By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
The Mishkan (not the Temple) as a Body:
In this study I would like to examine the connections between the human body and the Temple. This edifice is commonly referred to by our sages as the Beit HaMikdash, the house of holiness.
Go and stand before a mirror. What do you see? A head, two eyes, a nose and a mouth. Look down and you will see a neck which leads to the internal areas of the heart, stomach, etc.
You are looking at a human being. But if you look closer you will see one of
the most profound creations in HaShem’s world, a
miniature Beit HaMikdash.
This study was precipitated by the following pasuk:
Shemot (Exodus) 25:8 And you shall make make a sanctuary for me;
that I may dwell among them.
The Or Hachayim asks why the Torah states "and you shall make a mikdash (Sanctuary) for me", and then in the next verse it says "the form of the Tabernacle…so shall you do". Are we talking about the mikdash (Sanctuary) or the Mishkan (Tabernacle)? The Or Hachayim writes that the commandment to make a Mikdash for HaShem is not only referring to the time when Bne Israel were in the desert, but includes all of Jewish history from the time that we were in the desert to the time that we entered eretz Israel. He writes that when the Jewish people are in eretz Israel, and even in a time of Galut (exile), the mitzva to build the mikdash still applies.
The Malbim answers this question, in his work entitled Remazey Hamiskan (Illusions of the Sanctuary) explains that we each have to build inside of ourselves a mikdash, that each one of us must provide a residence for HaShem's presence.
Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, the renowned student of the Gaon of Vilna, said that the commandment to construct a Tabernacle is primarily a personal commandment; every Jew is "a living tabernacle in miniature." HaShem rests the Shechinah, His Divine Presence, primarily in the human heart.
Excerpt from Sefer Charedim – The Book of the Awestruck (R. Eliezer Azkari, c. 1550) 66:27 – You are a Temple for the presence of the Holy King! As such, it is extremely important that you sanctify your heart and your soul, as well as all 248 limbs of your body. It is written, “The Holy One is in your midst [be’kir’becha]” (Hoshea 11:9), and “They [the people] are HaShem’s Temple” (Yirmiyahu 7:4), and “Be holy, for I, HaShem, am holy” (Vayikra 19:2), and “I will place My Mishkan [Tabernacle] in your midst [be’tochechem]” (Vayikra 26:11). HaShem means what He says: “I dwell in you!”
Rabbi Chaim explains: The Zohar compares every Jew to the Temple (i.e. the permanent Tabernacle). Just like the center of the Temple is the Holy of Holies, the center of the human being is his heart. His head is above him, his feet are beneath him, so the heart which is at the midpoint of his trunk, is the actual center of his being. Just as the holiness that is the source of all that is good in the world emanates from the Holy of Holies, the life force of the human emanates from the heart.
In his commentary on Chumash, the Malbim explains that the Beit HaMikdash is a macrocosm of the human body: If you look at a plan of the Heichel (Sanctuary) in the Beit HaMikdash, you will notice that the placement of the various vessels, the altar, the table, and the Menorah all corresponds to the location of the vital organs in the human body. In other words, each of the Temple's vessels represents a human organ.
The
Zohar and the Midrash Ne'elam both state that the
613 parts of the Mishkan directly correlate to the 613 parts of the human body.
Thus
we have in our tradition:
613 Mitzvot - 248 positive
Mitzvot and 365 injunctions.
613 Human body parts - 248 limbs and 365 sinews.
613 Different parts and vessels in the Mishkan.
[The Midrash compares the Mishkan as a whole to the human body, and each of its implements and components to various human organs and body parts. The beams supporting the Mishkan symbolize the ribs, the curtains of goats’ hide correspond to a person’s skin, and the Shulchan represents the stomach. The Kiyor suggests the liquid element of the human body. The Menorah, provider of light in the Mishkan, represents the human mind, which provides us with the light of comprehension and understanding. The Keruvim, which spread their wings over the Aron, correspond to the lungs, which are positioned over the heart, and the Aron corresponds to the human heart. ]
This picture of the Beit HaMikdash representing a man, as a place where HaShem resides, is also explicitly stated in the Nazarean Codicil:[1]
I Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Finally,
we can understand that the Temple was not only the picture of a man, but it was
the picture of the perfect man, the Mashiach:
Yochanan
(John) 2:18 Then answered the Jews
and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us,
seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Yeshua
answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this
temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of
the temple of his body.
