Looking Under the Hood
When we begin our talk tonight about this week’s sedrah, about the Mishkan, we must give credit to one of the chachomim of two doros back who taught us an important Torah principle that serves as an introduction to our subject. Rav Simcha Zissel, zichrono livracha, said that when studying a mitzvah, it’s necessary הָרּוּˆַה ̇∆‡ יטƒׁ ̆¿פַה¿ל – to take off the outward form; it means that we are expected to remove the chitzoniyus of the mitzvah and see what is the pnimiyus, the essence of the subject that was intended by Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
Now when we utilize this method of studying the Mishkan not only will we bring to life an important part of our history, but we’ll see that something that has long been destroyed and maybe we imagined is no longer relevant to our daily lives, is actually more relevant than anything else. And that’s because the Mishkan serves as a model for the shuls, for our battei kneisiyos which are the Mikdash Me’at — they are our own small mishkan that stand for us with the same purpose as the original one in our parsha.
Dovid Uncovers the Truth
Now, if we want to make an attempt at removing the outward form of the Mishkan and understand something of its pnimiyus it would pay for us to study the words of Dovid Hamelech. Because Dovid composed an especial song for the occasion of the Beis Hamikdash’s dedication, kepitel 30. And if Dovid made a shir especially in honor of that important occasion, we would expect that whatever we read there should be an illumination of that subject; it should help us understand something about the function of the House of Hashem.
Only we’re surprised that when we look into that shir, we see not one word is mentioned about the Beis Hamikdash except the title: ירƒׁ ̆ רֹמו¿זƒמ „ƒוָ„¿ל ̇ƒיַּבַה ַּ̇כֻנֲח, and that’s the end of it. After that short introduction, it talks about something else and doesn’t mention the Beis Hamikdash even once.
Off Topic?
Now, it’s very important that we should understand that puzzle because we wouldn’t have made the shir in that manner. After all, there’s so much to talk about when it comes to the Beis Hamikdash; the kedusha, the Shechina, םָכֹו ̇¿ּב יƒּ ̇¿נַכָׁ ̆¿ו, the keilim and the korbanos, the kohanim and the avodah. But not one word is mentioned. And if that’s the case, if Dovid chose to speak about something else, we have to understand that.
So let’s pay attention first to what he does say. Right away he begins speaking about gratitude, about thanking Hashem for what He did for him: ‘הָך¿מƒמֹרוֲ‡ – I will exalt You, Hashem, יƒנָ ̇יƒּלƒ„ יƒּכ – because You lifted me up. I was a nobody. I came from Moav, from a low nation. My yichus was a very poor yichus. I had a kupah shel sheratzim on my back, a lot of skeletons in the closet, and still You elevated me; You chose me and made me Your Moshiach, the melech.
And then I had enemies all my life, יƒל יַב¿יֹ‡ ָּ ̇¿חַּמƒׂ ̆ ‡ֹל¿ו – but You didn’t let my enemies rejoice over me. ָיך∆ל≈‡ יƒּ ̇¿עַּוƒׁ ̆ יָ ֹ̃ל¡‡ 'ה – I cried out to You many times in my life, יƒנ≈‡ָּפ¿רƒּ ָ̇ו – and You healed me.
The Bottom Line
Now, that’s only the beginning, but when you read that entire shir, you see it’s one big narration of gratitude, hakaros hatov. Dovid is pouring out his heart in thanks to Hashem all the way till the last words. You know, when you write a shtar, so you have to be chozer beshitah achronah, to sum up the contents of the document on the last line. Like they say in America: “What’s the bottom line?” And what’s the bottom line of this mizmor? ם≈ּׁ ַ̆הָּך∆„ֹו‡ םָלֹעו¿ל יַ ֹ̃ל¡‡ — Hashem, I’m going to thank You forever.
And so Dovid is telling us here a very big chiddush; he’s saying the purpose of the Beis Hamikdash is to thank Hashem. “You want to know why I’m doing all of this?” sings Dovid. “You want to know why I applied myself to gathering together all the materials for the building of the Beis Hamikdash? I did it for one purpose; to thank Hashem!”
That’s what the Beis Hamikdash is for. הָך¿מƒמֹרוֲ‡’ – I’m going to exalt You Hashem. How will I exalt You? I’ll build for You a Beis Hamikdash which, just like the Mishkan, will be a place to express my gratitude to You.
Come In With Gratitude
Just to bring out the point more, so you’ll see what I’m talking about, if you look in Dovid Hamelech’s famous shir about thanksgiving, you see the same story: הָ„ֹו ̇¿ל רֹמו¿זƒמ – Here’s a song especially for thanksgiving; and right away he’s talking about the Mikdash. הָנָנ¿רƒּב יוָנָפ¿לּו‡ֹּב – Come before Him with song, הָ„ֹו ̇¿ּב יוָרָﬠ¿ׁ ּ̆ו‡ֹּב – Come into His gates with thanksgiving. Which gates? Of the Beis Hamikdash or the Mishkan, whatever it was. יוָ ֹ̇רו¿ˆַח הָּלƒה¿ ̇ƒּב – You come in to His precincts with thanksgiving. (ibid. 100:1). So when you come in, you come in with a purpose of todah, of thanksgiving.
Now that is how we have to understand the purpose of not only the Beis Hamikdash, but all the appointments of the Mikdash. All the details of the Mishkan that we read about in this week’s sedrah, are expressions primarily of thanksgiving.
Now it’s a big chiddush, but we have to learn that chiddush and study it and practice it too — we’ll soon see how we should practice it in our lives. It’s a very important subject for us and so we’ll take a few examples and חַ ̃∆ל ף∆סֹיו¿ו םָכָח עַמ¿ׁ ̆ƒי – once you understand that gratitude and thanksgiving is the common denominator, you yourself will be able to see from these examples more examples of your own.
