In parshas Terumah the Torah describes the different elements of the mishkan - the sanctuary - that the Jewish people were to build in the desert after the Revelation at Mt. Sinai. The mishkan, with all it's fine and intricate detail, was to serve as an impossible interface between the Infinite and the finite. According to the Ramban, through this physical structure and it's contents of beautiful physical objects, the Jewish people were able to re-enact the experience of Divine Revelation that they'd first encountered at Sinai.
One detail caught my attention as I read the parsha. After describing how to construct the various pieces, the Torah then tells us how to place each item. The Aron Kodesh has to go inside the kodesh hakodoshim, which is divided off by the paroches - curtain. Then, on the other side of the curtain, still within the main mishkan, there's a shulchan - table, and the menorah.
Now listen to how the Torah formulates the instructions in parshas Terumah:
You shall place the table on the outside of the curtain, the menorah opposite the table along the southern edge of the mishkan, and put the table on the northern edge.
Now I'm quite hopeless when it comes to technical instructions, but even I can see that this is a slightly odd way of describing the floor plan. If I wanted to know how to place these two items, I'd just need to know that the table is on the northern side and the menorah on the southern side.
So why does the Torah's description start with the placement of the table outside the curtain, yet leave it's precise location unsaid? Why then does it describe the menorah's location, first in relative terms, i.e. opposite to the table, whose absolute position isn't even known, and only afterwards in absolute terms - along the southern edge? Then with all that said, why does it go back and tell us the location of the table i.e. - along the northern edge?
You know, at least you ought to know, that the Oral Tradition attributes a good deal of symbolism to the different elements of the mishkan. For example, we find many references to the idea that the shulchan represents the physical world and it's needs, while the menorah represents the Torah and the spiritual realm. The fact that both are intrinsic elements of the mishkan, standing opposite one another immediately before the Holy of Holies, tells the story of Judaism's obsession with balancing the needs of the spirit with those of the body...if there's no flour, there's no Torah...
Let's look at that last statement for a second actually. It's source is a mishna in Avos 3:21 and the part we're interested in reads: Rabbi Elazar Ben Azarya says...if there's no flour, then there's no Torah. Yet, if there's no Torah, then there's no flour.
Now, the first part of this is quite self explanatory: if one doesn't have anything to eat, he's obviously not going to be able to study. If one doesn't have an ongoing way of making ends meet, he's simply not going to have the peace, nor presence of mind to let him achieve any kind of scholarship.
What about the converse, though? Certainly, if it's to be understood as relevant to individuals and their life choices, it obviously doesn't mean that a secure livelihood is contingent on Torah study in the same way that success in Torah study is contingent on a secure livelihood. So what does it mean then?
Going back to the Torah's blueprint for the mishkan, I want to show you that the instructions for the placement of the table and the menorah highlight the complexity of the ongoing struggle between the needs of body and soul, and may also explain that difficult phrase in the mishna.
Let's read through those two lines again, and I'll try to explain as we go along:
You shall place the table on the outside of the curtain
The table comes first. It's not relevant where you put it yet, but you have to understand: If you want to even begin to achieve anything like spirituality, you need to take care of your body and your daily needs. We're not interested in the type of "holiness" that comes from rejecting the physical world. This is an absolute requirement and if you don't start with that then your attempts to connect to the spirit through Torah cannot even begin...
[Place] the menorah opposite the table...
Again, before you even begin to think about the life of the spirit and Torah study, you have to realise that Torah and spirituality only exists in relation to the physical world, i.e. opposite the table. Not only do you have to take care of your body's needs as a prerequisite for spiritual accomplishment, but the fact is that Torah makes no sense other than by reference to the physical reality that is symbolised by the table.
[Place the menorah] along the southern edge of the mishkan, and put the table on the northern edge.
Only once you've got that straight, and you are committed to placing your quest for spirituality squarely in the context of your physical life, only then do you need to dig deeper for the ideal perspective. At this stage, you need to know that in terms of ultimate value physical pursuits are secondary and in fact only truly meaningful if tied to a commitment to Torah and spiritual accomplishment.
This deeper perspective only comes into focus once you're firmly committed to the fundamental idea that Torah can only flourish in the context of the physical world. So only after the Torah places the menorah in reference to the table, does it then continue to describe the absolute position of each. I think that this is the intention of Rabbi Elazar in the Mishna, i.e. that in the most literal sense a healthy involvement in the physical world is a prerequisite to accomplishing scholarship in Torah, yet once you're grounded in this basic law, you also need the perspective that your physical pursuits must find meaning in your Torah and spiritual life.
Could it even be that these few words in parshas Terumah about the shulchan and the menorah formed the springboard from which he launched his idea?
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