Covered in Holiness

Covered in Holiness

Covered in Holiness

In this week’s parsha, we encounter the holy task entrusted to the Levites as they cared for and transported the Mishkan/Tabernacle through the desert. The vessels had to be carefully wrapped and covered before they could be carried.

The Torah is very protective of these sacred objects. They were not to be exposed unnecessarily or looked upon casually.

Judaism teaches us that the holier something is, the more carefully it must be treated. Holiness demands reverence. Sacredness requires protection.

Some things are so holy that they must be covered and not gazed upon. In addition, they must be protected and approached with humility and awe.

In the work of the Chevra Kadisha, we are constantly reminded that the human body is not “just a body.” It once carried a holy spark of the Divine. Just as the vessels of the Mishkan held holiness, the human being carries holiness throughout life and retains it after death.

Therefore, we treat the deceased body with extraordinary dignity. We cover it carefully. We do not expose any part unnecessarily. Every act of caring is done gently, respectfully, quietly. There is an awareness that we are standing in the presence of something sacred.

The wrapping of the vessels in the Mishkan becomes a powerful model for us. Holiness is not handled casually. It is protected with honor.

There is another beautiful image that deepens this idea.

In Shir HaShirim/ The Song of Songs, the verse describes the couch of King Solomon surrounded by sixty mighty warriors, all guarding through the night with swords at their sides. Our sages teach that these warriors were both physical guards and also spiritual protectors.

The blessings that the priests were commanded to bestow on the Jewish people which are delineated in this week's parsha comprise 60 words. These 60 words are akin to the 60 warriors offering protection and guarding.

On one level, they represent the protection we need during the vulnerability of nighttime, when a person sleeps and the soul ascends. We can also connect these sixty guardians to protection needed for the journey of the soul after death. There is accompaniment. There is guarding. There is a Divine presence surrounding the soul on its journey from this world to the next.

 “May Gd bless you and guard you.”

Not only in life, but in every transition of life.

We ask Hashem for protection when we are vulnerable; when we sleep, when we awake, when we travel, when we grieve, and even when the soul journeys onward after death.

The covered vessels of the Mishkan.

The guarded dignity of the deceased.

The sixty mighty protectors in the night.

All of them teach the same eternal truth: holiness must never be treated casually.

To be human is to be a partner with Gd in bringing more light and holiness into this world.

May we be blessed to continue to increase that light, to carry ourselves with awareness of the sacredness within and around us, and to help bring more of the Divine Presence into our lives and into the world.

Shabbat shalom,