More on Bi'ah Reikanit - The Sh'china On Shabbat a couple of us were "brainstorming" and trying to understand why the chamber above Kodesh HaKodashim exceeded the Kodesh HaKodashim itself in holiness. (Note Midot 4:5, Tif'eret Yisrael 47). We found it hard to believe that the Kedusha (sanctity) of a place depended on how often people entered it. There had to be another reason! Why should the Kodesh HaKodashim, that inner sanctum where the Kohein Gadol entered one day a year to beseech and hopefully obtain atonement for K'lal Yisrael had less sanctity than an upper room where maintenance men passed through. We were speculating (and ONLY speculating), is it possible that the answer depends on the "physical dynamics" of Kedusha and the Shechina itself? We first noted that "undue familiarity" with the Aron HaBrit (the Ark of the Covenant) can have drastic consequences. After Israel's devastating defeat at the hands of the Philistines at Even-ezer, "the ark of G-d was taken" and the jubilant victors brought the holy artifact back home as a trophy of war. As a result of a series of Divine visitation, the Philistines in desperation decided to return the Aron. The Aron made its way back to Israel and was received by the people of Beit Shemesh irreverently. "And He (G-d) smote of the men of Beit Shemesh, because they had gazed (i.e. treated disrespectfully) upon the ark of the Lord… (I Sh'muel6:19). Years later after his victories over the Philistines, David decided to bring the Aron to newly conquered Jerusalem. "And they set the ark of G-d upon a new cart (This was wrong! The Aron was supposed to be "carried on the shoulder" by Kohanim, not transported in a cart pulled by oxen. See Bamidbar 7:9) …And when they came to the threshing- floor of Nachon, Uza put forth his hand to the ark of G-d and took hold of it; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uza; and G-d smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark… (II Sh'muel 6:3-7). Someone then asked, "These examples indicate the great Kedusha of the Aron, but can we assume that the air space above the Kodesh HaKodashim was so holy because that is where the Shechina (the Divine Presence) hovered? Remember, G-d said to Moses, "It is there that I will set My meetings with you, and I shall speak with you from on top of the cover (of the Aron) from between the two Cheruvim that are on the Ark of the Testimonial-tablets, every- thing that I shall command you to the Children of Israel" (Sh'mot 25:22). There is a discussion somewhere as to where Heaven begins and I think that they concluded that Heaven begins 10 tefachim above the ground because that was the height of the Aron." ("And they shall make an ark… and an Amah and a half the height thereof, Sh'mot 25:10. An Amah equals 6 tefachim; 1½ Amot is 9 tefachim plus the one Amah thickness of the ark cover. This does not include the height of the Cheruvim.) I replied, "If the Sh'chinaonly begins 10 tefachim above the floor of an earthly room, the Kodesh Hakodashim, does it also have a "ceiling?" Can we really equate the Sh'china with the 'heavens'?" It seems that the Amora R. Yosi does equate the two concepts. Basing himself on the Pasuk quoted above, R. Yosi said, "Neither did the Sh'china descend to earth, nor did Moses or Elijah ascend to Heaven as it is written, 'The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, and the earth has He given to the sons of men (T'hilim 115:16). But did not the Sh'china in fact descend to earth? Is it not written, 'And the Lord came down upon Mt. Sinai"? (Sh'mot 19:20) (the Sh'china only descended) 10 tefachim (above the summit of the mountain). But is it not written, 'And His feet shall stand that day on the Mt. of Olives (Zechariah 14:4)? (He will stand) 10 tefachim (above the surface of the mountain)…" (Sukka 4b,5a). R. Yosi is emphasizing the immutable difference between the domain of the Divine - Shamayim, the heavens - and the realm of the "sons of men" - Aretz, earth, the material word. And even when a man is raised to the level of prophecy as was Moses or when G-d manifests Himself in the lower spheres by revelation (e.g. at Mt. Sinai) or actively intervenes in history (e.g. the miraculous Exodus from Egypt), the gap between the two dimensions is not closed (See Hakoteiv). The Talmudic commentary Yaffei Einayim (R. Aryeh Leib Yellin of Bilsk) quotes a Yerushalmi which accentuates this point, "It is written, 'I will meet with you, and I will speak with you above the Kaporet' (when G-d spoke to Moses in the Kodesh Hakodashim in the Mishkan but did not descend lower than 10 Amot) and elsewhere it says, (describing the revelation on Mt. Sinai where G-d did actually descend to the mountain but remained 10 t'fachim above the summit) 'From the heavens did I speak to you…' Just like in the first case the revelation emanated from a Reshut Acheir, another space, another sphere, another dimension…(above the Aron) so here too, G-d spoke (to Moses as he stood on Mt. Sinai) from a Reshut Achier i.e. from Heaven, 10 Amot above the summit of Har Sinai. But what does the non-physical phenomenon like the Sh'china "look like"? Rambam has said that prophecy is accompanied by a supernal light which is injurious to the corporeal eye (Moreh Nevuchim 1/5). R. Yehoshua ben Levi told the Roman Emperor Hadrian that if he was unable to look at the sun, he certainly was unable to gaze upon the Shechina. Before the destruction of the
Bayit Rishon (the First Temple), as Israel degenerated spiritually, the
Sh'china left earth by ten stages over a period of time. "R. Yehuda said,
'This we know from Tradition …this we know from references in Scripture. It
went from the ark-cover to a Chruv and from the Chruv to the threshold (of
Kodesh HaKodashim) and from the threshold to the court (Chatzeir), and from
the court to the to the (sacrificial) altar, and from the altar to the roof
(of the Bayit) and from the roof to the wall, and from the wall to the city,
and from the city to the mountain, and from the mountain to the wilderness,
and from the wilderness, it ascended to it own place (i.e. in heaven)' …R.
Yochanan said, 'The Sh'china waited for Israel in the wilderness six months
in the hope they would repent… (Rosh Hashanah 31a). Yeshiyahu in his famous
vision actually describes part of this process! "In the year when King
Uziyahu died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and his
train filled the Heichal. And above him stood the Serafim… and one called to
another said, 'Holy, holy holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full
of his glory… (Yeshiyahu 6:1-3). R. Shimshon Raphael Hirsch comments, "…the
throne was Ram Venisa, "high and lifted up,,," The Sh'china was not
"enthroned" on the Aron but rather it was "high up, the Throne ranged out
above the Temple, and only the lower edges of the Throne filled the Temple!
G-d's Glory was already on the point of raising itself above, away out of
the terrestrial Sanctuary… and already the myriads of Holy Beings were
awaiting him in the Heavens…" <to be continued> [The
Parshat B'chukotai Homepage]
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