"Bringing the Light Down"

This week we read the final portion in the book of Exodus.

After all the drama—slavery, plagues, splitting seas, and revelation—Gd gives a quiet but powerful command: Build Me a home.

The people respond with open hearts.

They bring gold, silver, fabrics, and time.

Everyone contributes—willingly, joyfully, lovingly.

They knew what they were building:

a place for the Divine Presence to dwell among them.

 A space for Gd to be close.

This wasn’t just a structure in the desert. It was a return.

At creation, Gd made the world in six days, and

on the seventh day—Shabbat—Gd rested.

Not just stopping work but entering into a relationship with Gd.

We, human beings, were created last, to be the recipients of Gd’s goodness, living in closeness with the Divine in the Garden of Eden.

But that closeness was broken.

Adam and Eve were exiled, and ever since, humanity has been trying to find its way back—to restore that lost intimacy.

The Mishkan—the Tabernacle—was a step on that path.

The Torah teaches that it was built using the same

39 categories of creative work Gd used to make the world.

In other words, we mirrored G-d’s creation.

And in doing so, we created a new space for connection.

A new kind of Eden.

When the Mishkan was completed, the Shechinah—Gd’s Presence— descended in a cloud and filled the space.

The Holy of Holies, where the Ark rested, became a channel for

Divine light and closeness.

From between the golden cherubs, Gd spoke.

The verse says, “…so I may dwell among them.”

The true dwelling place for the Divine is not just in a building—

it’s in us.

Each of us carries a spark of the Divine.

We are created b’tzelem Elokim—in the image of Gd.

That means we have the potential to reflect Gd’s qualities in the world.

Gd is compassionate, gracious, patient, kind, truthful, overflowing with love.

When we act with those traits, we don’t just imitate Gd—we invite the Divine in.

According to tradition, when the Shechinah descended,

it brought with it some of the original, hidden light of creation—

the light that was too powerful to remain in the world.

That light can still be accessed in moments of spiritual clarity and acts of kindness.

We catch a glimpse of it every year when we light the menorah on Chanukah.

The more we act with Gdliness,

the more of that light we bring into the world.

And the more we fulfill the vision of the prophets:

“The earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea.”

So, let’s be brave.

Let’s act with compassion, with courage, with truth.

Let’s make space in ourselves for the Divine to dwell.

Let’s shine the light within us and

bring more of that holy light down into the world.

Shabbat shalom and Chodesh Tov

Elissa