The Tabernacle

[pohaikawahine]

aloha e bandit - there is so much to read and learn, but all so exciting and fascinating .... the books arrived and i hardly know where to start .... but here is one reference from "in the wilderness" by mary douglas about the structure of numbers (important because it may ultimately have some relationship to the structure of the camp around the tabernacle itself) "we are so used to linear writing that it is a shock at first to imagine a whole law book or epic constructed as if it were a sonnet with a very definite rhyming system." "in the case of numbers, section 2 starts the series of laws and matches to 12, which concludes it; the stories in 3 correspond to those in 11; the laws in 4 correspond to those in 10, and so on. The result is that the whole of numbers is constructed in a huge ring formed of alternating stories and laws set in parallel with each other, twelve in all." and a few other notes to contemplate


it appears that the "mother's rank is significant for the Genesis stroy and we should be prepared to find that it partly governs the placing of tribes around the tabernacle in Numbers" .... "the story of how the Lord placed them around the tabernalce is the first of the reminders in the Numbers's stories that the prophecies have come tgrue and the curses and blessings are fulfilled" (going back to Genesis and part of Jacob's deathbed oration)

"Levi has no place among the inheritors of the land, and the other two of the curses sons of Leah, Reuben and Simeon, stand on the south, joined by Leah's servant's child, Gad. So the diagram makes it clear that cursed and low-ranking sons can stand together, ont he north and the south, regardless of their birth place in the family. On the east and west, children of one mother, in correct birth order, face each other, Judah and his full brothers on the east, Ephraim and his brother and uncle on the west. By divine command Rachel and Leah have been placed on opposite sides of the tabernacle facing each oher."

"All twelve tribes, with the exception of Levi, are treated throughout Numbers as the heirs of the promises: none is formally disinherited. Cursed or blessed by Jacob, sinners or good men in the Genesis story, whatever their ancestors did, and whatever they do to confirm their sinfulness in the course of the book of numbers, by the end of the story they will have all had their portion of the promised land assigned to them."

(on a personal side note .... I'm finding this all to be interesting on a personal level as well because my grandfather's middle name was Levi and I never knew where it came from .... L. Levi Mann, on my father's side .... and he never claimed to be Jewish or anything for that matter, but there is a picture in the old family album of a man wearing 'kippah' .... I saw the picture once and then it disappeared .... I haven't though about these things in a long time but this work on the tabernacle has brought back those memories and thoughts)

I guess I have to go back to Genesis and find the sections where Jacob foretells what will befall each of the tribes .... I read about the tribe of Dan "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." and that after Genesis, the Torah seems to exclude Dan .... the tribe of Dan originally entered the promised land of Israel in the time of Joshua. They occupied a strip of coast country on the Mediterranean, west of Jerusalem. They engaged primarly in shipping and international commerce. "Dan abode in ships" .... so I want to try and put together a small piece on each tribe and then see if there is any relationship to the placement around the tabernacle .... also each tribe have a relationship to one of the gemstones on the breastplate of the high priest .... I keep remembering that it is suppose to be the twelve gemstones that help urim and thummin function (urim and thummin were suppose to be two stones or gems that were placed behind the breastplate) ....were urim and thummin ever mentioned as a part of the tabernacle structure ??.... Masonic legend (supposingly taught during the 13, 14 and 21 degree ceremonies of Masonry) state that urim and thummin were part of the recovered artifacts taken from Solomon's temple after hiram abiff was murdered while protecting the temple treasury.

me ke aloha pumehana, poh

[Bandit]

thank you for the post, POH.

just one question on the two books. did they offer any diagrams & drawings?
i will be ordering them also, but you will probably be way ahead of me.

i am just going to add this site for now. i am in awe at what this David Hamilton has studied & put together in a traveling portable tabernacle.
Mishkan Ministries. it has a nice opening song how we can enter boldly into the holy of holies & make our petitions known. a lot of pictures of the articles on the pattern of the Tabernacle. i am watching to see if it travels near here this year.


http://www.mishkanministries.org/

To my Jewish and Christian friends: Welcome to Mishkan Ministries Traveling Biblical Museum. Please know that it is not the intent or purpose of this site to offend any group or individual. With great respect to and for this sacred subject, I understand that there are many different opinions concerning each subject and its representations included in this site. Regardless of the various opinions the objects here will speak for themselves.


