When describing the need to bring our korbanot to the resting place of the Shechinah – the place ultimately revealed as Yerushalayim and Har HaMoriyah – the Torah commands us to seek out His Presence and come there:
Rather, only at the place that Hashem your God will choose from among all your tribes to place His Name there, shall you seek out His Presence and come there.
The language of derishah is slightly unusual in this context. Normally, this word connotes investigation and active pursuit, not simply identifying a point on a map.
Responding to this unusual phraseology, Chazal (Sifrei, Re’eh 62) derive a fascinating halacha. It is clear from the beginning of the verse that God will choose where the future Mikdash will stand. Given that the choice belongs to Him, and does not emerge from man’s initiation or intuition, we are reliant upon divine communication to determine the Mikdash’s location. Without explicit prophetic instruction, the Mikdash cannot be established.
Based on this initial formulation, one may have assumed that we should passively sit back, waiting for a navi to arrive and identify the future site of the Mikdash. The Torah therefore adds, לשכנו תדרשו – you shall seek out His Presence. The word derishah connotes active involvement, an intense yearning for the eventual resting place of the Shechinah. Before the navi even arrives, we must already be seeking and yearning for it with all our hearts.
Chazal provides David HaMelech as a prime example. The pesukim in Tehillim (132) record that David swore not to give sleep to his eyes until the Mikdash would be built. The Gemara Zevachim (54b)informs us that David had already faithfully plumbed Torah tradition and determined the future site for the Mikdash. Despite David’s burning longing for the Mikdash, he restrains himself from constructing a mizbeach on Har HaMoriyah until he is explicitly told to do so by Gad HaNavi (Shmuel II 24:18). While David had long desired to build the Mikdash, he obediently waited when Natan HaNavi informed him that he was not destined to do so (Shmuel II 7).
This halacha powerfully portrays the dialectical tension required to merit the makom haMikdash. On the one hand, we are commanded to relentlessly yearn for its construction. Even when we are physically incapable of building it, our daily lives should reflect an inability to behave normally when the Mikdash is not present. Much as David shook away the weariness of his eyes until the Shechinah found its place, so too we cannot return to ordinary life while the Shechinah remains in Galut.
At the same time, Hashem demands restraint. Even as He commands us to unceasingly seek His Mikdash, He insists that we humbly await His call before establishing it.
While these simultaneous commands seem contradictory, together they cultivate the perfect spiritual balance necessary for hashra’at haShechinah. Yearning for closeness to HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the engine of our relationship with Him; our determination to “find Him” prepares us to establish a home for His Presence. But our awe and reverence before Him – and our recognition of the absurd reality that our infinite King would choose to reside among finite and fallible creatures – remind us that the true invitation always belongs to Him.
We therefore must live in the tension between these two truths. It is precisely this union of longing and submission that makes the Jewish people worthy of becoming the resting place of the Shechinah.
Seeking the Place He Chooses
When describing the need to bring our korbanot to the resting place of the Shechinah – the place ultimately revealed as Yerushalayim and Har HaMoriyah – the Torah commands us to seek out His Presence and come there:
(ה) כִּ֠י אִֽם־אֶל־הַמָּק֞וֹם אֲשֶׁר־יִבְחַ֨ר יְקֹוָ֤ק אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֙ מִכָּל־שִׁבְטֵיכֶ֔ם לָשׂ֥וּם אֶת־שְׁמ֖וֹ שָׁ֑ם לְשִׁכְנ֥וֹ תִדְרְשׁ֖וּ וּבָ֥אתָ שָֽׁמָּה:
Rather, only at the place that Hashem your God will choose from among all your tribes to place His Name there, shall you seek out His Presence and come there.
The language of derishah is slightly unusual in this context. Normally, this word connotes investigation and active pursuit, not simply identifying a point on a map.
Responding to this unusual phraseology, Chazal (Sifrei, Re’eh 62) derive a fascinating halacha. It is clear from the beginning of the verse that God will choose where the future Mikdash will stand. Given that the choice belongs to Him, and does not emerge from man’s initiation or intuition, we are reliant upon divine communication to determine the Mikdash’s location. Without explicit prophetic instruction, the Mikdash cannot be established.
Based on this initial formulation, one may have assumed that we should passively sit back, waiting for a navi to arrive and identify the future site of the Mikdash. The Torah therefore adds, לשכנו תדרשו – you shall seek out His Presence. The word derishah connotes active involvement, an intense yearning for the eventual resting place of the Shechinah. Before the navi even arrives, we must already be seeking and yearning for it with all our hearts.
Chazal provides David HaMelech as a prime example. The pesukim in Tehillim (132) record that David swore not to give sleep to his eyes until the Mikdash would be built. The Gemara Zevachim (54b) informs us that David had already faithfully plumbed Torah tradition and determined the future site for the Mikdash. Despite David’s burning longing for the Mikdash, he restrains himself from constructing a mizbeach on Har HaMoriyah until he is explicitly told to do so by Gad HaNavi (Shmuel II 24:18). While David had long desired to build the Mikdash, he obediently waited when Natan HaNavi informed him that he was not destined to do so (Shmuel II 7).
This halacha powerfully portrays the dialectical tension required to merit the makom haMikdash. On the one hand, we are commanded to relentlessly yearn for its construction. Even when we are physically incapable of building it, our daily lives should reflect an inability to behave normally when the Mikdash is not present. Much as David shook away the weariness of his eyes until the Shechinah found its place, so too we cannot return to ordinary life while the Shechinah remains in Galut.
At the same time, Hashem demands restraint. Even as He commands us to unceasingly seek His Mikdash, He insists that we humbly await His call before establishing it.
While these simultaneous commands seem contradictory, together they cultivate the perfect spiritual balance necessary for hashra’at haShechinah. Yearning for closeness to HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the engine of our relationship with Him; our determination to “find Him” prepares us to establish a home for His Presence. But our awe and reverence before Him – and our recognition of the absurd reality that our infinite King would choose to reside among finite and fallible creatures – remind us that the true invitation always belongs to Him.
We therefore must live in the tension between these two truths. It is precisely this union of longing and submission that makes the Jewish people worthy of becoming the resting place of the Shechinah.
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