Ephesians 2:19-22 So then ye are no more strangers and
sojourners, but ye are fellow–citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, 20 being built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Mashiach Yeshua himself being the chief corner
stone; 21 in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a
holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom ye also are builded together for a
habitation of God in the Spirit.
Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are the temple of it.
When the men of the Great Assembly removed the yetzer hara (evil inclination) of avoda zara (idolatry) from the inner sanctum of the Beit HaMikdash, the effect was its removal from all our "work stations" connected to the "mainframe" in the Kodesh HaKadashim (Holy of Holies) in Jerusalem:
Yoma 69b He answered: One does not pronounce the Ineffable Name outside [the
limits of the Temple]. But may one not? Is it not
written: And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made
for the purpose. [. . . and Ezra praised the great God]. And R. Giddal
[commenting thereupon] said: He magnified Him by [pronouncing] the Ineffable
Name?-That was a decision in an emergency. And [they] cried with a great [loud]
voice unto the Lord, their God. What did they cry? — Woe, woe, it is he who has
destroyed the Sanctuary, burnt the Temple, killed all the righteous, driven all
Israel into exile, and is
still dancing around among us! Thou hast surely given him to us so that we may
receive reward through him. We want neither him, nor reward through him!
Thereupon a tablet fell down from heaven for them,
whereupon the word ‘truth’ was inscribed. (R. Hanina said: One may learn
therefrom that the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth). They ordered
a fast of three days and three nights, whereupon he
was surrendered to them. He came forth from the Holy of Holies like a young
fiery lion.
From this Gemara we see that every one in the entire world is connected to the Beit HaMikdash. In some way we ARE the Beit HaMikdash!
When Idolatry was excised from the world, it was visibly manifesting as flame from the Kodesh Kodashin. But, the effects were felt in every human being from that time forward. From that time forward, human beings no longer had a craving for idolatry that was as strong as the craving for food or sex. We now possess only a shadow of that craving.
Thus we see that while idolatry lived in the hearts of men until that fateful days, once it was removed from the hearts of men, it was also removed from the Beit HaMikdash. This shows that the Beit HaMikdash pictures men and is meant to be seen as a picture of a man (i.e. Mashiach).
“Gold” is the soul;
“silver,” the body;
“copper,” the voice;
“blue,” the veins;
“purple,” the flesh;
“red,” the blood;
“flax,” the intestines;
“goat hair,” the hair;
“ram skins dyed red,” the skin of the face;
“tachash skins,” the scalp;
“shittim wood,” the bones;
“oil for lighting,” the eyes;
“spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense,” the nose, mouth and palate;
“shoham stones and gemstones for setting,” the kidneys and the heart.
THE ANALOG OF THE IBN EZRA
The analog first boldly drawn by the Ibn Ezra (12th century, Spain) in his commentary to Bereshit 1:26 now returns with unusual force:
…God forbid that the
Creator should have any corporeal qualities or tangible form. Behold the text
proclaims "'to whom shall you compare Me that I might be similar?' says
the Holy One" (Yeshayahu 40:25). Rather, because the supernal soul of man
is eternal, it therefore shares an affinity with
God. So too the soul is incorporeal and it also fills the whole body with life. The human body is thus like a miniature world.
Blessed be God who began by fashioning the great cosmos and concluded by
fashioning man, the microcosm!
For Ibn Ezra, there was a parallel to be drawn between HaShem the Creator and the soul of the human being. HaShem is utterly without body or form, but His eternal spirit of "glory" fills the material cosmos and inspires it with life and meaning. Similarly, though we must regard Ibn Ezra's words with caution as a provocative analog that can convey only part of the matter, the human soul, ethereal and eternal, grants life to the human body, filling it with potential and purpose after the manner of the Creator. And the Mishkan as well, representing the proverbial link between heaven and earth, is thus constructed according to a similar dynamic. We return once again to the laden words of the Ibn Ezra, this time in his discussion of the meaning of the Mishkan, where he advances the explanation of Rav Sa'adia Gaon (10th century, Babylon):
The Gaon explained that there are in fact three worlds. This terrestrial world is the macrocosm, the Mishkan is intermediate, and the human body is the microcosm…(commentary to Shemot 25:7).
