“IN THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS, TAKE SHELTER”
The inner point of all of Hashem’s creations is when they become integrated (miskalel) with the Creator. The root of this matter, as explained here, is the concept of the tzimtzum (constriction), in which the Infinite, so to speak, contracts.
The Mishkan served as “testimony” to the world that the sin with the golden calf had been atoned for. The depth of this testimony is the verse “בצל כנפיך יחסיון – In the shadow of Your wings, take shelter”.
The deep mission of each created being is to take shelter in the shadow of the “wings” [of the Creator, so to speak].
A shadow, at first glance, seems to be nothing more than an absence [of light]. Why then must a person take shelter in the “shadow” of Hashem? Simply speaking, isn’t the avodah of a person, as explained in sefarim hakedoshim, to become attached to the light of the Infinite (the ohr EinSof)? Why does a person have the task to attach himself to the “shadow” of Hashem, which implies an absence of Hashem’s light?
But according to what we have explained here, the avodah of a person is to attach himself to the state of tzimtzum/contraction, a contraction of the self, which represents concept of “shadow”. On a more cosmic level, at first, the light of the Infinite filled all of the empty space of Creation, so to speak, and then Hashem made a contraction (tzimtzum) and removed some of His light. The removal of His light corresponds to the concept of “shadow”.
This is the deeper implication of “In the shadow of Your wings, take shelter.” When one attaches himself to a state of contraction of the self, the very opposite of expanding the self – this is the state of hiskalelus (integration with Hashem), and this is what it means to attach oneself to the state of “shadow”.
The Sages explain that Betzalel was called so because he was b’tzeil Keil, “in the shadow of G-d.” This is the exact concept being described here. Betzalel was appointed to prepare and arrange everything in the Mishkan, because the Mishkan was the revelation of the “shadow” of Hashem [which corresponds to a removal of the self, enabling the soul to enter into a state of non-self and to thereby integrate with Hashem], which one must connect to.
