“And let them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them (Ex 25:8).”
ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם
V’asu li mikdash v’shachanti b’tocham
In one of our verses this week, God asks us to make a mikdash. First things first, “What’s a mikdash or sanctuary?” From examples throughout Torah, we understand the mikdash to be a dedicated space for God’s holy presence to dwell. That certainly feels like a tall task to do on our own, doesn’t it? Well, we’re a synagogue blessed with two campuses and we already have our dedicated sanctuaries at each of them, so we must already be covered. You can probably guess that it’s never that easy.
One of the reasons Judaism strongly speaks to me is because of its application in our daily lives. For me, this means that there must be relevance in what the text is commanding us and I’m hoping in this case it goes beyond literally building sanctuaries or places for prayer. While they are beautiful and make many holy moments possible, it’s not a space we have access to every day.
Perhaps the better question for me to pose in response to God’s request is to ask why God wants us to do this thing rather than fully understand what the thing is. “Why would the Divine want us to build anything for God itself?” One answer is that whatever it is that we’re “building” doesn’t really matter. What we build simply stands in as a place holder, a convenience for the true task of creating holiness. Our text this week is showing us that one pathway to being in the Presence is to take on an ongoing, active role in making the space for it.