The items included in this display are authentic representations of temple artifacts. This collection is priceless because of its purpose. These re-creations of Bible pieces are visible objects through which we can understand the invisible plan of God: these are the natural objects that reveal spiritual truths. The Tabernacle is the grandest of all Old Testament types of Jesus Christ. In its furnishings, priesthood, and worship we see, with a vividness that we find nowhere else, the glory and grace of Jesus Christ and the privileges of his redeemed people.

Look and Enjoy!

Dr. David Hamilton

[pohaikawahine]

aloha e bandit .... interesting I was just doing some research on the 'day of atonement' (aka yom kippur) .... it on this day that the kohen gadol 'high priest' purified the kodesh k'dashim, the holy of holies .... the high priest walked up a special ramp to the altar, filled a gold pan with coals and a golden ladel with incense .... then, with everyone watching, he walked into the kodesh k'dashim, the holy of holies, the inner sanctuary where G-d's spirit dwelled .... once inside, he lit the incense, and if all went well, emerged unscathed from the inner chamber .... what I am a little unsure of is whether or not this was practiced in the portable tabernacle in the wilderness .... I read that following the completion of the mishkan, the portable tabernacle, Moses, through direct communication with G-d instructed the people in the tabernacle's service and ritual and that today the basic elements of the temple service are symbolically recreated in the taffilot, prayer services and traditional jewish homelife.


the sacrafice of blood was as I understand an act of purification and the high priest sprinkled blood on the curtain that of the holy of holies as an act of purification .... which leads us also to circumcision .... also an act of purification and a sign of the covenant (berit) 'sealed inthe flesh' .... it includes in some cases a special chair or seat which could be symbolic of the seat of mercy in the tabernacle .... and of course, the sacrafice of blood ...
yet, during the time of wandering in the wilderness circumcision was not performed .... I get a little confused about the sequencing of things and times ....

if we keep looking at possible inner meanings of the tabernacle as well as other rituals connected with the tabernacle I think that we will still see that it fits into the inner body movement of energy .... if the tabernacle is also replication within each of us, then it is by its definition portable (because we would carry it with us always) .... and if wandering the wilderness is a metaphor for the energy that we have not yet been able to direct to the holy of holies (located in the limbic system of the brain) .... then everything still fits .... the day of atonement when sins against G-d are sealed, circumcision as a sign of the covenant (berit) 'sealed in the flesh', and the fact that on this day the high priest can enter the holy of holies would lead me to believe that if we could all find this place of sanctuary with our own portable tabernacles, we will each have the ability to enter the holy of holies and will be sealed .... I can't put it all together as coherently as I would like, but it is getting there .... aloha nui, poh

p.s. the books have no pictures or diagrams ....just lots and lots of words to digest and contemplate ....

[pohaikawahine]

aloha e bandit - when you receive the books by mary douglas you will find some diagrams of the layout of the tribes around the tabernacle in "in the wilderness" which are most interesting and informative .... when mary douglas begins to describe the relationship in the structure of the text and the suggestion that "in the bible a woman is often a metaphor for Israel" we begin to see the possibility that "the .... women's stories have to do with desacration of the tabernacle" .... in going back over the parshas and various interpretations and possibilities, it would appear that those "wayward women" are metaphors for something much deeper related to understanding our spiritual nature and the inner tabernacle in the wilderness .... that portable tabernacle that we carry around with us all the time .... I agree with some of her suggestions that the bible reference refer to "a woman" and not 'women' in general .... "a woman" refers to "Israel, the mystic bride" .... the regathering will take place when each of us enters the inner sanctum, the holy of holies and reach the top of the mountain .... the summit .... we can only do it one-by-one and it requires entering the circle of stones, or the court of the elders .... I love the metaphors ..... aloha nui, poh

[Bandit]

very sweet . the bookstore just called me tonight & i am picking them both up tomorrow. i saw your post on the leviticus book in Judaism also. i would like to join that as well in the near future.