While the Gaon goes on to draw specific comparisons between heavenly elements, the items of the Mishkan, and the organs of the human body, who could deny the overall persuasiveness of his linkage?
Head = Heichal
The Ohel Moed (the Tent of Meeting) was divided into two rooms. The back room was called the Kodesh HaKadashim, the Holy of Holies. Placed in this room was the Aron, Holy Ark, the most sacred of the articles in the Sanctuary. The Holy Ark consisted of three boxes, one inside the other. The innermost box contained the two tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were engraved. These Commandments were the outline of all the mitzvot in the Torah. It represented the brain of the perfect man. Just as a brain has two hemispheres, the right and the left, so too there were two tablets. Just as man contemplates only Torah ideas and ideals, so too the Ark contained the essence of Torah. Just as the brain is triply encased in a skull with two membranes, the tablets were also encased in three boxes.
We can also view the brain in a second way: The brain is enclosed in a double membrane, and the entrance to the Kodesh HaKadashim was through a double curtain.
Brain = Ark of the Covenant.
The brain has two major portions, the left and right hemispheres of the brain. These two correspond with the two Luchot, the tablets on which were inscribed the ten commandments.
The Holy of Holies houses the Ark of the Covenant topped by the two winged Kruvim (cherubim), one of which represents HaShem, while the other represents Israel. The Divine voice heard by man emerges from between these two Kruvim.
When Moses arrived at the Ohel Moed to speak with HaShem, he heard the voice speaking to him from atop the cover that was upon the Ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim, and He spoke to him. (Bamidbar 7:88)
Additionally, as Torah is wisdom and is stored in the ark, so, too, does wisdom come from the brain of man.
Cranial Membrane = Curtain.
Chazal teach that the curtain moved rhythmically in and out as though moved by the breath of a man.
Eyes = Menorah + Shulchan.
The eyes are used for two purposes. One is used for intellectual pursuits, enlightenment, symbolized by the light of the Menorah. Just as the Menorah's fuel was the purest of oil, so too should man strive for the purity of enlightenment. According to the Kabbalists, there are seven areas of spiritual wisdom and the seven branches of the Menorah represent them. The second function of the eyes is for survival: to see and avoid pitfalls, to search out food in order to live; this is symbolized by the showbread (Shulchan).
Ears = Chamber of Hewn Stone
As the ears are partly internal and partly external to the body, so, too, the Sanhedrin met in the chamber of hewn stone which was partly inside the Temple and partly outside.
The Sanhedrin “heard” cases.
Nose = Golden Altar of Incense
Just as the nose is the organ of smell and is located in the center of the face, the Golden Altar was located in the center of the room and upon it the fragrant smelling incense was offered. The incense had great mystical meaning and represented the spreading of pleasantness among men. This offering brought atonement for gossip and tale bearing.
Mouth = Door to the Heichal[3].
The opening of the Kodesh (the Holy place), which led to the Azara (Courtyard), was at the bottom of the room. It represented the mouth of man. Here the kohanim (Priests) stood when they uttered the priestly benediction every morning.
Why did HaShem communicate to Moshe through the
child-like Kruvim? Are the Kruvim the mouth?
Salivary glands = Laver.
As the salivary glands provide water at the entrance to the mouth, so too does the laver provide water at the “mouth” of the Heichel (the sanctuary building).
Heart = The base of the altar
The sacrificial blood was dashed against the altar and then poured out at the base of the altar. As the altar has four corners, so too does the heart have four chambers. As the heart has a higher and and lower part, so too does the altar have a red line that marks the upper and lower parts (some offerings had their blood dashed above and some had the blood dashed below).
Stomach = Altar
Outside the Ohel Moed / Heichel, in the center of the courtyard, was the main Altar upon which the sacrifices were offered and consumed. This represents the stomach and internal organs of man.
The sacrifices were also called food:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 3:11 And the priest shall burn it upon the
altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire
unto HaShem.
As the stomach is slightly off-center, so, too, is the altar slightly off-center.
Notice that we speak of the stomach as having “heart-burn”, just as the altar burns, so our stomach burns.
Umbilical cord = The smoke from the altar
As the smoke originated on the altar and exited the Beit HaMikdash from the altar, so too does the umbilical cord connect to the stomach and exit from the stomach.
