פולחן ואמונה

Except the LORD of hosts Had left unto us a very small remnant, We should have been as Sodom, We should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, Ye rulers of Sodom; Give ear unto the law of our God, Ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? Saith the LORD; I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, And the fat of fed beasts; And I delight not in the blood Of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before Me, Who hath required this at your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; It is an offering of abomination unto Me; New moon and sabbath, the holding of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed seasons My soul hateth; They are a burden unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean, Put away the evil of your doings From before Mine eyes, Cease to do evil; Learn to do well; Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, Saith the LORD; Though your sins be as scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, Ye shall eat the good of the land; But if ye refuse and rebel, Ye shall be devoured with the sword; For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken.

Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Thy word, I pray Thee, be verified, which Thou didst speak unto Thy servant David my father.

... Another explanation. “We have not found the Almighty great in power…” (Iyov 37:23) At the moment when the Holy One said to Moshe ‘make me a Tabernacle’ he was dumbfounded and said ‘the glory of the Holy One fills the upper worlds and the lower, and He said to make Him a Tabernacle?’ Further, he gazed into the future and saw that Shlomo would arise and build the Holy Temple which would be greater than the Tabernacle, and he said before the Holy One “But will God indeed dwell on the earth?” (Melachim I 8:27) Moshe reasoned: if in reference to the Holy Temple, which is so much larger than the Tabernacle, Shlomo said this - then when it comes to the Tabernacle all the more so. Therefore Moshe said “He who dwells in the hidden place of the Most High…” (Tehillim 91:1) R’ Yehudah bar R’ Simon said: The One who dwells in the hidden place is above all His creations. What does the continuation “…in the shadow of the Almighty,” mean? In the shadow of Gd (b’tzel el). It is not written as ‘in the shadow of the Merciful’ or ‘in the shadow of the Gracious,’ but rather ‘in the shadow of the Almighty.’ In the shadow which Betzalel made, that is why it says ‘in the shadow of the Almighty’. The Holy One replied to Moshe ‘I do not see things the same way as you do. Rather it says twenty in the north, twenty in the south and eight in the west. Furthermore, I will I will come down and contract my Presence within a space of one cubit by one cubit.’