[pohaikawahine]

aloha e bandit - so glad your books have arrived .... so much for us to share .... I just posted a small thought on the thread on the Dalai Lama .... he and his people are currently in exile wandering the globe waiting to return "home" .... we should be thinking about this as we go through Exodus because the message is the same .... perhaps those powers greater than us are showing us the way in many different venues and this is the heart of comparative religions .... the Israelites are still in exile and wait for the regathering, the Dalai Lama and his people are in exile and wait for the return "home" ....the holy of holies, paradise, the promised land awaits each of us and invites us to return "home" .... all ritual connected with the tabernacle in the wilderness reminds us of who we really are ... even the garments of the high priest replicate the cosmos and replicate our own bodies .... every aspect is carefully laid out and we have to look at the whole, not just the individual pieces ....

in the Popol Vuh (the mayan chant of creation or book of creation) the gods created the first four men and they were too perfect (they could see to the ends of the world just as well as the gods), so the gods brought a mist (or a fog) down and it clouded the eyes of these first four men .... and as a result they could no longer see so perfectly .... but what is the lesson??? power was not to be conslidated into only one (because it has more of a chance of being abused), but instead real power lies in the flow between the four corners .... only together can they see the "whole" .... there are many metaphors .... for many cultures each clan has its piece of the greater puzzle, but only together can the whole meaning of the song be known .... let us keep this in mind as we take this walk together .... aloha nui, poh

[Bandit]

Aloha POH,
i am seeing all these mcirocosms the same as i always have but leanred more that paradox & parallel does not have to always be exact but i think the figure or at least there has to be one figure present & to be exact or else you cant make a parallel. i want to go through the leviticus book first then come back to the tabernacle later, if that is ok with you.

those first four men in the mayan is kind of like Adam only Adam never got that far, not in the garden anyway. i am just wondering how much of these other cultures were aware of the the culture found in the OT. because the OT definately acknowledges many of these other cultures in the books & distinguishes them as different though they have similiarities. but how much is there that takes note of what is going on in the camp of Israel from the outside? i dont know but i am very curious so keep that in mind when you come across things for me.
so what you are seeing there with Dalai Lama, i see it also.

real power lies between the four corners & not in the political agendas for sure. good one.
Aloha!

[pohaikawahine]

no problem bandit .... leviticus first .... aloha nui, poh

[pohaikawahine]

gosh bandit - we got a little waylaid on our thread here .... thank goodness the tabernacle is portable and we can carry it with us everywhere and it is never lost .... the 50 days from Passover to Shavuot are in process and I was reading the JPS Guide to Jewish Trditions .... Shavuot is certainly a day filled with many symbols that culminate in reaching that space of freedom .... included are:

Shavuot is observed as the annivesary of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai

In Temple times two loaves of bread were "waved before the Lord" on Shavuopt - the only meal offering baked with leaven. The fully risen hametz (leavened bread) symbolizes the completion of this period from materialism to spiritualism (reaching the top of the mountain) .... the process of redemption from slavery that began on Passover to freedom (as I see it) when the Torah was given on Mount Sinai.

One reading that is customary on the first day is Ezekiel's mystical vision of the devine chariot (merkavah) .... this is important because it relates to reaching that place of visions and revelations,the merkavah would be similar to the unfolding or opening of the lotus flower in deep meditation ....

The sunrise service symbolizes the arrival of the light of the Torah (I find this also interesting because on the island of Molokai there will be a sunrise service where dancers will dance from midnight until the sunrise (I have several hula sisters who will be attending this ritual) .... it will take place high on a cliff....

Shavuot is also the harvest festival and is connected to a Tree of Life (and the Tree of Life as I understand it is the human body itself that is rooted in the earth yet has access to the heavens when the energy moves upward) .... this would closely resemble the process of reaching the highest level of spirituality, the Jubilee (freedom) .... and I read ....

"in some communities, the challot baked for Shavuot are long and have four corners, symbolizing the four methods of interpreting the Torah..."

