The Meaning of Hymn #35
by Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein

          We read in the holy scriptures that God commanded the children of Israel to build Him a sanctuary - a dwelling place for Him to rest, and let that place be separated from all the other dwellings.  It should be equipped with the Holy of Holies, and from this sanctum sanctorum God will speak to the representatives of the people.

           One is peculiarly impressed by this unusual request.  Does God need a dwelling place formed by mortal hands? 

           He who spread out the heavens and established the earth, He who set a boundary line to the sea and gave wings to the wind, and sail to the clouds; He who made the sun and moon and the stars his messengers, who formed the whole universe and gave life to every living being - does he need a dwelling place formed by beings of flesh and blood?
            One of the greatest sages of the Medieval Ages states that we should take this entire plan of a dwelling place for God as symbolic, that the holy structure was only a representation of the human body.  It is only in this light that we may be able to comprehend fully the object of the injunction:  each individual is instructed to make of himself a dwelling place for God.  This is made particularly plain when we read the text which reads:  "Let them make me a sanctuary and I shall dwell in them;" not among them, but in them.
             Thus, man's form is truly a dwelling place of God.  Man thus, manifests himself in two forms:  in outer relationship, when placed in contact with the world, and in inner quietude, for within is the sanctum sanctorum - the place where God rests.  The more mankind lives within his inner sanctuary, the more is his peace of mind, and the greater is his happiness.
              When we are brought face to face with perplexing problems, with insurmountable difficulties, with grave obstacles, before we attempt any doubtful solution, let us enter into our inner sanctuary.  Let us enter into silence and seek guidance and instruction from the very fountain of wisdom that made the dwelling place within our inner depths.  And difficulties will then be solved, and obstacles will be removed; perplexities will be no more.  Do not worry, do not fear, do not attempt to solve everything yourself.  Enter into the silence, reflect profoundly upon your circumstances, seek guidance and it will never fail you.  For the power within will provide clarity.  When circumstances awaken in you intense excitement; when your heart finds itself palpitating violently and your mind is in a chaotic state, when all your parts, all your limbs express violent

passion and your whole body trembles
 with rage, then in order to regain your strength, to quiet your disturbed

emotions, enter into silence, commune with the divine in you, invoke its help and its guidance, and you will soon discover that the response is sure to follow.  Your mind will regain its calmness.  Your heart will regain its ease, your entire form will resume its poise.  For the power within is the very embodiment of calmness, and it will give you of itself and assume control over your whole being.
                  Likewise, when confronted by intense temptations, temptations which cause a struggle between the finer and the ruder elements of the self, when purity and corruption grapple for victory and supremacy, then enter into silence and seek for help from the divine fountain within, and that power within will not fail you, for its very essence is purity.
                    Thus we have within ourselves the sanctuary of the divine wherein calmness, clearness and purity dwell.  We must only seek for it, and find it and identify ourselves with it.
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