, had had its effects in
Heaven - that he had in effect built two temples. The celestial temple is
situated in a region called "Zevul". This is what is known as "the place
of Your eternal residence".
All of David's efforts to locate the exact site for
the Temple had had this as their objective. In his days, nobody had known where
the exact location was until the prophet Gad told David that it was on the
threshing ground of Arnon the Jebusite. (Samuel II 24:18).
A similar concept, of man's actions being matched in
celestial spheres, is expressed in Bamidbar Rabba 12:12. We are told
there that when Israel erected the Tabernacle, G-d told the angels to erect a
celestial counterpart. That sanctuary is called the "Tabernacle of the youth
Metatron"; there the souls of the righteous would be offered during the
period Israel is in exile, as atonement for the Jewish nation.
This is why the Torah describes the erection of the
tabernacle as "et hamishkan", the word "et" signifying
something additional, i.e. the celestial counterpart. Just as there
is a senior temple in the celestial spheres as described in the Song of the Sea,
i.e. "...the Sanctuary, my G-d, that Your hands established" (Ex. 15:17), so there
is also a junior such residence in the celestial spheres, albeit in a lower
layer of heaven, called the "Rakiya".
This junior temple functions when there is no temple
down here due to our sins. This is why the Midrash calls it the "Tabernacle of
the Youth", i.e. the junior temple.
The author quotes many proofs from Scripture supporting
the idea that when man does things for the glory of G-d (provided he is in a
state of grace) man's actions have their counterpart in celestial regions. What
G-d told Israel in this portion is that even after the grave sin of the Golden
Calf, once rehabilitated by penitence, the freedom which man has been equipped
with enables him to draw the holiness of G-d down to earth.
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