It seems to me that all the symbols come together on Shavuot .... so bandit, where does our tabernacle in the wilderness fit with Shavuot .... if the 50 days are reached and we as individuals and collectively raise our consciousness to a higher level of being (truly receive the message of the Torah) would the portable temple become permanent or would it cease to exist because we would find the land of milk and honey. (which by the way, dairy foods are traditionally eaten during Shavuot because according to legend, upon learning the laws of kashrut at Sinai, the Israelites understood that their pots were not kosher and thus resolved to eat only uncooked diry foods until they could get new ones. Some people eat honey in the verse, "Honey and milk are under your tongue." (Song 4:11) ....In gematria, the numerical value of the Hebrew word "halav" (milk) equals 40, corresponding to the number of days Moses spent on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah."

Hmmmmm we can also eat blintzes filled with sweetened cheese and topped with fresh fruit .... I would say we have a great and powerful day arriving .... I think we will have to enter the center of the tabernacle and be ready to face a new a better world .... I also think I'm ready to enter the synagogue and look upon the ark of the covenant (or its symbol) with a new sense of awe and wonder at the messages left us in the Torah .... aloha nui, poh

[pohaikawahine]

gosh bandit - we got a little waylaid on our thread here .... thank goodness the tabernacle is portable and we can carry it with us everywhere and it is never lost .... the 50 days from Passover to Shavuot are in process and I was reading the JPS Guide to Jewish Trditions .... Shavuot is certainly a day filled with many symbols that culminate in reaching that space of freedom .... included are:

Shavuot is observed as the annivesary of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai

In Temple times two loaves of bread were "waved before the Lord" on Shavuopt - the only meal offering baked with leaven. The fully risen hametz (leavened bread) symbolizes the completion of this period from materialism to spiritualism (reaching the top of the mountain) .... the process of redemption from slavery that began on Passover to freedom (as I see it) when the Torah was given on Mount Sinai.

One reading that is customary on the first day is Ezekiel's mystical vision of the devine chariot (merkavah) .... this is important because it relates to reaching that place of visions and revelations,the merkavah would be similar to the unfolding or opening of the lotus flower in deep meditation ....

The sunrise service symbolizes the arrival of the light of the Torah (I find this also interesting because on the island of Molokai there will be a sunrise service where dancers will dance from midnight until the sunrise (I have several hula sisters who will be attending this ritual) .... it will take place high on a cliff....

Shavuot is also the harvest festival and is connected to a Tree of Life (and the Tree of Life as I understand it is the human body itself that is rooted in the earth yet has access to the heavens when the energy moves upward) .... this would closely resemble the process of reaching the highest level of spirituality, the Jubilee (freedom) .... and I read ....

"in some communities, the challot baked for Shavuot are long and have four corners, symbolizing the four methods of interpreting the Torah..."

It seems to me that all the symbols come together on Shavuot .... so bandit, where does our tabernacle in the wilderness fit with Shavuot .... if the 50 days are reached and we as individuals and collectively raise our consciousness to a higher level of being (truly receive the message of the Torah) would the portable temple become permanent or would it cease to exist because we would find the land of milk and honey. (which by the way, dairy foods are traditionally eaten during Shavuot because according to legend, upon learning the laws of kashrut at Sinai, the Israelites understood that their pots were not kosher and thus resolved to eat only uncooked diry foods until they could get new ones. Some people eat honey in the verse, "Honey and milk are under your tongue." (Song 4:11) ....In gematria, the numerical value of the Hebrew word "halav" (milk) equals 40, corresponding to the number of days Moses spent on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah."

Hmmmmm we can also eat blintzes filled with sweetened cheese and topped with fresh fruit .... I would say we have a great and powerful day arriving .... I think we will have to enter the center of the tabernacle and be ready to face a new a better world .... I also think I'm ready to enter the synagogue and look upon the ark of the covenant (or its symbol) with a new sense of awe and wonder at the messages left us in the Torah .... aloha nui, poh

[pohaikawahine]

bandit - I posted this on the parsha for the Book of Numbers Bamidbar .... but I also wanted to post it here because it is so connected with the tabernacle .... the Camp of Israel, how the twelve tribes are laid out around the tabernacle ....

