This past Shabbat (Parshat Terumah), we began a series of Torah readings that are famously opaque. They are packed with complex laws about how the Mishkan (the portable Temple in the desert) was to be built, how the sacrifices are brought, and a host of related issues.
Our greatest rabbis suggested different understandings for these parshiyot. Today I’d like to tackle the question of how to understand the significance of the Temple as a whole. I will leave the actual sacrifices (a related issue) to discuss in a few weeks at the beginning of the book of Vayikra. Afterwards, I plan to reconcile the two discussions if possible.
Rambam
Rambam (Maimonides) states (Rambam Beit HaBechirah 1:1):
It is a positive commandment to construct a House for God, prepared for sacrifices to be offered within. We [must] celebrate there three times a year, as [Exodus 25:8] states: “And you shall make Me a sanctuary.”
The sanctuary constructed by Moses is already described in the Torah. It was only temporary, as [Deuteronomy 12:9] states: “For at present, you have not come unto [the resting place and the inheritance].”
It is clear that the primary goal of building the Temple (and its predecessors) is providing a platform for the sacrifices to be brought and a gathering place for the Israelites three times a year (on Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot). The Rambam proceeds to give a brief history covering the different portable temples which preceded Solomon’s construction in Jerusalem. He concludes (Rambam Beit HaBechirah 1:3):
Once the Temple was built in Jerusalem, it became forbidden to build a sanctuary for God or to offer sacrifices in any other place.
There is no Sanctuary for all generations except in Jerusalem and [specifically,] on Mt. Moriah, as [I Chronicles 22:1] states: “And David declared: ‘This is the House of the Lord, God, and this is the altar for the burnt offerings of Israel.’ and [Psalms 132:14] states: “This is My resting place forever.”
Again, the centrality of sacrificial offerings is highlighted. The meaning of a resting place for G-d is designating an eternal destination for sacrifices.
Of course, the Rambam doesn’t deny that Mishkan and the Temple are a resting place for G-d. However, he stresses that the sacrifices are its basic functionality. Perhaps, we can apply a paradigm innovated by Rav Soloveitchik.
In Al Hateshuva, Rav Soloveitchik points out that the Rambam describes the mitzvah of teshuva (repentance) as “that a sinner should return from his sin before Hashem and confess,” in the headline to the Laws of Repentance. However, in the main halachot, he says that “when a sinner returns from his sin he must confess.” (Rambam, Laws of Repentance, Introduction, and Chapter 1 Halacha 1). Rav Soloveitchik explained that the essence of the mitzvah was to repent, but the mechanics don’t allow for an obligation to repent, as that is driven by internal conviction. As such, the formal legal mechanism had to be confession at the time of repentance.
Perhaps we have a similar dichotomy here. The mitzvah is to build a House for G-d, as the Rambam explicitly states. The legal mechanism that the Torah gives cannot obligate such a thing, for it is beyond our control to build a house for G-d. Only He can establish His presence in a physical place. The legal obligation is to perform the sacrifices which build the platform for G-d’s house. When we build that platform and operate it according to our divine instructions, it becomes a fitting vehicle for G-d’s presence.
Ramban
Ramban (Nachmanides), famously, has a very different perspective to Rambam. In the beginning of Parshat Terumah, he states the following (Ramban Shemot 25:3):
Now that G-d had told Israel face to face the Ten Commandments, and had further commanded them through Moses some of the precepts which are like general principles to the [individual] commandments of the Torah… and now that the Israelites accepted upon themselves to do all that He would command them through Moses and He made a covenant with them concerning all this, from now on they are His people and He is their G-d… They are now holy, in that they are worthy that there be amongst them a Sanctuary through which He makes His Divine Glory dwell among them. Therefore He first commanded concerning the Tabernacle, so that He have amongst them a house dedicated to His name, from where He would speak with Moses and command the children of Israel. Thus the main purpose of the Tabernacle was to contain a place in which the Divine Glory rests, this being the ark, just as He said, And there will I meet with thee, and I will speak with thee from above the ark-cover…
The secret of the Tabernacle is that the Glory which abode upon Mount Sinai [openly] should abide upon it in a concealed manner.
