The Wearable House ... Revelation 21:2 KJV ...And I Yochanon (חן)"for those who know this Secret" SAW the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Beneath the surface of the metaphor’s most obvious import lie layers upon layers of meaning, in which each and every detail of the narrative is significant. WHY ARE THE Temples portrayed as three suits of clothes? Would not the example of a building or house have been more appropriate? The house and the garment both “house” and envelop the person. But the garment does so in a much more personal and individualized manner. While it is true that the dimensions and style of a home reflect the nature of its occupant, they do so in a more generalized way-not as specifically and as intimately as a garment suits its wearer. On the other hand, the individual nature of the garment limits its function to one’s personal use. A home can house many; a garment can clothe only one. I can invite you into my home, but I cannot share my garment with you: even if I give it to you, it will not clothe you as it clothes me, for it “fits” only myself. G‑d chose to reveal His presence in our world in a “dwelling”—a communal structure that goes beyond the personal to embrace an entire people and the entire community of man. Yet the Holy Temple in Jerusalem also had certain garment-like features. For the Holy Temple was also a highly compartmentalized structure. There was a Women’s Court and a courtyard reserved for men, an area restricted to the kohanim (priests), a “sanctuary” (heichal) imbued with a greater sanctity than the “courtyards,” and the “Holy of Holies”—a chamber into which only the high priest may enter, and only on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. The Talmud enumerates eight domains of varying sanctity within the Temple complex, each with its distinct function and purpose. In other words, although the Temple expressed a single truth—the all-pervasive presence of G‑d in our world—it did so to each individual in a personalized manner. Although it was a “house” in the sense that it served many individuals—indeed, the entire world—as their meeting point with the infinite, each and every individual found it a tailor-made “garment” for his or her specific spiritual needs, according him or her a personal and intimate relationship with G‑d. Each year, on the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, we are shown a vision of our world as a divine home—a place where all G‑d’s creatures will experience His presence. But this is also a vision of a G‑dly “garment”—the distinctly personal relationship with G‑d, particularly suited to our individual character and aspirations, that we will each enjoy when the third divine Temple descends to earth. WHO IS THIS THIRD TEMPLE? GOD HIMSELF ENVELOPED BY THE SOULS OF RIGHTEOUS MEN MADE PERFECT BY MELECH HAMOSHIACH, KING MESSIAH!!!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 01:18:58 +0000
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