by Rabbi Avi Billet
In furthering his instructions to the people as to how they are to go about their business of acquiring and settling the land, after informing them of the need to eradicate all places of worship they will encounter, altars, monuments, idols, worshiped-trees directed at the ‘gods’ of the nations, Moshe tells the Israelites that their own worship is to be confined “only to the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to set His Name there; you shall inquire after His dwelling and come there.” (12:5)
There will be exception to this for the first few years of their living in the land, as the bamah will be available for certain devotional offerings, but eventually all will be consumed under the rubric of the Mishkan and Mikdash, each being in a defined space in the future – the Mishkan being the central location, until such time as the Mikdash will be built. In the meantime, all formal sacrifices (Korbanot) are to be brought at the Mishkan.
The last part of verse 5 (translation quoted above) reads לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה. What is above translated as “you shall inquire after His dwelling” (the title of this essay) is translated in other ways by different commentaries, and in some cases, the translation is elaborated upon to explain its meaning. What follows is a mini-summary (as always, it is impossible to be exhaustive).
The House (whichever): Targums Onkelos and Yonatan say Shikhno refers to “His house of dwelling” – which would be the Mishkan/Mikdash, whichever and whenever each is respectively available. (Seforno limits the options to Shiloh and the Mikdash, as does Maharal in Gur Aryeh, the Ta’z in his Divrei David, and the Sifsei Chakhamim.) Ramban’s first view adds that the “seeking” is done ideally through asking a Prophet where the House of God is. Chizkuni notes that God’s dwelling place was, for a time, and respectively, in Gilgal, Shiloh, Nov, Givon, and then the Mikdash (Jerusalem).
Mishkan Shiloh: Rashi says it refers specifically to Mishkan Shiloh, which would imply that this is a temporary injunction for the Bnei Yisrael (elsewhere in the chapter, there are references to “the place God will choose,” namely Jerusalem). (See Rabbenu Bachaye in “God’s Dwelling place” below)
The Land: Ibn Ezra expands the borders of “His dwelling place” to include the entirety of the Land, which he refers to as “the place where His glory abides.” (Alshikh elaborates on the extent of the Land in which God dwells)
God’s Dwelling place: In Ramban’s second view, he uses language that Ibn Ezra used (referring to God’s honor/glory with the word כבודו). He doesn’t specify, in this interpretation, if this refers to a physical structure. Rabbenu Bachaye also invoked God’s kavod, and he attaches it to Shiloh.
Mikdash only: The Vilna Gaon references the seeking of God in this way as being at the Mikdash only. Like the Midrash Tanaim, he notes that the concept of seeking God in this manner is indicative that the only place where Rosh Chodesh can be declared is in Judea (and not in the northern kingdom), while also pointing out that the Sanhedrin can only be housed in Yerushalayim. (See Sanhedrin 11b)
A reference to prayer’s direction: Netziv explains that the concept of seeking God refers to “from any place,” and that the verse is teaching us that when we pray we are to face Yerushalayim to pray “towards this place.”
The Imrei Emes (Avraham Mordechai Alter of Ger) noted that the phrase ending this verse is לשכנו תדרשו ובאת שמה – beginning with a word whose instruction is in the plural “you (plural) shall seek His dwelling” while the second instruction is in the singular “and you (singular) shall come there.” He suggested that this seeming disparity speaks to the point of the דרישה (the seeking) which is one of the collective, seeking to discover the source for why there is no Mikdash. When the collective has such introspection, they will discover the larger impasse preventing the Mikdash from being rebuilt. Unsurprisingly, he points to the reason the Sages give for the destruction of the second Temple, sinas chinam (baseless hatred), which is a problem of the collective to discover, in order to at least attempt to undo the damage.
Ultimately, however, it is upon each individual to do the hard work it takes to eradicate the behaviors from within ourselves, to build a base of love and unity that is accepting of the other, that does not fall prey to the kinds of factions that break apart a people that need to have unity to get to where we need to be for the seeking of the Mikdash to be turned into a practical reality of having the Mikdash.
It is important to note, as a general comment, that Unity does not mean total agreement and conformity. It does mean that ultimately, we recognize who are our friends (in general – our fellow Jews, and the truly righteous among the nations), and who are not our friends (in general – they make this clear, and we should not be explaining away their designs and aims, as that is to our detriment)
The reality of the messaging of L’shikno sid’r’shu is that we must seek God’s presence. While this is not a hard concept, practically speaking some people find this to be a more challenging effort than they’d like to make.
A few weeks ago we read the verse in Devarim 4:29, which describes how we will find ourselves after having been exiled on account of our pursuit of different forms of idolatry.
29And from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. כט וּבִקַּשְׁתֶּ֥ם מִשָּׁ֛ם אֶת־יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ וּמָצָ֑אתָ כִּ֣י תִדְרְשֶׁ֔נּוּ בְּכָל־לְבָֽבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ:
Note, once again, that the seeking is presented in the plural (ובקשתם, כי תדרשנו) and the finding is in the singular (ומצאת), which prompted Rabbenu Bachaye to note that there is strength in numbers, and that people – together – can seek to find the answers, and can pray together. However, the individual can and must also do a private seeking, and must be able to come to find that which the collective has lost, so the individual can count as part of the collective, from a vantage point of deserving to be there, after having done the required “work.”
It’s a relatively simple question. Do we truly seek His presence? Do we want a Mikdash and all that comes with it? Or are we frightened of the prospect of leaving our homes and comfort zones and making the move, when the time is right, to share in the destiny of Klal Yisrael?
Political movement is a funny thing, because in many ways it is unpredictable. Some things which seem so clear one day can be gone tomorrow.
The message that the Torah shares here is that our only true hope is in seeking His presence. Whether it refers to a bygone Mishkan or Mikdash, or it refers to a Mikdash yet to be built, we have to truly know what our goals are, collectively, so we, as individuals, can do our part to help get the collective to where we need to be.
May we each find it, and may we be blessed to come to it, when the necessary work has been done to bring our people home to our true final destination.
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