La sección de ésta semana se llama Shminí – el octavo [día]. Después de que Betzalel y Oholihav construyeron, junto con todos aquellos que deseaban ayudar y con los materiales donados por todo el pueblo, el Mishkán – el santuario móvil en el desierto, Moshé lo armó y desarmó durante siete días, enseñándole a Aharón y sus hijos cómo debían trabajar en el mismo.
At the beginning of the month of Nisan, on the eighth day since Moses had built the sanctuary, Moses erected it and did not dismantle it again (until it was necessary to travel from that place).
On that day, Moses summoned all the Jewish people to gather before the entrance to the sanctuary and witness how God Himself had chosen Aaron to be the High Priest (Kohen Gadol). After following the detailed divine instructions on how the inaugural sacrifices should be offered, fire appeared from heaven and consumed the sacrifices on the altar before the eyes of the assembled people, until they sang and prostrated themselves before the magnificent vision.
A pesar de tratarse de un relato casi anecdótico, histórico, de algo que nunca va a ocurrir de nuevo, ya que las circunstancias y los participantes ya no volverán a repetirse, debemos extraer alguna enseñanza para nuestras vidas hoy en día en cada lugar en donde nos encontramos. Esto surge que la palabra Torá viene de la palabra hebrea horaá – enseñanza, de manera que todos los asuntos de la Torá son enseñanzas eternas.
La construcción del santuario puede entenderse de la siguiente manera: Di-s dice «Y construirán un santuario para mí y moraré dentro de ellos», sobre lo que nuestros sabios explican que cada persona debe hacer de sí mismo un santuario para que la presencia divina resida dentro de él. Y para poder realizar esta construcción en el corazón de cada uno, hay encargados, líderes comunitarios que aceptan sobre sus hombros la dirección y guía (obviamente basados en el mandato divino) de tal edificio santo. Ellos son los Betzalel y Oholihav de cada generación, que dan de su tiempo y sabiduría para llevar a la realidad el santuario divino. En otras palabras, personas desinteresadas que dedican parte de su vida (sino toda su vida) al beneficio de los demás, para generar los espacios adecuados, los medios y los contenidos necesarios para nutrir a la comunidad de idishkait – auténtico judaísmo.
Returning to the parashah, it was not enough for God that those in charge had built the space following the divine teachings to the letter, it was not enough that Moses had worked for seven days in that space (the sanctuary), it was not enough that Aaron had offered all the sacrifices with all the extensive details that appear in the Torah about how he should do it, but He wanted the people to see His presence with their own eyes, to be able to feel, as much as Moses, Aaron and the other leaders, that what was happening was right, good and desired by God.
This teaches us a very important lesson: it is true that community leaders strive to move the community forward, that each one gives their best, whether in economic terms, professional knowledge, labor, or goodwill, but God's blessing is found only when His teachings are followed. How do we see this? The people only saw the divine presence after the divine requirements were followed to the letter. Only then did they accept Aaron's leadership as High Priest and his sons' leadership as a priestly family. In other words, only when community leaders build a community according to the teachings of the Torah will the people follow those leaders and fill the spaces they create.
Such is the blessing of God when His teachings are followed that even in the desert, that is, even in the most inhospitable places on earth for Judaism, in exile and darkness, a sanctuary can be built, a place where the divine presence is revealed in a concrete and material form, to give blessing to both the people and their leaders.