.... I was reading an article by Rabbi Shranga Simmons about Shavuot .... which is coming right up and is the "single most important event in Jewish History - the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai" which also makes this particular parsha Bamidbar very important .... the reading of Baidbar takes place on the Sabbath before the Shavuot holiday and Rabbi Nosom Weisz did a great job in his thesis on the Book of Bamidbar which establishes the norms of a Jewish society. (www.aish.com/torahportion/mayanot/bamidbar) .... he says that this book begins to describe the social contract that binds together the individuals that comprise the Jewish people just as the Covenant of Sinai sets the seal on this contract .... the internalization of the system of ethics is a necessary prelude to the receivinb of the Torah."

so bandit, the first part of this relates to the naming and the placement of the 12 tribes around the tabernacle (we have that diagram in the wilderness of the Camp of Israel) .... which you already know I associate with the 12 pairs of cranial nerves that operate the internal system of the seven energy centers that must move the energy into the place of the altar in the portable tabernacle to reach the place in which we meet g-d face to face .... this would be equivalent to the receipt of the torah which will take place on Shavuot .... a most important holiday that is celebrated within one's self, there are no outward signs of this celebration .... one typically would read and study the Torah all night long by him or herself ....

I'm really excited about what I read by Rabbi Shraga Simmons (www.aish.com/shavuotfeatures/shavuotfeaturesdefault/abcs_of_shavuot.asp) because he said that "on Shavuot morning, we read the biblical book of Ruth and Ruth was a non-Jewish woman whose love for God and Torah led her to convert to Judaism. The Torah intimates that the souls of eventual converts were also present at Sinai, as it says: 'I am making (the covenant) both with those here today before the Lord our God, and also with those not her today.' (Deut 29:13)." While I've read before that some have translated this to mean the Jewish people that had not been born yet were also present, this is the first time I've seen the possible interpretation that it could have meant the souls of future converts. Since I have now decided that I want to convert (if anyone will have me .... I'm going to try with the reform group who seem more open to this) this whole period of the 50 days following the Passover has special significance in all its symbolism.... I even hung a Mezuzah on my door on Mother's Day (given to me by a friend) even though I had no special permission or blessings to do this .... but it is there for me to see every day and for all my friends and family to see ....

In the parsha today the placement of the Jewish people outlined by the Torah gives us the message that we are souls and not bodies and our placement is based on our soul .... "the accedptance of Torah amounts to the accedptance of oneself as a soul" and "as a soul there is no reason to display any reluctance in accepting one's assigned position in the encampment of the Israel. This brings one into perfect harmony with all the other souls in a way that still allows for self-definition. Parshat Bamidbar is truly a proper prelude to the Shavuot holiday."

Although I do not know for certain, I believe my placement may be with the tribe of Levi because this is the name carried by my grandfather who never claimed to be Jewish .... or I might belong to another tribe, another placement .... one day I will know in my heart where my soul is placed and accept whereever it is as perfect and balanced .... this Friday I will attend my first synagogue .... will let you know how it goes .... he hawai'i au, poh

[pohaikawahine]

(Exodus 25:40) And see to it that you make them according to the PATTERN, which was SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN

bandit do you remember that you posted the above sometime back in the beginning of our discussions ... we are now into the parsha's for the Book of Numbers and we are right on the edge of the celebration of the day that Moses received the Torah on Mt. Sinai .... if the mountaintop is symbolic of our own head and skull, the patterns would begin to fit .... remember that the whole system is operated by the 12 pairs of cranial nerves (the endocrine system that moves the energy through the seven energy centers in the body) .... we must move this energy up the spinal column into the center of the brain (the altar) to bridge the three hemispheres ....

in the book "In the Wilderness" by Mary Douglas she says that the Book of Numbers is organized in a ring with distinct units in parallel pairs "the pairing so organized that the last one matches the first and arranged so that the ending comes back to the beginning" .... if the 12 tribes are also symbolic of the 12 pairs of cranial nerves in the skull, their placement around the portable tabernacle is part of the pattern ....

