“And behold, in Shalem is His Tabernacle and His
dwelling place in Zion. There He has broken arrows of a bow, shield, and sword, and war, forever.”
(Psalms 76:3-4)
The foundation of God’s presence, the love of His
goodness, is peace as the place where He completely reveals His promised
redemption, the beginning of living forever in His ways and attributes.
Shalem means wholeness, completion, fullness and the totality where there
is no lack and nothing is missed, for all is contained in it. This realization
makes us aware of peace, shalom; and Zion the awareness that in
this completion we live permanently in God’s presence, for His oneness
encompasses everything.
Thus we learn about our need to build the Temple of
Jerusalem as the Tabernacle by which we connect and bond with our Creator.
We are the ones who have to rebuild the Temple, for it
is up the yearning and desire to return to the goodness from which we were
created. The love of goodness is the foundation of our bond with God.
Our Sages
say that idolatry, murder and incest led to the destruction of the First
Temple; uncalled for hatred caused the destruction of the Second Temple; and
that uncalled for love will build the Third and final Temple that will last
forever.
We have to recognize goodness as our essence and true
identity, for goodness is what will bring us together and will show us new ways
and means to experience it, once we live it as our permanent connection with
God’s love.
This is the awareness that goodness doesn’t dwell with negative
traits and trends, represented by arrows and bows, shields and swords that
herald disputes, conflicts, confrontations and wars.
“But [He] chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion
which He has loved. And
He built His sanctuary [lit. sacredness] as a high place, like the earth which
He has founded forever.” (78:68-69)
As we know, Judah is the tribe that remained faithful
to their God, in spite of the divisions, confrontations and disputes among the
children of Israel. This is why they have been known as Jews, for they are the
descendants of Judah.
In His prophetic awareness, King David knew this, and
wrote these verses to praise them as the bearers of the transcendental
responsibility of building the Third Temple that, like the Earth, will last
forever.
In the second verse, we see that the promised
revelation of God’s presence in Zion is a two-way event that demands the
participation of the Creator and the Jewish people. He will establish (“build”)
His sacredness in a “high place” that can only exist in the highest level of
our consciousness.
Hence we understand that in such place dwell our best traits
and qualities nurtured only by goodness for the sake of goodness as the purpose
of God’s creation, for it is its foundation by which we build the eternal bond
with Him.
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