Community Rabbi Corner, Feb. 28, 2020

 

The iconic verse of this week’s parasha is: “They shall make Me a mishkan/sanctuary, and I shall dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8)

 

How many synagogue donor walls have been inscribed with that verse? How many dedication ceremonies have quoted it?

 

But what does it mean?

 

Rashi explains that when the Torah says, “They shall make Me a sanctuary,” it means, “Let them make a house of holiness for My name.” (Ve’asu lishmi beit kedushah). In other words, “Let them make a place where My name would reside.”

 

But what does that mean? How does a name “reside?”

 

A name is a reputation. A “good name” is a “good reputation.”

 

Your home is where your personal reputation “resides.” Your headquarters is where your company’s reputation “resides.” Your national institutions are where your country’s reputation “resides.” America’s reputation is in the US Capitol in Washington, Canada’s is in the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, and the State of Israel’s reputation resides in the Knesset in Jerusalem.

 

When Israel lived in the desert, God’s reputation resided in the mishkan/sanctuary; later on, it emanated from the Temple in Jerusalem.

 

But when the Temple was destroyed, how would God’s reputation emanate to the world? Judaism developed an inspiring answer to that urgent question: God’s name would now reside in the Jewish people. Wherever we wandered, wherever we settled we would devote ourselves to bringing God’s name/reputation into the world.

 

What does it mean to be a Jew?

 

To be a Jew is to be a vessel for God’s name: to make God’s reputation beautiful and holy in the world.

By creating vibrant sanctuaries for Jewish life, by studying God’s Torah, by doing God’s mitzvot, by making Shabbat, by taking care of each other, we make God’s reputation beautiful and holy in the world.

 

Shabbat Shalom.