when we are able to realign the whole internal system through deep prayer or meditation (moving the spiralling energy upward into the skull) we in effect "die to the old ways of living" and are "reborn to the new world" .... if the Hopi Indians are correct in their prophercies that this is the "time in which we meet ourselves", then we will awake from the deep sleep and remember who we are and what our full potentials are .... the return of the mosiach would occur because the 12 tribes have regathered and in effect we enter the promise land, the land of milk and honey (milk and honey are also symbolic of chemicals that are released in the skull and brain which move us toward the process of revelations and visions .... we go behind the veil (the arachnoid that covers the skull .... the system of vibrating strings that connect the twelve) within the tent and there we are at the mountaintop ....

in the hawaiian chant of creation, the Kumulipo, at the end of the seventh "wa" or section of the chant we begin to move out of the world of darkness (the world of the gods) or "po" into the time of light (the world of man or enlightnment" or the time of "ao" and the chant says

O kau ke anoano ia'u kualono
He ano no ka po hane'e aku
He ano no ka po hane'e mai

One translations is:
Fear falls upon me on the mountaintop
Fear of the passing night
Fear of the night approaching

But the first line is also translated in various ways as:
The solemn stillness on my hills
Ove the mountain silence reigns
Awe comes over me on the mountaintop

Even Jesus in the christian religions dies and is reborn on the mountain top called Golgatha .... which means "the place of the skulls"

Even the Tibetians have symbols of the cave with the human skulls and Kali (the goddess of darkness as some say) wears a necklage of skulls ....

All symbols in the numbers and objects .... the entire taberncale in the wilderness (the portable one that we all carry) is to be read with the inner eyes or with the soul to understand its inner meaning or the essence of its message, from my point of view .... we exit (as in exodus) the wilderness when we reach that place of freedom or sovereignty and that occurs when we reach the mountaintop and accept the deepest meanings of the Torah .... we begin to see behind the veil, or beneath the outer garmnents .... the queen (the torah) and the king (the energy that is annointed as it moves into the brain stem by the two olivares) are reunited and we form the human cross or the ultimate meeting of heaven and earth ....

I've spelled some of this out in previous posts .... but it appears that our tabernacle project is coming to closure because there are no other posts .... so as we approach the 50 days after Passover and reach Shavout it is appropriate that we are at the hem of the Jubilee (the real freedom of the slave) .... I'm feeling very philosophical and sounding very esoteric right now, but I'm trying to best to spell out what I see and sense .... and yes, I do feel very euphoric .... I feel very passionate .... and I feel a great sense of peace and harmony .... I wish everyone a wonderful adventure when they go inward at the time of Shavout ....

I'm leaving for Wisconsin on the 1st for my nieces wedding and to visit my youngest sister .... I will celebrate Shavout, the receiving of the Torah, there ....

What is amazing to me is that all religions seem to lead us to the same mountaintop .... our paths may differ, but "when we get there we will see the same moon" .... yet even now we see our differences and do not yet celebrate our links because we have yet to find our way through the darkness of our human emotions .... it really is true that unconditional love, agape, is needed to remove the veils and peer deeper into the depth of who we really are .... isn't that what "jihad" is suppose to be all about, and we reach the promised land or the wedding place of the male and female energies, not through war but through love .... not the love of the material world, but the love of the spirit of god .... how wise were those ancient ones that left us the seeds or messages of understanding, but how deeply we sleep that we cannot see them clearly .... well now I'm starting to ramble .... so will close out with He Hawai'i Au which means "I am Hawaii" or I give breath and life to my culture by the way I live my life .... poh

[pohaikawahine]

my friend and co-walker on the ancient path has chosen to leave our site for awhile .... I will miss him but always carry him in my heart .... take care bandit and I will see you on the path....

a new thread was started on the Judiasm section regarding the twelve tribes and I thought it would be an excellent addition to this thread on the tabernacle because the twelve tribes play a significant role in the whole structure and function .... so I though I might try to post some thoughts on the tribes (and I really hope others will join in because I am not the expert on this and may make many mistakes .... but at least I will try) .... here is the posting I did on the other thread about the twelve tribes:


