Truth and Peace

The Torah portion begins with Moses gathering all of Israel together and saying, "These are the things that YHVH commanded to make." But rather than start right in with the list of items, as we'd expect, Moses interjects: "Six days shall project-work (melacha) be done, and on the seventh [it] will be holy for you, a complete desisting (shabbat shabbaton) for YHVH; anyone who does project-work on it will be put to death." (Ex 35:2) About on the translation "project-work" for the word melacha : There is melacha , and there is avoda , both being forms of "work." Avoda refers to work in the sense of service, or servitude, from the word eved , "servant." Melacha , on the other hand, is work pertaining to a particular project, a mission. It's related to the word malach , an emissary, angel, one who is dispatched on a mission. In this case, the melacha is the work associated with Israel's project of building the Mishkan, the...

"House of YHVH" ostracon c. 800 BCE The obvious answer to most modern religious believers is clearly an emphatic no , God does not need a house. In standard Jewish theological terms, God has no "needs." God is whole and perfect. Not only does God have no physical body to "reside" anywhere, but God is infinite, existing in all places at all times. In fact according to the Maimonidean school of thought, God is so ineffable that one cannot even speak about what God "is," only what God is "not." And yet this Torah portion describes the plans for what sounds like an abode for God, the Mishkan or mobile sanctuary. The purpose of the Mishkan is stated explicitly at the start of the instruction: "Make for me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them." (Ex 25:8) And again toward the end of the instruction: "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and [the Mishkan] will be sanctified by my glory... And I will...