The Secret of the Table
In the Mishkan, one of the keilim was the Table. יםƒּטƒׁ ̆ י≈ˆֲﬠ ןָח¿לֻׁ ̆ ָ ̇יƒׂ ָ̆ﬠ¿ו – You should make a golden Table of atzei shittim overlaid with gold (Shemos 25:23). Now I have to tell you beforehand, I must apologize because the Rambam says he doesn’t understand the idea of the Shulchan with Lechem Hapanim. He has no explanation. And here, along comes a nobody who will give an explanation. But what can I do? I can’t help myself. I’ll tell you an explanation.
On that golden Table, they put the Lechem Hapanim, twelve loaves of bread. And these loaves are our expression of gratitude to Hashem. The Shulchan and the bread are a הָ„ֹו ̇¿ל רֹמו¿זƒמ for the great nes of lechem.
Hamotzee Lechem Min Ha’avir
If you ever studied any science, you know it’s a big nes. Bread comes out of nowhere, not min ha’aretz. The aretz gives only a tiny contribution to the lechem. The lechem actually comes out of the air! This air makes lechem. It’s mavhil. You become excited when you hear that. That’s what they know now. It’s nissei nissim!
How does air become bread? Carbon dioxide in the air combines with the sunshine. You’re eating sunshine when you eat bread; that’s what it is. Sunshine joins with the carbon dioxide with some water and with the chlorophyll, the green part of the plant, and it combines and it makes starch. That starch is the wheat; that’s cheilev chitah, the fat of the wheat. That’s the bread. It comes out of the air!
So you’ll ask me a question: Isn’t carbon dioxide only three parts in ten thousand in the air? And the plant is standing here sucking the carbon dioxide from the air around it. In a minute, it has exhausted all the carbon dioxide; so the plant should die. No! Hakadosh Baruch Hu made the wind. ם≈ּיַ ̃¿ ̇ƒמ םָלֹעוָה ין≈‡ ֹ̇חוּרוָה ‡≈לָמ¿לƒ‡ – Without the winds, the world couldn’t exist. The wind keeps the air moving. So as the plant exhausts the carbon dioxide from the air around it, the wind pushes some new air into place and the carbon dioxide is replenished – nissei nissim!
Wonder Bread
And so, this piece of lechem is such a composite, a complex of so many miracles that we have to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu not for one nes – we have to thank Him for hundreds and hundreds of nissim.
Now when we say hundreds, I’m underestimating. I don’t want to take up the time and tell you how many actual nissim there are in the making of food. It’s so many that you’ll think it’s exaggerated. “A guzmah,” you’ll say. You won’t even believe me. You need millions of details to cooperate to make bread.
That’s why when you have a piece of bread at the table and somebody says give me this piece of bread, you don’t throw it to him. ̇∆‡ יןƒ ̃¿רֹזו ין≈‡ ַּ̇פַה – You can’t throw bread. Derech eretz! Be polite with the bread! It’s Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s miracle.
Would you throw let’s say urim v’tumim?! Let’s say the Kohen Gadol said to you, “Hand me the urim v’tumim please,” would you throw it? You would take it with the biggest derech eretz, with hachna’ah you’d hold it in you hand. The piece of bread is more nissim than the urim v’tumim – more nissim! We’re accustomed to bread. The urim v’tumim is such a rare miracle, but bread is no less. It’s bigger – much bigger!
Excited About Nissim
So when you see a piece of bread on your table, you have to be excited about it.
“How can I be excited?” he says. “I eat every day.”
So Hashem says, “It’s My fault? I want you to be happy, not to be hungry. Just because I’m giving you every day therefore you shouldn’t be excited? You want Me to give it to you once in ten years?” So learn to be excited! You have to learn to be excited about a piece of bread.
And Hashem makes it taste good too! Bread tastes good! You know, once you put the bread in your mouth, the saliva combines with the starch of the bread and it turns into sugars. You know that? That’s why the more you chew it, the sweeter the bread becomes. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to make that you enjoy the bread. He gives it b’chein b’chesed. It’s a pleasure when you eat bread. I’m not saying you should become a gourmet, a ba’al ta’avah, but you’re eating bread anyhow.
And you’re eating it tamid, always! That’s why it says ןָח¿לֻּׁ ַ̆ה לַﬠ ָּ ַ̇ ָ̇נ¿ו„יֽƒמָּ ̇ יַנָפ¿ל יםƒנָּפ ם∆ח∆ל (ibid. 25:30). Tamid means Hashem is always giving bread. Every day, He gives bread and therefore it’s on the table tamid. And when the Kohanim come on Shabbos to remove the bread, they have to be mekayem the tamid. They can’t just take it off. So as they’re taking off the old bread, they’re pushing on the new bread and so immediately the new bread is there already; even the smallest interruption shouldn’t be. So you see how important it is to be reminded of that. We do a big procedure on the Shulchan so that we should be reminded to thank that we get our bread tamid without the slightest interruption.
The Shulchan and Us
And so when we talk about the Shulchan and the Lechem Hapanim, let’s keep in mind that its primary purpose is to mechayev us, to obligate us to keep in our minds always to express our gratitude to Hashem.
That’s the result of being mafshit the tzurah of the Shulchan — the golden Table in the Mishkan is an expression of our gratitude and a reminder that we’re mechuyev to express our gratitude every day to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for our daily bread. What’s in the Mishkan is only a mashal what you should do. Whenever we put bread on our table we should stop and say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “We thank You! ָך¿מƒמֹרוֲ‡ for our daily bread, for the nissei nissim!”
