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and impure, permitted and forbidden. Yet on Purim we go one step Yet it is important to note that these configurations are hinted
further as we realize that just as God is behind the scenes directing to in an earlier incident in Jacob’s life: Jacob’s dream of the ladder.
the show and the actors in the Purim story, so too is this the case Jacob had this dream on what would one day be the Temple Mount
in our own lives. We make our choices but ultimately God’s plan and prophetically set up twelve stones around his head before he lay
for the individual and the world comes to fruition. “Ad delo yada” down to sleep. Indeed, when he awoke he consciously realized that
paradoxically means rising to a level of consciousness in which we “this is no other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven”
are aware that many times our choices are really beyond choice (that (Genesis 28:17).
is to say, predetermined or fated because, in some paradoxical sense, Since the Tabernacle in the desert was the prototype for the
they are part of a destiny far greater than our own). Temple in Jerusalem, it is no surprise that the Zohar teaches us that

The Talmud teaches that after the Mashiach comes all the mitzvot Jerusalem was established on twelve rocks, three on each side, all
will be “nullified” (Niddah 61b). This does not mean that the mitzvot surrounding the Temple Mount (Zohar 1:231). Symbolically, these
will no longer be performed (though some say this is the case); rather, twelve rocks symbolize the twelve tribes that surround Jerusalem,
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains that the act of performing the heart of the Jewish people. (As noted, it was in fact this conscious
a mitzvah will become, as it were, nullified to the great joy it will or unconscious prophetic realization that motivated Jacob to place
produce in the soul. In the future, the human character will be so twelve stones round his head that awesome evening.) Even when
naturally in tune with God’s will that the mitzvot will become void the Jews lived in exile, scattered to the four corners of the earth,
in the sense of their being commandments. Human beings will be so Jerusalem remained the central focus of their hopes and dreams. For
inherently in tune with God’s inner vision and plan for creation that this reason, all Jews, no matter where they are in the world, face
performing the mitzvot will become as natural and unconscious as Jerusalem when they pray.
breathing. Jerusalem’s position at the center also plays out in other ways.
Bechukotai is the final portion in Leviticus. The book of Leviticus In the Middle Ages, for example, Christian cartographers drew their
begins with the word “vayikra,” as God calls to Moses from maps with Jerusalem at the center, recognizing both Jerusalem’s
the Tabernacle inviting him to initiate the Tabernacle service, spiritual supremacy as the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity
symbolizing the overall spiritual service of God. The letter alef is (as well as its formidable influence upon Islam) and its position from
written especially small in the word “vayikra” (“and He called”) in ancient times at the crossroads of all the major land trade routes
traditional Torah scrolls. The alef (א), the first letter of the Hebrew linking Europe, Africa, and Asia. Today, not only is Jerusalem
alphabet, graphically represents the paradoxical relationship between situated almost precisely at the geographical center of modern day
God and man. The alef is formed from three distinct letters: a yud (י) Israel but it is quite significantly also at the epicenter of international
above – on the upper right-hand side; a yud (י) below – on the lower politics.
left-hand side; and a diagonal vav (ו) – in the middle – simultaneously At this point we can ask: on what basis did Jacob instruct his sons,
joining and separating the yuds. Thus, the very form of the letter that and the Torah the tribes, to camp in such a manner? Further, we can
has the numerical value of one and connotes the oneness of God and ask why is Jerusalem, which was chosen by God to be the spiritual
all reality actually embodies the kernel of all duality. The book of and physical capital of Israel, conceived as being built upon twelve
Leviticus begins and ends with different levels of paradox, teaching rocks, three in each of the four directions?
us that paradox underlies our entire relationship with God and in
fact underlies all of creation. The Jewish mystical tradition teaches that everything which occurs
in our material world has its roots in the higher spiritual worlds. In a

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