Tetzaveh
Exodus 27:20- 30:10
Near the end of this week’s portion, God offers this promise to the Israelites as they complete the building of the Mishkan:
“For there I will meet with you, and there I will speak with you, and there I will meet with the Israelites, and it {the Tabernacle} shall be sanctified by My Presence. I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests. I will abide among the Israelites, and I will be their God. And they shall know that I the Eternal am their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt that I might abide among them, I the Eternal, their God.” (Ex. 29:42 - 46)
“There I will meet you and there I will speak with you;” how grateful and reassured the people must have felt to hear the Divine commitment to the covenant, and the Holy One’s very personal approach to them. This is a different aspect of God than the one they trembled before in terror at the base of Mt. Sinai. Within the sheltering boundaries of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, God could “meet” the people, dwell among them, accept their sacrifices and be a holy Presence in their lives.
When the Temple in Jerusalem (the successor to the Tabernacle) was destroyed, our rabbis declared that each person’s home could become a “mikdash me’at,” a small place of holiness whose central feature still was the “altar,” now taking the form of the table at which family and friends gathered to eat. Each meal, punctuated by prayers, could echo and imitate the ancient sacrifices; God’s reassuring Presence would be felt through the camaraderie of community and expressions of thanks for God’s bounty.
The breaking of bread became the symbol of the holiness of eating and sharing the staff of life with another. According to the Talmud, even if one is eating by oneself, one must break the bread rather than just taking a bite, to exhibit the ethical principle of always being prepared to share our portion. When we sit at our Seder tables this April, we will hold up the matza, breaking it and declaring, “Whoever is hungry may come and eat.” Welcoming guests to our tables is an invitation to establish and strengthen reciprocal relationships; we imitate our ancestors who welcomed God into the Mishkan as both an honored guest and a revered host. “There I will meet you and there I will speak with you.”
When the Tabernacle and then the Temple stood, the lechem panim, the “show bread,” rested on the ornate table throughout the week, until replaced by freshly-baked bread on Shabbat. Lechem panim literally means, the “bread of faces.” Isn’t it a fitting name when we think now of a Friday night challah in the midst of a gathered circle of faces - family, friends, and perhaps strangers who will be friends? Let those circles be open with the warmth of sincere prayer and gracious hospitality, that the Holy One, too, may be present always in our midst.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Judy Shanks
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