THE ETERNAL RESTING PLACE
The Torah states “Let the people of Israel build for Me a Mishkan and I will reside in them.” Note that HaShem states that He will reside in them not in it. The implication is that when we build for Him a Mishkan we will be His place of residence. Behold, it is the nation of Israel that will be that place in which HaShem will reside.
The residence of any individual will reflect the one who resides within. A poor man’s residence will be small and modest. A drunkard’s residence will be filthy. We would expect to find an engineer’s residence to be constructed with great design, a large family will have many bedrooms, and so on.
What qualities should we expect to find in the residence of the Creator of the Universe? I would not attempt to draw such a list; this would only be for one who has a firm under-standing of HaShem. I would, however, suggest that His residence should be one of permanence. The home of a mortal does not need to be permanent because his life is so short: not more than 120 years. The residence of the Creator, on the other hand, the One Who created Time itself and will outlive it as well, will certainly be eternal. It will certainly not be subject to the laws of physics, and specifically the law of entropy will have no impact on His residence.
As we walk upon the path of our daily lives we focus mostly on the current issues that we must deal with. Seldom do we stop to look at the big picture, taking in the view of our past decades of life together with the anticipated future that we hope for. There are, however, times when we will do just that. This is done at momentous occasions, whether at the marriage of a child or grandchild or the passing of a dear one. At such times we pause from the humdrum of our daily activities and reflect on what was, what is, and what we hope will be.
This past motzei Shabbos as Ruthy and I were traveling on the number three bus in Jerusalem on our way to the Wall, I was overcome by such a moment. In just a few minutes we would be approaching the Wall and would be standing just a few hundred meters from the place at which Avraham Avinu placed his son Yitzchok upon the altar. He was about to sacrifice the destiny of the Jewish nation because HaShem told him to do so.
My mind raced through the various periods of our history from 3,500 years ago when Avraham discovered HaShem, to when HaShem committed Himself to choosing Avraham’s children to be His people. From when Dovid Hamelech and his son Shlomo built the Beis HaMikdosh with unbridled joy to when we rejected HaShem and worshipped an idol in that very Temple. From when the Romans destroyed that Temple and exiled us from our Land to where we are today.
It is inspiring how much we have weathered. How much rejection we expressed against HaShem and how HaShem continue s to re-main with us. Sure, we paid a steep price for all that rejection but at the end of the day, we are still here. We had been removed from our homeland for thousands of years. We had been exiled in hundreds of countries separated from one another in lands of differing cultures and still, after that incredible enduring exile, we are all re-turning to our Land. The demographics of the citizens of Israel reflect the whole array of lands to where we had been exiled.
In our daily Shmoneh Esrei which was composed 2,500 years ago, we pray that HaShem gather us in from the exiles. Walking the streets of Yerushalayim we see with our own eyes how that request is being fulfilled. When we beseech HaShem in the later brochos that He should return his Presence to Yerushalayim we are confident that this too will be fulfilled.
Sitting on that number three bus I was overwhelmed by the idea that in spite of all that rejection and all those punishing centuries, Ha-Shem has never forsaken us. We are truly His. How fortunate we are to be able to witness the fulfillment of all those promises and prophecies.
We, the residence of HaShem, are eternal, our existence will not be affected whatsoever by the vicissitudes of time. With confidence we anxiously await His Presence to finally rest eternally with us.
Have a very wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind