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Elefant, Harav Hagaon Yosef Shlita

Are You a Kitton Echad?

Parashas Terumah

Harav Hagaon Yosef Elefant Shlita

 

The Midrash Rabbah on this week’s parashah states that Hakadosh Baruch Hu compared the Torah to the daughter of the king who said, when he married her off, “I can’t stop my son-in-law from taking my daughter away, but I also can’t be without her.” Therefore, the king told his daughter and son-in-law, “Make me a kiton echad, a little booth where I can stay.”

Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Klal Yisrael, “I gave you the Torah, which is like my daughter. I can’t stop you from taking it, because I gave it to you, but I have to come along with it.”

In other words, it’s axiomatic that Torah comes along with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It’s not possible to have one without the other.

During the time of the Mishkan and the Beis Hamikdash, that was the “little booth” where Hashem dwelled, and that was how He fulfilled this necessary criterion that He has to come along with the Torah. After the churban, however, where do we have this little booth? Nowadays, how do we fulfill the precondition that hashraas haShechinah must accompany the Torah?

The Shechinah’s Dwelling

Commenting on the words וְכֵן תַּעֲשׂוּ in this week’s parashah, the Sforno says that the purpose of building the Mishkan was to create a dwelling place for the Shechinah among Klal Yisrael – which, prior to the cheit ha’eigel, was not necessary. Before the cheit ha’eigel, a Yid could daven and serve Hashem in any place he wanted, with no limitations or boundaries, as the passuk says: בְּכָל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אַזְכִּיר אֶת שְׁמִי אָבוֹא אֵלֶיךָ וּבֵרַכְתִּיךָ. There was no need to go to the Mishkan. But after the cheit ha’eigel, when the world became contaminated, it was necessary to build a small, central, unsullied place where a Yid could daven and serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

On the words וְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי בְּתוֹכְכֶם in Parashas Bechukosai, the Sforno says that the word וְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי means moving here and there, not being limited to one place. He explains that this brachah implies that Hashem will move among Klal Yisrael, rather than being limited to the Mishkan or the Beis Hamikdash, which will result in Hashem’s bounty descending to Klal Yisrael wherever they are, not just in one central location.

After the cheit ha’eigel, when the world was contaminated, the Shechinah couldn’t dwell just anywhere, so a Mishkan had to be built in order to provide a sterile place for the Shechinah. When the blessings of Parashas Bechukosai will be fulfilled, however, our relationship with Hashem will revert to what it was prior to the cheit ha’eigel, and then Hashem will be able to walk freely among us: בְּכָל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אַזְכִּיר אֶת שְׁמִי אָבוֹא אֵלֶיךָ וּבֵרַכְתִּיךָ. Wherever a Yid will be, there will be hashraas haShechinah.

However, continues the Sforno in Parashas Bechukosai, there is a detour around the post-cheit ha’eigel limitation that keeps Hashem’s Shechinah in one central place: the tzaddikim of the generation provide a hallowed location for the Shechinah to dwell. This, he says, is reflected in the words of in Yeshayah that we read in the haftarah of Shabbos Rosh Chodesh: הַשָּׁמַיִם כִּסְאִי וְהָאָרֶץ הֲדֹם רַגְלָי… וְאֶל זֶה אַבִּיט אֶל עָנִי וּנְכֵה רוּחַ וְחָרֵד עַל דְּבָרִי. “The entire world is Mine,” Hashem says. “The heaven is My seat, and the earth is My footrest. But to whom do I look? With whom do I want to be? With someone who has yiras Shomayim.”

True, after the cheit ha’eigel Hashem restricted His Shechinah to one central place, but even then there is the dynamic of וְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי, in which He can be anywhere. The heaven is His seat and the earth is His footstool, meaning that the whole world is potentially a dwelling place for the Shechinah, through the tzaddikim of the generation, who are עָנִי וּנְכֵה רוּחַ וְחָרֵד עַל דְּבָרִי. They are the exception to the rule that after the cheit ha’eigel Hashem’s Shechinah is restricted to one place. A person who has yiras Shomayim and clings to Hashem is able to bring down hashraas haShechinah through this dynamic of וְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי, accessing the level of בְּכָל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אַזְכִּיר אֶת שְׁמִי אָבוֹא אֵלֶיךָ וּבֵרַכְתִּיךָ that existed before the cheit ha’eigel.

Perhaps this idea is alluded to in the Baal Haturim’s statement in Parashas Pekudai that the hundred adanim in the Mishkan correspond to the hundred brachos a person is supposed to recite every day. The concept of saying a hundred brachos a day is derived from the passuk: מָה ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ שֹׁאֵל מֵעִמָּךְ כִּי אִם לְיִרְאָה, as Chazal, in Menachos, expound the word מָה to mean מאה, a hundred.

The Sfas Emes writes that through reciting a hundred brachos a day a person learns to recognize Hashem and acquires yiras Shomayim, as indicated by the words: מָה ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ שֹׁאֵל מֵעִמָּךְ כִּי אִם לְיִרְאָה. So the adanim, which are the foundation of the Mishkan, the site of hashraas haShechinah, are based on the hundred brachos we say each day that imbue us with yiras Shomayim, helping us to qualify for the description of וְחָרֵד עַל דְּבָרִי.

Give Your Heart

We can now understand how it’s possible to create a kiton echad, a dwelling for Hakadosh Baruch Hu, even after the cheit ha’eigel, without having a Mishkan or Beis Hamikdash.. The Sforno taught us that there’s an alternative: הַשָּׁמַיִם כִּסְאִי וְהָאָרֶץ הֲדֹם רַגְלָי… וְאֶל זֶה אַבִּיט אֶל עָנִי וּנְכֵה רוּחַ וְחָרֵד עַל דְּבָרִי. If a person is mevatel himself to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and has yiras Shomayim, he himself becomes a place of hashraas haShechinah. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says about him: וְאֶל זֶה אַבִּיט – that’s where I want to be, that’s My place. And that creates the possibility of hashraas haShechinah in every time and place.

Torah requires Hakadosh Baruch Hu. What is the kiton echad for Hakadosh Baruch Hu? We are. The place in each person’s heart where yiras Shomayim lies is the place of hashraas haShechinah.

On the words כֹּל נְדִיב לֵב, referring to the people who donated – “gave their heart” – toward the construction of the Mishkan, the Vilna Gaon is quoted as saying that the Mishkan, the central, communal site of hashraas haShechinah, is created by that very nedivus halev. Every person has a place for Hakadosh Baruch Hu inside of him; every person has somewhere deep in his heart where he wants Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That’s the place where Hakadosh Baruch Hu dwells, the place of hisbatlus to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the place of עָנִי וּנְכֵה רוּחַ וְחָרֵד עַל דְּבָרִי. When a person is a nediv lev, he gives Hashem the chelek Eloka mimaal that’s in his heart, creating a dwelling place for Hakadosh Baruch Hu inside of him.

The Sfas Emes (Likkutim, Rosh Chodesh Adar) says that the purpose of Torah is for a person to attain yiras Shomayim and achieve dveikus with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, thereby building his own kiton echad for Hashem. Torah without Hakadosh Baruch Hu misses the point entirely, since the whole objective of learning Torah is to cultivate a relationship with Hashem. In the lashon of the Sfas Emes: כי זה כל הבית – the yiras Shomayim is the entire bayis. It’s the mainstay of our relationship with Hashem, and it’s what builds our kiton echad.

Chazal say that a person who possesses Torah but lacks yirah is like a person who possesses the gate to a house but doesn’t have the house itself.

Rav Yerucham writes that Chazal describe the Mishkan as a kiton, a small structure that in English we would call a booth. The construction of this “booth” was exceptionally intricate, however: its details occupy almost all of Parashiyos Terumah, Tetzaveh, Ki Sisa, Vayakhel, and Pekudei, and innumerable kavanos and yichudim went into it. Yet it’s still called a kiton. Furthermore, says Rav Yerucham, the construction of the Mishkan had to be overseen by Betzalel, who knew the secrets of how to combine the letters used to create the entire universe, since building a home for the Shechinah was no simple task.

Notwithstanding the difficulty and complexity of creating this sterile place for Hakadosh Baruch Hu after the cheit ha’eigel, the same result can be accomplished by a single Yid who is עָנִי וּנְכֵה רוּחַ וְחָרֵד עַל דְּבָרִי. Such a Yid can bring about the fulfillment of the brachah of וְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי בְּתוֹכְכֶם, causing the Shechinah to dwell in every place through the power of his yiras Shomayim and his hisbatlus to Hashem.

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