Solomon’s Dream
Parashat Terumah opens with the commandment, “They shall build me a Temple [Mikdash] and I will dwell among them”[1] (וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם). We commonly translate the word Mikdash as Temple, or Holy Temple, but the title Beit HaMikdash, would more literally be translated as House of Holiness. In the Bible, we find that there are 10 different titles used to refer to the Temple. Let us identify them and then correspond them with the 10 sefirot.
We start from the First Temple built and dedicated by Solomon. After the dedication of the Temple, God appears to King Solomon in a dream and refers to the Temple he built and its future. The 11 verses of the dream begin with the verse: “Havayah appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, ‘I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.’”[2]
Here, the Temple is referred to by God as a “House of Sacrifice” (בֵית זֶבַח). With the words, “I have chosen this place” (וּבָחַרְתִּי בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה), this verse also hints at the title, “the House of Choice” (בֵּית הַבְּחִירָה). The plain meaning of this connotation for the Temple is that it is the location that God chose, as that is the idiom the Torah uses when referring to the future location of the Temple, “the place that God will choose,”[3] as well as, “I have chosen this place.” However, the deeper meaning of these words is that the Temple is the source of our power of free will, the power to choose to fulfill all of the Torah’s 613 commandments. When the location of the Temple stands desolate, this is not the case, as the power of free choice (בחירה חופשית) is weakened, and many commandments cannot be fulfilled.
Later, God says to King Solomon, “And now I have chosen, and I have sanctified this house so that My Name be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there all the days”[4] (וְעַתָּה בָּחַרְתִּי וְהִקְדַּשְׁתִּי אֶת הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה לִהְיוֹת שְׁמִי שָׁם עַד עוֹלָם וְהָיוּ עֵינַי וְלִבִּי שָׁם כָּל הַיָּמִים). These words allude to several other titles given to the Temple: “I have chosen” once again alludes to the “House of Choice” (בֵּית הַבְּחִירָה). “I have sanctified,” alludes to the House of Holiness (בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ), and finally, “that My Name be there forever alludes to two more titles, “the House of Havayah” (בֵּית הוי') and “forever” to “the House of Eternity” (בֵּית עוֹלָמִים).
House of God
So far, we have seen five of the ten titles used to refer to the Temple as they appear in Solomon’s dream. Let us now fill in the other five, while at the same time already explaining their correspondence to the sefirot, in order.
“House of Havayah,” which we saw, corresponds to the sefirah of wisdom, following the well-known verse, “Havayah in wisdom [founded the earth].”[5]
There is another Name of God that is associated with the Temple. We find it used in the Book of Judges, “They maintained the sculptured image that Micah had made throughout the time that the House of Elokim stood at Shiloh”[6] (וַיָּשִׂימוּ לָהֶם אֶת פֶּסֶל מִיכָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כׇּל יְמֵי הֱיוֹת בֵּית הָאֱ־לֹהִים בְּשִׁלֹה). God’s Name, Elokim, is associated with the sefirah of understanding, as in the verse, “For what mortal has heard the voice of the living God [Elokim] speak out of the fire, as we did, and lived?”[7] Apart from understanding being associated with “the living God” (אֱ־לֹהִים חַיִּים), the definite article—which in Hebrew is just the letter hei (ה)—on Elokim in the verse from Judges strengthens the association with understanding, which corresponds to the first hei in Havayah. Thus, we have two connotations of the Temple that include a Name of God populating the two intellectual sefirot, wisdom and understanding, which are like “two companions that never part.” One final point: the value of “the Elokim” (הָאֱ־לֹהִים) is 91, the value of the unification of God’s essential Name, Havayah, with His Name, Adni (אֲ־דֹנָי). This unification, known as Havayah Adni (הוי' אֲ־דֹנָי) designates the unification of Ze’er Anpin (the small countenance, the partzuf centered around the sefirah of beauty-tiferet) and Nukva (its feminine counterpart, the partzuf centered around the sefirah of kingdom). Their unification is like the coming together of a bride and a groom under the wedding canopy—associated with the surrounding embrace of understanding.
Knowledge: The Source of Free Will
The name “House of Choice” corresponds to the sefirah of knowledge (da’at), the primary seat of the power of choice in the psyche. From the verse, “God is a God of myriad knowledge”[8] (כִּי אֵ־ל דֵּעוֹת הוי'), we learn that there are two distinct aspects of knowledge of reality or, stated somewhat differently, two distinct perspectives on reality. The higher perspective is God’s knowledge of reality and the lower is our human perspective on reality. In relation to choice, the higher Divine perspective refers to God’s choice to dwell in the Temple and the lower human perspective represents our faculty of choice with which we choose to serve God—with a complete heart and a willing soul[9]—and safeguard all 613 commandments corresponding to the 248 limbs and 365 sinews in the adult body.
