To show love to another human being is to show them the face of the Divine.
Love is what we are made of. It is the definitive quality of the Creator, and so too is it the essence of our souls.
I have to be honest. Many years ago, when I first came to read Vayakhel-Pekudei, I found these chapters to be the least interesting of all the Bible. Yet, with the help of the Zohar and of the commentary of the great kabbalists, I came to better appreciate these stories and their meaning. Consequently, this week’s lesson has become perhaps one of my absolute favorites.
God instructs Moses, “Build unto me a Tabernacle, so that I may dwell within you.”Vayekhel and Pekudei both discuss the many details that went into the building of the Tabernacle, and all that was necessary for this construct to be a place where the Light of the Creator could dwell. There are many coded messages within the instructions God gives Moses, the dimensions of the Tabernacle, and how it is to be manifested. But the most interesting is that there are 13 different materials used to create this place.
We learn in the study of Kabbalah that the number 13 is a meaningful one. For it is the numerical value of the word: Love.
Of course we do not have a physical Tabernacle today, and so it is up to each of us to establish a place the Creator can dwell within ourselves. How do we generate such a space? The numerology provides us the answer. The Tabernacle now, as it was then, is to be created with love.