Ten Tapestries of Tikun

This week's Torah reading describes the various components and furnishings of the Tabernacle, which was a reflection of the structure of the spiritual worlds and is also paralleled in the structure of man's soul and body. The tent of the Tabernacle was formed from ten tapestries divided in into two sets of five each. Each set of five tapestries was sewn together and then draped over the framework of upright wooden beams forming the walls. The two sets of tapestries were joined together by fasteners hooked through loops on the edges of each of the tapestries.

Make the Tabernacle out of ten tapestries….The two sets of tapestries can then be joined together, so that the Tabernacle will be one piece. (Ex. 26:1-6)

Rabbi Chiya said: Here is the secret of unification [of the ten sefirot of the world of Tikun, to which the ten tapestries correspond]. For the Tabernacle comprised a number of different levels [each mirroring a different aspect of the structure of the spiritual worlds, and yet] "…the Tabernacle will be one piece".

The unification [yichud] of the ten sefirot of the world of Tikun rectifies the discord and lack of unity of the sefirot of Tohu, which shattered precisely because there was no unity and harmony among them.

This [phrase, "the Tabernacle will be one piece"] demonstrates that all its parts together form a single whole.

In man too, there are a number of different limbs, upper and lower. Some are on the inside [such as the brain, heart, liver etc.], and some are on the outside [such as the arms and legs]. Yet all together they form one composite body called a man.

So too with the Tabernacle, the components of which were all in the likeness of the supernal [worlds]. When combined together they form what the verse describes as "the Tabernacle will be one piece".

In exactly the same way, the mitzvot of the Torah are the "limbs and organs" of the One above.

Also the mitzvot form a composite harmonious unit. The two-hundred forty-eight positive commandments of the Torah parallel the 248 limbs and organs of the human body, so that a mitzvah is associated with each limb or organ of the human body. (See Zohar II p. 117b-118a; Tikunei Zohar, Tikun 30, p. 74a; Tikun 70, p. 131a.) When a person fulfills a positive commandment, "he draws down G‑dliness and a radiation from the light of the Infinite One to the upper and lower worlds"(Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh 10, p. 114b).

When all of them fuse together they form a single mystery, the secret of the Tabernacle [i.e. the structure in which the Divine Presence becomes revealed], comprising various limbs and parts that together form a "man" in the same way as the mitzvot of the Torah.

In other words, the various parts of the Tabernacle, just like the 248 mitzvot and the 248 limbs of the human body, all form a composite whole that reflects the Divine Image in which man was created.

For the mitzvot of the Torah are all the mystery of Man, [i.e. the Divine Image, comprising] male and female [the 248 positive commandments and the 365 prohibitions, corresponding to the arteries, veins and sinews of the human body]. When these fuse together they form the secret of Man. If anyone would remove [i.e. deny] one of the mitzvot of the Torah, this would cause damage to the entire structure, for all the mitzvot are parts and limbs of the form of Man [just as removing a limb or organ would at the very least disfigure a person]. Accordingly they are all part of the same unity, and therefore the Jewish People are called "the one nation" [i.e. all of them together constitute a single body,] as the verse states, "You are the flock that I pasture; you are a man" (Ezekiel 34:31), and as it is written, "Who is like Your people, the one nation on earth." (Samuel II 7:23)

[Zohar II, p. 162b, based on Or Yakar; translation and commentary by Moshe Miller]