The Mishkan was a vehicle for continued divine revelation after Mount Sinai. That was the main point of the building. Hashem revealed Himself to us on the mountain in His full glory. He continued to communicate through the Mishkan with Moshe, specifically from on top of the Ark. The Ark became the vehicle for G-d’s divine presence and for His glory.
Ramban continues:
Solomon also always mentions that the Sanctuary is to be for the name of the Eternal, or for Thy name, and at each and every section of the prayer he says, then hear Thou in heaven — with the attribute of mercy. And it is further written: If Thy people go out to battle against their enemy… and they pray unto the Eternal toward the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name, then hear Thou in heaven, and in explanation Solomon said: But will G-d in very truth dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee. And it is written concerning the ark, And David arose… to bring up from thence the ark of G-d, whereupon is called the Name, even the Name of the Eternal of hosts that sitteth upon the cherubim, and in the Book of Chronicles it is written: to bring up from thence the ark of G-d, the Eternal, Who sitteth upon the cherubim, whereon is called the Name — for it is G-d Who sitteth upon the cherubim.
The Temple became the gateway for G-d to communicate with us. However, more than that, it became our gateway to communicate with him. This relates to the Rambam’s perspective that the Temple is a place for congregation and sacrifices: it is the address for our communication with G-d, as much as it is his address to communicate with us. It also explains the next comment in the Ramban:
And in Eileh Shemoth Rabbah the Rabbis have said: "And this is the offering which ye shall take of them — this refers to the congregation of Israel, which is the heave-offering, as it is said, Israel is the Eternal's hallowed portion, His first-fruits of the increase." And it is also said there: "The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: I have sold you My Torah; and I, as it were, was sold with it, for it is said, 'v'yikchu li terumah'" [which the Midrash takes to mean: "and they shall acquire Me as an offering"]. For the offering shall be Mine, and I am with it, similar to: My beloved is mine, and I am his.
Ramban envisions the Temple as both our place and G-d’s, a special location where we can be closer to each other. G-d gave himself to us in the Torah, which is housed in the Ark of the Covenant that lies at the heart of the Temple. We gave ourselves to Him in the construction of the Temple and in making it our permanent address for prayers (in a corporeal sense). The Temple is the place of ultimate closeness between us and G-d.
Parenthetically, the Ramban’s perspective seems very precisely mirrored in the story of Yaakov’s ladder in Parashat Vayetze. There, Yaakov stops to sleep in a place and receives a divine communication (many authorities explain that place would later become Jerusalem). After awaking, he exclaims: “How awe-inspiring this place is! This is none other than the house of G-d and the gate to heaven!” Yaakov gives practical expression to this sentiment by building an altar and promising to sacrifice a tenth of this eventual property on his return. The idea of the place where G-d reveals Himself becoming a future address for prayer and communication and being enshrined as holy for eternity finds its echo in the Ramban’s comments quoted here.
The Mishkan within us
In my heart I shall build a Mishkan, to his wondrous glory, and in the Mishkan I will place an altar to [receive] the emanations of his awesomeness. And as an eternal flame I will take for myself the flame of the binding [of Isaac] (which also occurred on the location which later housed the altar). And as a sacrifice, I will sacrifice to him my one soul.
This beautiful poem, originally written by Rav Yitzchak Hutner (based on Sefer Chareidim), gives a third understanding of the Temple. The Temple is intended, according to Rav Hutner, as a reflection of our deepest yearnings to become closer to G-d through His service. It provides a template for us to build our spiritual life around.
Rav Hutner’s stress on the Temple as a model for service meshes well with the Rambam’s stress on the importance of sacrifice. According to this perspective, sacrifices are important mainly for the feeling they arouse within us. By bringing them, we open up ourselves to deeper service, and to its many rewards. This links up to the Rambam’s idea about the purpose of sacrifices, that they were intended to train us to better service of G-d in our spiritual lives. However, as mentioned above, I will leave that discussion for another week.