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Torah Portion -
Beshalach
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Written by d fine
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There’s a key line that Bnei Yisrael sang in the shirah after they crossed the Yam Suf; ‘ze keli ve’anveihu’ (5:2). The Targum translates this as ‘this is my God and I will build Him a Mikdash.’ Now why were the Bnei Yisrael suddenly committing to building a Beis HaMikdash at this point - did they not have enough miracles to sing about? The answer is given based on a Ramban in Shir HaShirim. The Ramban writes (based on Shir HaShirim 2:7) that in order to keep inspiration alive one must make a kli (physical vessel) for it before it flows away. In other words, in order to convert the inspiration from a transient experience to a life-affecting event, one must ground this inspiration by taking on a consistent spiritual practice to keep the inspiration expressing itself. Thus, Bnei Yisrael knew that they were experiencing earth-moving (sea-splitting) miracles and inspiration, but they wanted to make sure that they made it all part of them by making a physical vessel; a project to put their inspiration into - to build a Mikdash.
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