Loving-kindness: Dwelling
The Temple is also called a “dwelling” (מָכוֹן), a name associated with the sefirah of loving-kindness. We learn this from another partzuf, which corresponds the seven firmaments detailed by the sages with the seven emotive faculties/sefirot.[10] The order is:
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knowledge-da’at (דָּעַת) skies-aravot (עֲרָבוֹת)
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loving-kindness-chessed (חֶסֶד) dwelling-machon (מָכוֹן) |
might-gevurah (גְּבוּרָה) habitation-ma’on (מָעוֹן)
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beauty-tiferet (תִּפְאֶרֶת) abode-zevul (זְבֻל)
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victory–netzach (נֶצַח and splendor–hod (הוֹד) heights-shechakim (שְׁחָקִים)
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foundation–yesod (יְסוֹד) firmament-rakia (רָקִיעַ)
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kingdom-malchut (מַלְכוּת) curtain-vilon (וִילוֹן)
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The firmament known as Machon thus corresponds to loving-kindness.
Might: House of Elokim
Corresponding to the sefirah of might, we find the title “House of God” (בֵּית אֱ־לֹהִים), without the definitive article but still referring to God’s Name, Elokim. There are different Names of God that are considered sacred and the one that corresponds to might is Elokim. In addition, we see here the extension of the left axis from understanding to might through the Name Elokim shared by both.
Beauty: A Stately House
The title “the Stately House” (בֵּית זְבֻל) appears in the verse, “I have now built for You a stately House, a dwelling that You may occupy forever”[11] (בָּנֹה בָנִיתִי בֵּית זְבֻל לָךְ מָכוֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ עוֹלָמִים). This title corresponds to beauty, as the firmament called Zevul (abode) corresponds to beauty also. A nice numerical allusion equates the value of the words, “I have built for You a stately House” (בָנִיתִי בֵּית זְבֻל לָךְ) with the phrase, “the construction of the Temple”[12] (בִּנְיַן בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ).
Victory: House of Eternity
The next title is “House of Eternity” belongs to the sefirah of victory, or eternity. The connection is clear. The scriptural source for this title can also be found in the verse quoted just quoted regarding the Stately House. The final words of that verse were, “a dwelling that You may occupy forever” (מָכוֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ עוֹלָמִים); note that “dwelling” is Mechon in Hebrew, which we identified with loving-kindness which then extends down the right axis to “eternity,” which we identify with victory, the extension of loving-kindness.
Acknowledgment: House of Holiness
We now come to the most often used name of the Temple, Beit Hamikdash, or literally “the House of Holiness” (בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ). This name corresponds traditionally with the sefirah of acknowledgment—an identification already made by the sages, “’And hod’[13] [the Hebrew name of the sefirah of acknowledgment] refers to the Temple.”[14]
Foundation: House of Sacrifices
In the sefirah of foundation, we find the title from Solomon’s dream, “House of Sacrifice” (בֵּית זֶבַח). We correspond this name to foundation because a sacrifice, in its general sense, refers to peace offerings (שְׁלָמִים), which among the six different types of sacrifices, correspond to foundation. It is in foundation that “the opposite (תְּמוּרָה) of peace is war” belongs. This is one of the seven pairs of opposites discussed in Sefer Yetizrah[15]:
The opposite of Life is Death.
The opposite of Peace is War.
The opposite of Wisdom is Ignorance.
The opposite of Wealth is Poverty.
The opposite of Beauty is Deformity.
The opposite of Fertility is Barrenness.
The opposite of Sovereignty is Slavery.
The connection between peace and the house is found in the sages’ idiom, “that which makes peace in the home”[16] (מֵשִׂים שָׁלוֹם בַּבַּיִת).
Just as we saw with respect to the right and left axes, victory was an extension of loving-kindness and might was an extension of understanding, now too we see that the name in foundation is related to the name in beauty. The two titles., “Stately House” and “House of Sacrifices” are phonetically similar. Furthermore, the title “House of Choice” is also hinted to in the same verse that mentioned the “House of Choice.”
