G-d told Moses “You must have them make (the Altar) a hollow structure.”(Shemot 27:8)
We are taught that G-d created Adam out of the earth located at the future site of the Altar,which was filled with earth. This indicates that the possibility for Teshuvah is an intrinsic aspect of humanity. “Adam,” the first human being,means earth. Metaphorically just as humanity was formed from Altar-earth, the Altar in the Tabernacle and later in the Temples was constructed out of the very humanity it was built to atone for.
When Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the Garden of Eden, the Torah says that he was sent “ to work the earth from which he has taken.”(Yerushalmi Nazir 7:2)
We use the earth to cultivate the food that give us the energy to live, to produce the clothes that protect our bodies, and to build the homes that shelter us from harm. When we do all this in order to devote ourselves to our Divine mission, we elevate the earth and this is how we restore the world’s lost harmony and return to the Garden of Eden.
Everything begins within.
Taken from “Chayenu” daily Parashah Insight
#shabbatshalom
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