One of the most valuable lessons I learned at the Yale Divinity School is that the English word “tabernacle” is an archaic form meaning “to dwell”… it is an exact translation of the Hebrew “mishkan” or dwelling place; hence the use of the word Tabernacle to describe the structure built by the Israelites for worship in the desert. The word gives a clue to the point of the whole enterprise. If you want God to dwell amongst you, you got to make the space available.
But who does that? Unless you are one who attends worship or study on a regular basis, the majority of us crowd what little space we have in our lives with more work, more car-pooling, more entertainment, more activities designed to keep us active and moving, but leaving little open space for much more. Truthfully, how much empty real estate do we have left when we have filled very moment with something else? The lesson of the Torah portion for this week is that if you seek God or seek spirituality, or seek meaning-you gotta make the room.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Doug Sagal aka “The Boxing Rabbi”