THE FENCE
Dear Family,
I hope everyone is well.
Mazal tov to Annette (Chana Lieba) on your birthday for yesterday! Wishing you a happy year with many simchos!
Mazal Tov Chanan for your upcoming birthday next week. It should be one with much achievement and in good health!
We are now in the Sedra of Vayakel- Pekudei which continues discussion about the Mini Temple (the Mishkan) which was constructed in the desert after leaving Mitzraim, and I saw an interesting Dvar Torah from the Rebbe's father, Reb Levi Yitzchak.
There was a FENCE around the Tabernacle and Courtyard made of pillars and net curtain.
There were 100 pillars in the north, 100 in the south, 50 in the west, and 30 in the south - Total 280 pillars.
It is known that Hashem created the world from the holy Hebrew letters.
There are 22 regular letters in the alphabet, and 5 final-letters ie the 22 letters can appear anywhere in a word, but the 5 final-letters can only appear at the end of a word.
The 5 end letters are end-of mem, end-of nun, end-of Tzadik, end-of peh, and end-of chof, (collectively known as mantzepach).
If you take the numerical value of each of these letters, you get 40+50+90+80+20.
And guess what that comes to?
Yes. 280. The same as the number of pillars! The same way that a fence is always at the periphery, so are those 5 letters always at the end of a word.
So what is the connection?
As mentioned before, the construction of the Temple and its services all reflect the condition of man.
The function of the Temple was to be a conduit to bring G-dliness into the world, and there was a fence around the Temple, referring to concealment.
When we go out into the world, we are capable of revealing G-dliness, as in the Temple
But G-dliness in the world is concealed as represented by the fence.
And so we need to reveal G-dliness in this concealed world.
What is amazing is how exact Torah and the Hebrew language are, and how everything therein has a reason and instruction, as revealed to us by our Sages BH!!
Gut Shabbos and Gut Chodesh to all!