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EXODUS | 25:8 dwell — EXOD938 This is the first time in the Torah that ...

EXOD938 This is the first time in the Torah that we hear the verb SH-KH-N, meaning "to dwell," in relation to God. As a noun it means literally "a neighbor." From this is derived the key word in postbiblical Judaism, Shekhina, meaning God's immanence as opposed to His transcendence, God-as-One-who-is-close, the daring idea of God as a near neighbor. In terms of the theology of the Torah, the very idea of a Mishkan, a sanctuary or Temple, a physical "home" for "God's glory," is deeply paradoxical. God is beyond space. As King Solomon said at the inauguration of the First Temple, "Behold, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot encompass you, how much less this house?" (I Kings 8:27). Or as Isaiah said in God's name: "The heavens are My throne and the earth My footstool. What house shall you build for Me, where can My resting place be?" (Is. 66:1). The answer, as the Jewish mystics emphasized, is that God does not live in a building but rather in the hearts of the builders: "Let them make for Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell among them" [this verse] - "among them," not "in it." How, though, does this happen? What human act causes the Divine Presence to live within the camp, the community? The answer is the name of this parasha, Teruma, meaning, a gift, a contribution.

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Source KeySACKS
Verse25:8
Keyword(s)dwell
Source Page(s)120-1
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