This month we will have a chance to celebrate Hanukkah. A holiday focused on cleaning up and rededication. However, for many years the temple has been destroyed and yet we continue to rededicated on the 25 of Kislev for 8 days. Today we have temples, synagogues yet often times they are not filled with the congregation. It was only in Exodus that our ancestors were instructed to construct. Exodus goes on for several chapters into the intricate description of the construction of the various furnishings and accouterments of the Mishkan (Sanctuary), the forerunner to the Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple) in Jerusalem. One by one, God instructs Moses and, as you would expect, in each case the verb is in the second person singular: ve-tzipita, ve-asita, ve-yatzakta, ve-natata, ve-heveta, "you shall cover . . . you shall make . . . you shall pour . . . you shall place . . . you shall bring." However, in relation to the creation of the Mishkan itself, the verb is in the third person plural: "ve-asu li mikdash ve-shachanti betochum", - "They shall make me a Sanctuary so that I can dwell among them." Why "they" not "you"? Why the shift from the singular to the plural? In good Jewish fashion, let's respond to this question by asking another question: what is the real purpose of the Mishkan and its ultimate successor, the Holy Temple, and its significance to Judaism and the Jewish people? The Ramban (Nachmanides), noting that the commandment to build the Mishkan directly follows the Revelation at Sinai maintains that the very function of the Mishkan was to continue the Revelation, to build a central Temple from which the Divine Voice would continue to [...]
