Parashat Beha'alotekha (5761)

With God's help, on the eve of the holy Sabbath of Parashat Beha'alotekha, 5761

The Journeying of the Ark: The Root of Space-Time

Within Parashat Beha'alotekha there appears the passage, 'And it came to pass, when the Ark set out, Moses said…' (Numbers 10:35–36). This passage

is marked in the Torah scroll by inverted nuns before it and after it, and Rashi explains this

on the basis of the Sages' statement that this passage is not in its proper place. Some maintain that this passage constitutes a book in its

own right, so that altogether the Torah contains seven books rather than the customary five. Let us try, in brief, to understand the idea

contained in these verses that is considered equivalent to an entire book.

The main subject of the passage is the distinction between the Ark's journeying and its resting. In fact, throughout

the entire passage both rest and journeying appear, and especially the journeying of the Israelites at the command of the Lord. In my remarks on this portion

last year I focused on the characterization of human beings as 'those who walk,' as opposed to angels, who are in the category

of 'those who stand' (see also the prophetic reading). According to this, it would seem at first glance that in spiritual worlds there is no place

for concepts of time. I would now like to move (!) a step further, and point out that even in spiritual worlds

the concepts of time and space are applicable, though in a more abstract form. The Ark's journeying is movement within

a higher world, and its resting is rest within that same world. That is, even in the world of the Ark, just as

in our own world, there are movement and travel—that is, space and time—and these are the roots of our

space-time.

In both Talmuds, the verse in our portion, 'At the command of the Lord they encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed' (Numbers 9:23), is discussed specifically

in the context of the labors prohibited on the Sabbath. In the Babylonian Talmudic discussion that deals with the prohibition of demolishing a structure or

a tent on the Sabbath, there appears the condition that the demolition be for the sake of building another in its place (in the same place where

the demolished structure had stood). The Talmud raises an objection from the Tabernacle, which Israel dismantled in order to erect it in another

place (and the categories of labor prohibited on the Sabbath are derived from the labors that were performed in the Tabernacle). It answers: 'At the command of the Lord they encamped,'

meaning that encamping at the command of the Lord is regarded as encamping in the same place, even if geographically they did in fact move. In the Jerusalem

Talmud, a parallel inference is derived from here regarding the time axis; that is, journeying at the command of the Lord is regarded

as though the encampment took place at the same time as the encampment at the previous site.

At first glance, the conclusion that emerges from here is that journeying at the command of the Lord is above the concepts of time and space. However,

it seems that if this were indeed the case, then one could not infer from here that one must demolish in order to build

in the same place, but at most only that there is no restriction at all on the place where one later builds. If the dismantling

and rebuilding of the Tabernacle constitute the source for 'demolishing in order to rebuild in its place,' then journeying and encamping at

the command of the Lord also belong to concepts of place, except that they are different: in terms of our notions of space and time, there is

here a single space-time point, rather than an extended space-time region. That is, the spiritual world is not devoid

of concepts of space and time; rather, these concepts appear there differently, in a more primordial form. We have received

from our teachers that spiritual space and spiritual time are the sources of physical space and physical time. So too every

thing in our world emanates from a higher source. If so, it is clear that these concepts must have

a higher and more primordial manifestation in higher worlds.

The author of Tzafnat Pa'aneach points out that even in Jewish law there are manifestations of time in a non-extended form,

and he calls this a 'point-like mode.' An example of this is the rule that if something was set aside at twilight, it remains set aside. The law

determines that an object's status with respect to whether it is permitted or forbidden to be handled on the Sabbath is established at twilight

at the onset of the Sabbath. An object that was off-limits during twilight, even if the reason for this ceased during the Sabbath,

remains off-limits. For example, a table on which an off-limits object had been placed

during twilight itself becomes off-limits ('a base for a forbidden object'). The law rules that even if the off-limits object fell off it, the table

remains off-limits. That is, contact with the spiritual time-axis of the Sabbath at the moment the Sabbath begins determines the

status of the object for the entire duration of the Sabbath, for the time of the whole Sabbath is 'point-like.' In other

words: throughout the whole Sabbath we are situated at the same point in time. If so, the Sabbath too contains concepts of

time, but their manifestation in a spiritual world (the Sabbath is 'a foretaste of the World to Come') differs from their manifestation

in our world. One may understand the time of the Sabbath as a concentrated point that constitutes the source and root of the time of

the entire week.

With respect to space, something similar occurs. The point of origin of the space of this world is the Temple. Spatial

concepts appear there in a strange form. For example, the Ark of the Covenant occupied no space there

whatsoever. If we were to measure the total length of the Holy of Holies in which the Ark was placed, and were to measure

its length without the space of the Ark, we would arrive at the same result. In the terms of the author of Tzafnat Pa'aneach,

I would say that space in the Temple, and at least at the site of the Ark, is 'point-like,' and it too

is the root of the appearance of ordinary, physical space in our world.

The Sabbath and the Temple are spiritual roots of time and space. The 'journeying of the Ark' is the journeying of an object

that does not occupy 'space,' in a manner that does not take 'time.' This is the essence of the passage 'And it came to pass, when the Ark set out,'

which, as I noted, is itself not found in its proper 'place' in the Torah. It constitutes

the spiritual root of our physical space-time, and teaches us that our entire world draws its sustenance

from a source higher than itself, and without that source it has no existence.

And in conclusion, a curious phenomenon. In Parashat Emor (Leviticus 24:8) there appears a strange expression: 'On the Sabbath day,

on the Sabbath day, he shall set it in order before the Lord continually.' In the prophetic reading for that portion there appears a similar form (Ezekiel

44:5): 'And when they go out to the outer court, to the outer court [that is, of the Temple].' At the wellsprings

of space (in the Temple) and of time (on the Sabbath), these concepts appear in doubled form: one

is the root of the other. Space in the Temple is the root of the space outside it; that is, in the Temple

space passes from potential to actuality. Likewise, the time of the Sabbath is the root of ordinary weekday time; that is,

on the Sabbath time passes from potential to actuality.

Have a peaceful Sabbath

It may be placed in a repository for sacred texts at any synagogue or religious academy. Comments and responses are welcome.

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