Kingdom: House of Prayer
In kingdom we place the title “House of Prayer” (בֵּית תְּפִלָּה). The Temple in Jerusalem is designated as a House of Prayer for all people from all nations, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”[17] All nations ascend from the three lower worlds, Creation, Formation, and Action and cleave to the kingdom of the World of Emanation, where all converts connect to holiness.[18] Prayer is the essence of the sefirah of kingdom, as King David says, “And I am prayer.”[19] The entire Temple is named after David,[20] and it can be said that this is its most important name. The Temple is named after David who conquered the nations he did to bring them near to God through the Temple. The Coming of Mashiach ben David depends on the completion of the conversion of all the prospective converts. The Mashiach progresses through five stages of ascent. The fifth ascent, as described by the Rambam, fulfills the goal of, “It is then that I will transform the nations, making them speak a clear language, all of them calling upon God’s Name, seeking to serve Him together.”[21]
Here is the complete partzuf/model:
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wisdom-chochmah חָכְמָה House of Havayah (בֵּית הוי') |
understanding-binah בִּינָה House of the Elokim (בֵּית הָאֱ-לֹהִים)
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knowledge-da’at דָּעַת House of Choice (בֵּית הַבְּחִירָה)
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loving-kindness-chessed חֶסֶד dwelling (מָכוֹן) |
might-gevurah גְּבוּרָה House of Elokim (בֵּית אֱ-לֹהִים)
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beauty-tiferet תִּפְאֶרֶת Stately House (בֵּית זְבֻל)
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victory–netzach נֶצַח House of Eternity (בֵּית עוֹלָמִים)
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splendor–hod הוֹד House of Holiness (בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ) |
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foundation–yesod יְסוֹד House of Sacrifices (בֵּית זֶבַח)
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kingdom-malchut מַלְכוּת House of Prayer (בֵּית תְּפִלָּה)
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Some Numerical Dessert
Let us conclude with a numerical analysis. The words that accompany the titles we surveyed are, Havayah, HaElokim, choice, dwelling, Elokim, stately, eternity, holiness, sacrifices, and prayer (הֲוַי' הָאֱלֹהִים הַבְּחִירָה מָכוֹן אֱלֹהִים זְבֻל עוֹלָמִים הַמִּקְדָּשׁ זֶבַח תְּפִלָּה) and their sum is 1765, which is 5 times the value of “joy” (שִׂמְחָה) as well as “the secret of Havayah is for those who fear Him”[22] (סוֹד הֲוַי' לִירֵאָיו), and “eternal light” (אוֹר עוֹלָם). It is in the Temple that it becomes possible to, “Serve God with joy, come before Him [in the Temple] with gladness”[23] (עִבְדוּ אֶת הֲוַי' בְּשִׂמְחָה בֹּאוּ לְפָנָיו בִּרְנָנָה), capturing what is known as the state of supernal teshuvah, which stems from the experience that God is near. But when the Temple is missing, we experience, “serve God with awe and rejoice with trembling”[24] (עִבְדוּ אֶת הֲוַי' בְּיִרְאָה וְגִילוּ בִּרְעָדָה), capturing the state of lower teshuvah, lower repentance, repentance that stems from awe and bitterness from the sense of being distant from God, “because of our sins, we were exiled from our land”[25]; our repentance is then to return and revere God.
The value of the ten titles of the Temple in full—“House of Havayah, House of the Elokim, House of choice, Dwelling, House of Elokim, Stately House, House of Eternity, House of Holiness, House of sacrifices, House of Prayer” (בֵּית הֲוַי' בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים בֵּית הַבְּחִירָה מָכוֹן בֵּית אֱלֹהִים בֵּית זְבֻל בֵּית עוֹלָמִים בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ בֵּית זֶבַח בֵּית תְּפִלָּה) is 5473, or 13—the value of “one” (אֶחָד) and “love” (אַהֲבָה), and the 3rd interface number— times 421—the value of “Noach found favor in the eyes of Havayah”[26] (וְנֹחַ מָצָא חֵן בְּעֵינֵי הֲוַי') and the 15th interface number.
[1]. Exodus 25:8.
[2]. 2 Chronicles 7:12.
[3]. Deuteronomy 12:5 and many more.
[4]. 2 Chronicles 7:16.
[5]. Proverbs 3:19.
[6]. Judges 18:31.
[7]. Deuteronomy 5:23.
[8]. 1 Samuel 2:3.
[9]. 1 Chronicles 28:9, David’s testament to his son, Solomon.
[10]. Chagigah 12b and Kehillat Ya’akov s.v. 7 Reki’im.
[11]. 1 Kings 8:13.
[12]. Mishnah Ta’anit 4:8.
[13]. 1 Chronicles 29:11.
[14]. Berachot 58a.
[15]. 4:1 following the Ga’on of Vilna’s reading.
[16]. Shabbat 152a.
[17]. Isaiah 56:7.
[18]. See Kehilat Yaakov, s.v. Gerim.
[19]. Psalms 109:4.
[20]. See 1 Kings 12:16.
[21]. Tzefaniah 3:9.
[22]. Psalms 25:14.
[23]. Ibid. 100:2.
[24]. Ibid. 2:11.
[25]. Mussaf prayer.
[26]. Genesis 6:8.
