The Mannah in the Kodesh Kodashim
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5779
We put things in safes and vaults for a number of reasons.
Some items are stored in a safe because they are family heirlooms, they remind us of an event or person long ago but are no real use to us now.
Some items are placed there because we don’t want them damaged. We would love to use or wear them, but they are too valuable.
Some items are stored because they are the most important things that we have. We treasure and value them.
We can ask the same question regarding the items stored or placed in the Kodesh Hakodashim, the Holy of Holies. They are for all essential purposes in the vault. No one is allowed in except for the kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur.
What was placed there and why?
During most of the second temple period it was sadly empty, but in the Mishkan and first temple period there were a handful of items kept in the Kodesh Hakodashim.
The items that most people are familiar with are the Aron which contained the tablets, the shattered remnants of the first tablets and the Torah that Moshe wrote.
One could ask – are these family heirlooms that remind of us a time long gone?
Are they too precious to risk damage?
Or are they the most important item that we have?
That question seems silly to us, but that is because we have no temple and sacrificial order. When the temple stood – it was a good question. At a time of sacrifices and tabernacles what was the purpose of the Torah and tablets in the Ark?
I think that we can answer our question by looking at the other items kept there.
What else was there?
In Parshat Korach we read about Aaron’s staff that sprouts after the Korach incident. That is placed in the holy of holies as a reminder to complaining Jews. That is a sermon for another time!
In Parshat Beshalach we read:
שמות פרק טז
(לג) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן קַ֚ח צִנְצֶ֣נֶת אַחַ֔ת וְתֶן־שָׁ֥מָּה מְלֹֽא־הָעֹ֖מֶר מָ֑ן וְהַנַּ֤ח אֹתוֹ֙ לִפְנֵ֣י יְקֹוָ֔ק לְמִשְׁמֶ֖רֶת לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶֽם
(לד) כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְקֹוָ֖ק אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיַּנִּיחֵ֧הוּ אַהֲרֹ֛ן לִפְנֵ֥י הָעֵדֻ֖ת לְמִשְׁמָֽרֶת
33. And Moses said to Aaron, take a pot, and put an omer full of manna in it, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.
- As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.
What was it doing there? What is the point?
Rav Yaakov Medan in his book on Shmot argues that the Ark/contents and the Manna form a unit that stands at the center of a Jews life.
I have tweaked it a bit and would suggest the following.
The Ark/Torah and manna/parnassah both come from Hashem. Just as the Torah does so does our sustenance.
Conversely – just as the Manna provides physical sustenance – so does the Ark/Torah provide spiritual sustenance. Just as we can’t live without physical sustenance…
Rav Medan also points out that the two blessings that we are obligated in from the Torah are Birchat Mazaon and Birchat Hatorah – the blessings over sustenance with a blessing for the Manna and blessings over the Torah!
According to this even in the age of the Mikdash – the Ark/Tablets/Torah and not simply national heirlooms to remind us of a time gone by. Rather they are our most treasured and valued possessions; they sit at the heart of the Mikdash because they are most important parts of Judaism – Work and Torah. And the Torah might be the best way to connect to Hashem – even during the temple eras.
That same point is made in the Gemara in Makkot that if you are podcaster you will learn this week. Consider this a sneak preview!
תלמוד בבלי מסכת מכות דף י עמוד א
וא”ר יהושע בן לוי, מאי דכתיב: שיר המעלות לדוד שמחתי באומרים לי בית ה’ נלך? אמר דוד לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא: רבש”ע, שמעתי בני אדם שהיו אומרים מתי ימות זקן זה ויבא שלמה בנו ויבנה בית הבחירה ונעלה לרגל, ושמחתי; אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא: כי טוב יום בחצריך מאלף, טוב לי יום אחד שאתה עוסק בתורה לפני, מאלף עולות שעתיד שלמה בנך להקריב לפני על גבי המזבח
R. Joshua b. Levi said also the following: What is the meaning of the [Psalmist’s] words, A song of Ascents unto David. I was rejoiced when they said unto me: Let us go unto the house of the Lord? David, addressing himself to the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Lord of the Universe! I heard men saying, when will this old man die and let his son Solomon come and build us the Chosen Shrine and we shall go up there [as pilgrims]? and I rejoiced at that. Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to him, A day in thy courts is better than a thousand! Better to Me one day spent by you in study of Torah than a thousand sacrifices that your son Solomon will [someday] offer before Me, on the altar!
Talmud Torah, was, is and always will be the primary method of connecting to Hashem. It provides us with our spiritual sustenance that our lives would not be the same without!