Esophagus = Altar Ramp.
The sacrifices were carried up the ramp and laid on the altar. Even so, the food is carried by the esophagus to the stomach.
Sex organs = Fifteen steps between the men’s and women’s courtyards.
The Levitical choir would sing the fifteen Psalms / Songs of Ascent while standing on these fifteen steps, during Succoth. Succoth is, of course, the quintessential picture of the marital chamber. The words of the Levites represent the sperm and the music represents the semen. The movements of the Levitical choir represents the thrusts of the organ.
Next to these semi-circular steps were two rooms used to store the musical instruments. These seem to represent the testes. They are the instruments from which the music originates. The music gives force to the lyrics.
Skin = Wall
Ashes = Waste Product.
The ashes were stored in the center of the brazen altar until carried outside the camp. Even so, the waste product of a man is connected to the stomach and exits at the center of the body.
Fetus = Giant lampstands In the Courtyard
Another ceremony of Succoth, the illumination of the Temple, also had it's source in Jewish tradition. According to the Mishna, at the end of the first day of Tabernacles, the priests and Levites went down to the court of the women. Four enormous golden candlesticks were set up in the court (fifty cubits high) with four golden bowls placed upon them and four ladders resting against each. Four youths of priestly descent stood at the top of the ladders holding ten-gallon pitchers filled with pure oil, which they poured into each bowl (Succah 5:2).
The priests and Levites used their own worn-out liturgical clothing for wicks. The light emanating from the four candelabra was so bright that the Mishna says:
Succah 5:3 There was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that
was not illuminated by the light of the Beit HaSho'eivah (libation
water-well ceremony).
Mishlei (Proverbs) 20:27 A man's soul is the lamp of HaShem.
A lamp is contrived of two parts: the oil, which corresponds to the soul, and the wick, which corresponds to the body. Together, they create the flame, which is the Torah. The more the oil is clean and pure, the more beautiful the flame will light. The finer the wick, the more a person's body will readily accept purity, the more the light will continue to shine.
These “candles” are a good picture of a human baby. They have oil, wick and flame, which is like a human being. These lamps are also an allusion to Mashiach:
Yochanan (John) 8:12 When Yeshua spoke
again to the people, he said, "I am the light
of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life."
Chazal teach that the arms and legs are exterior to our bodies and are only used to “go” and to “do”. This helps us to understand why the Beit HaMikdash does not have appendages to represent legs or arms.
The Mishkan, unlike the Temple, was represented by Adam and Chava (Eve) before HaShem separated them. Thus there was no women’s courtyard in the Mishkan.
The Mishkan (the Tabernacle in the wilderness) alludes to the human body. Rambam thus wrote the following to his son:
My son Avraham, you must realize that the Mishkan alludes to the human body.
The Holy Ark, the innermost part, alludes to the human heart, which is the innermost part of the body. The Ark was the main part of the Mishkan because it contained the Tablets of the Covenant. So, too, is the human heart the main part of the body. It is the source of his life, his knowledge and his understanding. The wings of the keruvim, which spread over the Ark, allude to the lungs. The lungs are over the heart like wings and they provide it with air. The Table in the Mishkan alludes to the human stomach. Just as food and drink are placed on the table, so the stomach is filled with food and drink that a person consumes and from there it is distributed to the other parts of the body.
The Menorah (candlestick) in the Mishkan alludes to the human mind. Just as the Menorah gives forth light, so the intellect enlightens the entire body. Three stems went out from the Menorah on each side. These allude to the three limbs that extend from each side of the human body, the eye, the ear, and the hand. The intellect directs these three parts of the body. The incense altar alludes to the sense of smell. The sacrificial altar alludes to the intestines, which digest the food that enters the body. The veil covering the Mishkan alludes to the diaphragm, which is like a barrier between the parts of the body. The washstand alludes to the moisture and other liquids in the body. The goats' wool hangings allude to the skin that covers the human body. The beams of the Mishkan allude to the ribs. Meam Loez
The parts of the Beit HaMikdash all are in the feminine gender, in Hebrew. This suggests that the structure and it’s utensils are part of a female body. This aspect is further emphasized when we note that the Torah calls a man’s wife his “house”. A wife is a house. Thus, the Beit HaMikdash, “The House of the Holy One”, would also be female.
