Is Anything Behind the Curtain? Spirituality in a World Without Promises

(1) For the leader. A psalm of David. (2) The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork. (3) Day to day makes utterance, night to night speaks out.

MISHNA: After the Ark was taken into exile, there was a rock in the Holy of Holies from the days of the early prophets, David and Samuel, who laid the groundwork for construction of the Temple, and this stone was called the foundation rock... GEMARA: The Gemara comments with regard to the wording of the mishna: It does not teach: After the Ark was buried, but: After it was taken. If so, we learned this mishna in accordance with the opinion of the one who said that the Ark was exiled to Babylonia and was not buried in its place, as it was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: The Ark was exiled to Babylonia, as it is stated: “And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylonia, along with the precious vessels of the House of the Lord” (II Chronicles 36:10). These precious vessels must include the Ark. Likewise, Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: The Ark was exiled to Babylonia, as it is stated: “Behold, the days come that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored until this day, shall be carried to Babylonia; nothing [davar] shall be left, says the Lord” (Isaiah 39:6). These are the Ten Commandments [dibrot] that are inside it; they too shall not be left behind. Rabbi Yehuda ben Lakish says: The Ark was buried in its place, as it is stated: “And the ends of the staves were seen from the sacred place before the partition, but they could not be seen without; and they are there to this day” (I Kings 8:8).

§ Rabbi Yehuda raised a contradiction. It is written: “The ends of the staves were seen,” and it is written in that same verse: “But they could not be seen without” (I Kings 8:8). How can one reconcile this contradiction? They were seen and yet not seen, i.e., the staves were partially visible. This was also taught in a baraita: “The ends of the staves were seen”; one might have thought that they did not move from their position and did not protrude at all. Therefore, the verse states: “And the staves were so long.” One might have thought that they ripped through the curtain and emerged on the other side; therefore, the verse states: “They could not be seen without.” How is this so? The staves of the Ark pushed and protruded and stuck out against the curtain toward the outside, and appeared like the two breasts of a woman pushing against her clothes. As it is stated: “My beloved is to me like a bundle of myrrh, that lies between my breasts” (Song of Songs 1:13).

(1) "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh... " (Exodus 10:1-4)
1. The Holy One, Blessed be He, created the world in His compassion, wanting to express His compassion - were there no world, to whom would He show compassion? Therefore He created all of creation, from the highest levels of emanation to the most central point of the physical world, in order to show his compassion. Yet when He wanted to create the world, there was no space for its creation, since everything was infinite ein sof. He therefore had to retract the light to the sides, and from this retraction an empty void was formed. It was in this empty void that he created time and space, and this was the creation of the world. This empty void was necessary for creation, since without it there would be no space for the world. Yet this [concept of] retraction to form the empty void is impossible to comprehend in our time, only at the end of days, since it entails a paradox of two opposites: presence and absence. Since He retracted His divine nature from the void, it is as if there is no divinity there, otherwise it could not be empty, and it would just be complete ein sof with no room for the world. But the deeper truth is that nonetheless, there certainly is divinity even there, because nothing exists without His vitality. As such, [the concept of] the empty void is incomprehensible until future time.

(2) Ben Azai says: Run to do an easy commandment as to a difficult one, and flee from sin; since a commandment leads to another commandment, and a sin leads to another sin; since the reward for a commandment is another commandment, and the reward for a sin is another sin.

[Moses] said before Him, "Master of the Universe! You have shown me [Akiva's] Torah; show me his reward." He said to him, "Turn backwards." He turned backwards, and saw his flesh being weighed in a butcher shop. He said before Him, "Master of the Universe! Such Torah, and such reward!" He said to him, "Be silent. This is what I have decided."

Yet Israel, by virtue of their faith, transcend all kinds of wisdom, and even over the heresy of the void, and don't engage in any kind of inquiry or wisdom, but have complete faith in the Holy One, who "fills all the worlds and surrounds all the worlds." (Ra'aya Meheimana 225).