Holy Ground

All of its [the Sanctuary's] stakes and all the stakes of the Enclosure should be made of copper. (Ex. 27:19)

Rashi suggests the possibility that the stakes were not actually hammered into the ground but simply held the curtains in place by their weight. Nonetheless, he feels that the evidence indicates that they were indeed imbedded into the ground.

If the stakes were only weights, the connection between the Tabernacle and the ground it stood on was merely coincidental, but if the stakes were implanted in the ground, it means that the holiness of the Tabernacle actually permeated the ground. The Torah describes later on (see Num. 5:17) how the ground under the Tabernacle was actually used as part of a religious rite.

In either case, the ground under the Tabernacle absorbed holiness only while the Tabernacle stood upon it. When the Tabernacle moved on, the ground reverted to its previous, mundane status. Similarly, for a few days before the giving of the Torah, Mount Sinai was off limits by penalty of death. But after the Torah was given, Mount Sinai was once again freely accessible.

Later, with the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the ability of holiness to permanently affect the material world went a step further. Unlike the Tabernacle, which was constructed mainly out of wood and fabric - both of the vegetable kingdom - the Holy Temples were constructed primarily from stone - the mineral kingdom. The holiness of the Temples was compelling enough to affect even the inanimate aspects of Creation. Hence the ground upon which the Temples stood remains holy even today.

Thus, with the building of the Temple, we have been given the power to bring light - in a permanent and internal way - even to those places that appear to be earth - inanimate, and lifeless. The Temples of holiness that we build throughout the world cannot be uprooted ever.

[Adapted by Moshe Yakov Wisnefsky from Likutei Sichot, vol. 6, pp. 166-8; Copyright 2001 chabad of california / www.lachumash.org]