"there is a reference above to a book entitled "Collapse of the Bronze Age and the Rise of Ancient Israel" which is suppose to speak to the tribes .... I can't vouch for how accurate it is, but looks like an interesting source .... I also was reading a thread from early in 2005 on this site entitled "Twelve Tribe Table - Rastafari" in which our moderator bb stated "jewishly, you're either 'cohen' or 'levi' (in which case tribe of levi) or 'yisrael' in which case you're either judah or benjamin. other tribal affiliations will only be worked out when the Messiah can do it."

a discussion on the tribes might be a great addition to the "tabernacle in the wilderness" dialogue in the interfaith parsha .... I was reading in Mary Douglas's "Leviticus as Literature" that "Exodus recounts how beautifully the tabernalce was made, the psalmist extols the house of God. Leviticus honours it in its own style. The book opens with God calling Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the tabernacle remains throughout not just the ground and pivot of all its teaching, but the actual structure on which its literary form has been projected." She goes on to speak of the "tripartite architecture of the tabernacle, itself modelled on the three-zones proportions of the holy mountain" I was thinking that this information in addition to the placement of the twelve tribes in the camp of Israel and the significance of the twelve on the breastplate of the high priest may take us to a better understanding of the significance of each tribe and its origin ....

I'm going to post this in both this thread and in the tabernacle thread and try to get started on the twelve tribes in relationship to the portable tabernacle in the wilderness .... aloha nui, poh"

GRACIOUSNESS, ELEGANCE, TRUTH .... what does this have to do with the tabernacle? I don't know, but the words are entering my brain so thought I would share them. I was told yesterday that I would inherit two properties which was interesting to me because I cannot think of anyone that would be leaving me any property .... but it is possible that the two properties are not physical, but spiritual and they are connected to a deeper understanding of the tabernacle .... gotta leave for work, but will return .... aloha nui, poh

[pohaikawahine]

although this thread has probably gone into exile because of lack of participation, thought I would post a few additions to bring it full cycle .... I just received a new book "Secrets of the Future Temple" by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (written in 1729 and recently translated into English) .... it is translated by Avraham Yehoshua ben Yakov Greenbaum and published by The Temple Institute and Azamra Institute in Jerusalem .... I'm only going to post a quote from the opening page and the ending which I think are very relevant to this thread:

"You, son of man: Tell the House of Israel about the Temple .... Let them see the measurements of the plan .... Let them know the form of the Temple and its structure, all its forms and all its laws ... Write it before their eyes,and they will guard all its forms and all its laws and do them" (Ezekiel 43:10-11)

Ezekiel said to the Holy One blessed-be-He: 'Master of the World: We are now in exile, and You tell me to go and inform the Jewish People about the plan of the Temple? 'Write it before their eyes, and they will guard all its forms and all its laws and do them.' How can they 'do them'? Leave them until they go out of exile, and then I will tell them.' The Holy One blessed-be-He said to Ezekiel: 'Just because My children are in exile, does that mean the building of My House should be halted? Studying the plan of the Temple in the Torah is as great as actually building it. Go and tell them to make it their business to study the form of the Temple as explained in the Torah. As their reward for this study, I will give them credit as if they are actually building the Temple" (Midrash Tanchuma, Tzav #14)"

Hmmmmm .... got more studying to do and hope to earn a few credits .... we can and will rebuild the temple .... just open our eyes and see with our souls .... I have come to the conclusion that the time of the Masiach and the rebuilding of the temple will take place simultaneously .... then "all the lights will shine with a radiance unlike anything ever known." He Hawai'i Au, Poh

[juantoo3]

Kindest Regards, Poh!

I've been extremely scarce of late, but I wanted to take a moment to let you know your efforts here (CR in general, but this thread in particular) are much appreciated, by me anyway. It is sad to see this one lose it's steam, but one can hope it will resurrect one day soon. Thank you, very much, for your time and trouble, for your participation.