If one looks at the form of the Beit HaMikdash as emphasized by the courtyards, we can see that the Woman’s courtyard is the largest courtyard, and it is at the “bottom” of the structure. This mirrors the female body which has the largest part at the bottom of the structure. Please remember that the arms and legs are not part of the structure, only the head and torso.
1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and
envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of
the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God, and
precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built
up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Yeshua
Mashiach. 6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture,
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone,
elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7 Unto
you therefore which believe he is
precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And a stone of stumbling, and a
rock of offence, even to them
which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were
appointed. 9 But ye are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were
not a people, but are now the
people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Consider that if the Beit HaMikdash has the parts and organs of the body, then it must also have some places that are more sensitive than other parts. In the same way that we can not feel our liver or pancreas and we can feel even dust in our eyes.
A SONG OF INAUGURATION
Chanukah is the celebration of the re-dedication of the altar of the Temple in the days of the Maccabees. Sephardim recite Tehillim (Psalms) 30 after we kindle the Chanukah lamps. Tehillim 30 is titled: Mizmor Shir Chanukat HaBayit L’David, A Psalm, a Song for the Inauguration of the Temple by David. Chazal[4] calls this Psalm the Shir Shel Yom for Chanukah, The song for the Day of Chanukah.
In reviewing this Chapter, it is fascinating to note that it begins as A Song for the inauguration of the Temple, yet it thereafter makes no mention of the Beit HaMikdash whatsoever! Additionally, it is curious that we recite this Chapter of Temple inauguration at the outset of each day of Chanukah, notwithstanding that we are not present in a new or rededicated Beit HaMikdash at that moment.
We may gain some insight into this Chapter of Mizmor Shir from the fact that David HaMelech (King) is its author. We all know that David HaMelech did not build the Beit HaMikdash, but that instead his son, Shlomo HaMelech did, four years after David’s passing. How then, could David sing the song of its inauguration?
HaRav Avraham Chaim Feuer, Shlita, in his masterful work on Tehillim[5], brings the Malbim to explain these questions. The Malbim suggests that the HaBayit (The House) referred to at the beginning of the Chapter, is not, in fact, the Beit HaMikdash. Rather, it refers to the human body which houses its soul. HaRav Mordechai Gifter, z”tl, adds that the Torah considers the human body, if it has been sanctified, to be a miniature Temple as the Pasuk states:
Shemot (Exodus) 25:8 And they shall make for me a sanctuary, and
I shall dwell within them” i.e., not within it [the Sanctuary] but within them
[the people themselves].
With this principle we can now understand how David HaMelech could recite this Psalm never having seen the Beit HaMikdash; why no further reference to the Beit HaMikdash at all is made in this Psalm; and why this Psalm inaugurates our prayers every single day. It is not the Beit HaMikdash that we are inaugurating, but by recitation of this Chapter, it is ourselves that we are dedicating and rededicating.
This suggests that the reason that the Beit HaMikdash was designed to mimic the human body, is to remind us that HaShem wants to dwell in us. Further we can understand in a larger sense that HaShem want to dwell in Mashiach who embodies all Israel. This takes us back to Gan Eden when HaShem walked with Adam in the garden. In this final scenario, HaShem will walk with the second Adam in Gan Eden.
Maseches Midos
AN ALPHABETICAL
LISTING OF THE PLACES MENTIONED IN MASECHET MIDOT, WITH THE NUMBER THAT
CORRESPONDS TO THAT PLACE IN THE TIFERET YISRAEL'S DIAGRAM.
Bibliography
Rabbi Moshe Hayym Luzzato on the mystical anthropomorphism of the Temple. His book is called Mishkaney Elyon ("Dwellings of the Supreme") [Secrets of the Future Temple] and a commentary by Rabbi Mordechay Shriqi of Jerusalem even takes the analysis further in terms of research.
Commentaries of the Gaon of Vilna and the Malbim on the Mishkan.
* * *
This study was written by Hillel ben David
(Greg Killian).
Comments may be submitted to:
Greg Killian
7104 Inlay St SE
Lacey, WA 98513
Internet address: gkilli@aol.com
Web page: http://www.betemunah.org/
(360) 584-9352
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Send comments to Greg Killian at his email address: gkilli@aol.com