Last week we began exploring Ramchal’s Mishkenei Elyon and the insights it shed on aspects of the Mishkan that were revealed in the parsha, in particular regarding the Mizbe’ach of the outer courtyard. In this week’s parsha we learn of the special role of the kohen in performing the service in the Sanctuary, culminating in the “golden Mizbe’ach,” the Mizbe’ach of the inner chamber where the ketoret is offered. This service is reserved for the kohanim; even the production of the ketoret was a secret process guarded by kohanim. In Mishkenei Elyon, Ramchal elucidates the differences between the “outer” and the “inner” Mizbe’ach, and the importance of the vessels situated in the inner chamber. In the Beit HaMikdash, this area was the building itself – the Heichal; in the Mishkan, it is the interior of the tent – the Ohel Mo’ed.
As Ramchal describes the layout and structure of the Beit HaMikdash, he frequently employs an unusual turn of phrase in introducing distinctive elements. He understands the structure of the Mikdash and its navigation as spiritual map of the universe, emphasizing the mechanisms and processes that link the higher realms with the material world we inhabit in our bodies below. In speaking of the Mikdash, Ramchal makes it clear that what is really beheld – what was experienced by Moshe on Har Sinai – is a divine paradigm in whose form the various structures are built.
So the essential elements found in this paradigmatic template he refers to not as objects but as “lights.” As the form of the structure is perceived by our intellect, we are drawn to various lights, signifying the benevolent influence of the Creator coming into our world and the methods we employ to raise ourselves above this world to gain experience of worlds above. When Ramchal describes the three golden vessels of the inner chamber, he refers to each as a “light” which is revealed to our consciousness in the form constructed by Betzalel according to the design passed on to him by Moshe.
As one emerges from the Kodesh Kedoshim facing the outer door of the sanctuary (i.e., the Ohel Mo’ed or the Heichal), the Menorah appears to the right, the Shulchan to the left, and the golden Mizbe’ach is directly in front. This is what the Kohen Gadol would experience upon emerging from the Kodesh Kedoshim on Yom Kippur. The Menorah is standing in for the light of wisdom emanating into our world. It manifests as seven distinct lights all emanating from a central column. The Shulchan represents the divine bounty in providing the physical needs of all beings; it is the presence of all good and nutritious food that sustains our bodies – in the Mishkan this was the twelve loaves of the lechem hapanim.
The nexus of all worlds, the point of conjunction of the physical and spiritual poles is the golden Mizbe’ach, the inner Mizbe’ach as it is sometimes known. Ramchal explains that in the heavenly sanctuary where the malachim serve Hashem, this is the place where the Malach Michael offers the souls of the righteous.
Ramchal teaches that the ultimate purpose of the Mikdash and its service is to enable the denizens of the lower realms to interface with the highest planes. By means of our korbanot, the offerings we bring by following specific rituals in the precincts of the Mikdash, we bring the Divine bounty down into our world and we elevate our spirits and the aspects of us that can escape this world into a state of awareness of higher consciousness.
The inner and outer spaces also correspond to the animal and human aspects of our being. On the outer Mizbe’ach, the bodies of animals are brought. Ramchal alludes to a correspondence of the outer Mizbe’ach with our own appetites and hedonistic tendencies. The fire atop the Mizbe’ach, and the division of the Mizbe’ach itself between higher and lower components, is a means by which we tame these baser instincts and bring them into conformity with the Divine Will. The slaughter and butchering of animals is also an integral part of this process.
Inside the walls of the Heichal or the Ohel, on the interior Mizbe’ach standing in for the souls of tzaddikim, there is no slaughtering of beasts nor consuming pyres. The ketoret is brought in very small quantities onto coals designated for this purpose, and from this vanishingly small measure, profound effects are achieved. The entire enclosed space of the Sanctuary is filled with the smoke and the scent of the ketoret, and the mind of the pure individual who occupies this space is prepared by the encounter to become conscious of wisdom and light originating from realms outside of physical space and its limitations.
