Why was the Ark of the covenant, the Aron Habris, made of wood covered with gold, whereas other things were solid gold?
ANSWER:
One of the symbols our sages tell us is, that the Mishkan symbolized organs of the body; the whole Mishkan was like a body. Outside on the roof you had oros techashim, (animal hide) it's like the skin of the body, and the pillars of wood, the keroshim were like ribs, and there was a separation between the Heichel and the Kodesh Hakodoshim, like there's a diaphragm in human beings between one part of the body and the other part of the body. The heart was symbolized by the Aron Habris, that's the heart.
Now, we are commanded to make a wooden ark, but we must cover it with gold inside and out. Which means, that the heart is a human heart but it's our job to put gold on the inside of the heart - that's not what I say, it's what meforshim say - and gold on the outside. Gold on the inside means, he must be genuine, he must have true ideas in his heart, he has to cover the inside of his mind with the truths of the Torah, that's gold. The outside he has to cover with perfect behavior, that's outside, it should be tocho k'baro and also baro k'tocho. And the wood is something that should be perishable but because it's protected by gold it'll last forever.
Therefore the human soul, when it's coated mibayis umeichutz with zahav, it becomes eternal and will last forever.
Good Shabbos To All
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures.
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
Important Numbers
