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Orchard of Delights
unite with the higher soul’s natural desire to be close to God. When
the Temple was destroyed, the Sages transformed the Temple service
into the synagogue service we know today (see “The Tabernacle, the
Temple and the Synagogue” above). The sacrifices were replaced by
prayers, so that ideally speaking the altar’s fire would be replaced by
the soul ignited in prayer. When Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach felt that
the audience at an event or the congregants during prayers lacked
enthusiasm and he wanted to inspire them, he would yell: “Friends,
what’s going on here! We need more fire!”
The Torah instructs us to serve God with all our hearts
(Deuteronomy 11:13). The Sages explain that “the service of the
heart” is prayer (Ta’anit 2a). Just as a fire burned to the heart of
heaven at Sinai, we must also “be on fire,” full of enthusiasm and
spiritual passion to draw nearer to God, when we pray. Although
a Jew can reach God with his or her prayers from anywhere in the
world, the most conducive place for this type of Divine service is in
Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish people.
In describing the revelation at Mount Sinai, the Torah also states
that God spoke from the midst of the fire. When God first appeared
to Moses in the burning bush, He also spoke to him from the midst
of the fire. In fact, our Rabbis have noted that the Hebrew word
meaning “the bush” (haseneh) has the same root as the word “Sinai.”
That the burning bush was actually located on Mount Sinai is
confirmed by God’s assurance to Moses that a sign of his mission’s
success would be that “you [Moses and the Jewish people] will serve
God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). The very mountain on which
the burning bush was located is the mountain on which the people
will worship God, Mount Sinai.
The experience of God’s Presence here on earth – in the burning
bush and at Mount Sinai – becomes “institutionalized,” as it were,
in the Tabernacle and the Temple. Although God is everywhere, His
Presence is most strongly felt in these places. This was the Ramban’s
point when he asserted that the experience at Sinai was reenacted
daily in the Temple.
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Re’eh 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 18 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Cyan
What is the link between these ideas and the portion of Re’eh?
The following verse from the portion teaches us the fundamental role
consciousness and choice play in determining reality: “For you are a
holy people to God, your God, and God has chosen you for Himself
to be a treasured people among all the peoples on the face of the
earth” (Deuteronomy 14:2). The second half of the verse provides
the underlying rationale for first one: because God has chosen you
from among all the peoples, you are a holy people. God’s choice
determines this reality. (See “Defining and Achieving Holiness” in
Kedoshim for the connection between Divine choice and holiness.)
The notion of God’s choice defining reality is repeated several
times in this portion; for instance, the Torah mentions several times
that He will choose the place of the Temple in Jerusalem, to “put His
name there.” God’s choice makes this place holy, and consequently
the Jewish people may only offer their sacrifices and celebrate the
three Pilgrimage Festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot there.
The Temple becomes the one place where the nation’s communal
service may be performed.
The word for holiness in Hebrew (kedushah) quite literally means
“set aside” or “separate.” The act of setting something aside is the
result of conscious will or choice. As we discussed in the portion of
Kedoshim, those entities or objects designated as holy by the Torah
are all intrinsically connected to conscious choice. The first time the
word “holy” appears in the Torah is when God chooses Shabbat as a
day of rest. God’s designation of the seventh day as a day set apart
from all the other days is what invests it with holiness.
The Land of Israel, the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Torah are
three other entities the Torah refers to as holy. The inherent holiness
of the Land of Israel is apparent from the first instruction God
gave Abraham: “go … to the land that I will show you” (Genesis
12:1). Clearly, Abraham was not being instructed to wander until he
happened to find a place he liked. Rather, Abraham was being led to
a specific land that God had already chosen. The popular term for the
Land of Israel, the Promised Land, conveys the same message that
there is an intrinsic connection between God choosing this specific
land for the Jewish people and its holy status. The spiritual center
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