Between the Poles

 

  

Introduction

 

            Thus far, we have discussed several aspects of the ark, the kaporet, and the keruvim. In this shiur, I wish to examine the essence and significance of the area between the two poles.

 

            As we know, the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies four times each Yom Kippur:[1]

 

1. To burn the incense and to leave there the incense-ladle and the fire-pan.

 

2. To sprinkle the blood of the bullock.

 

3. To sprinkle the blood of the goat.

 

4. To remove the incense-ladle and the fire-pan.

 

            How did the High Priest enter the Holy of Holies? Was there a special way in which he entered? Let us consider this question by examining the actions that the High Priest performed each time he entered.

 

The Incense – leaving the Incense-Ladle and Fire-Pan

 

            In its account of the service of the burning of the incense on Yom Kippur, the Torah says:

 

And he shall take a fire-pan full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it inside the parokhet. And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud of the incense may cover the kaporet that is upon the testimony, that he die not. (Vayikra 16:12-13)

 

            These verses establish that the incense is brought inside the parokhet before the Lord[2] – that is, before the ark. The precise location, according to Chazal, is between the poles of the ark. It is clear in this case that the reference is to the area to the east of the ark, between the parokhet and the ark itself.

 

            This area of the Holy of Holies is the one into which the High Priest may enter on Yom Kippur – from the parokhet on the east to the ark that lies inside it, as delineated by the poles. There is no indication as to how close he may come to the ark, but the assumption is that the area under discussion is adjacent to the ark.

 

            The mishna in Yoma deals with this issue in detail:

 

The outer curtain was held back by a clasp on the south side and the inner curtain on the north side. He walked along between them until he reached the north side. When he reached the north side, he turned around to the south and went on along the curtain to his left, until he reached the ark. When he reached the ark, he put the pan of burning coals between the two poles. (Yoma 5:3)

 

            It may be recalled that the ark lies on an east-west axis, and the poles of the ark, found in the rings of the ark, also lie on that same axis. The gemara in Yoma 54a describes how the poles protruded against the parokhet like a woman's breasts. It follows that when the mishna says that after the priest reached the north side, he turned around and walked south, it means that he walked to the left along the parokhet until he reached the ark.

 

            The Yerushalmi in Yoma (5:2) states that when the priest entered the Holy of Holies, he would push aside the curtains of the parokhet with his elbows so as not to set them on fire with the coals in the fire-pan.[3] It is reasonable to assume that when he reached the northern pole that jutted out to the parokhet, he moved the parokhet slightly eastward and entered the area between the poles while looking to the west, towards the ark (as the Meiri writes, ad loc.).

 

            Which period are we talking about? The gemara attempts to clarify this point, noting that during the First Temple period, there were no curtains between the Holy and the Holy of Holies, but rather two cedar-covered partitions, with a vacant space between them, occupying the space of one cubit. During the Second Temple period, there was no ark! The gemara concludes that we are talking about the Second Temple period; when the mishna speaks of reaching the ark, it refers to the place of the ark. When the mishna says, "He put the pan of burning coals between the two poles," it means, "as if it were between the two poles." As Rashi explains: "As if it were between the two poles – as if there were poles there and he put it between them." In other words, the High Priest behaved as if there were poles there and set the fire-pan down on the spot that would once have been between the poles.

 

            As for the actual place of entry during the Second Temple period, when there was no longer an ark, the mishna states:

 

After the ark had been taken away, there was a stone from the days of the earlier prophets, called the shetiya, three fingers above the ground, on which he would place [the pan of burning coals]. (ibid., mishna 4)

 

            As long as the First Temple was standing, the incense-ladle and the fire-pan were placed to the east of the ark. During the Second Temple period, when there was no ark, they were placed on the spot where the ark had once stood – in other words, to the west of the spot where they were placed during the First Temple period.

 

            It might be that the stone jutted out to the east of the edge of the ark and that part of it reached the area "between the poles." The midrash says as follows:

 

The ark stood in the middle of the Heikhal, and the shetiya stone was before the ark, and from it the world was founded (nishtat). (Tanchuma, Parashat Kedoshim 10)

 

According to the midrash, the shetiya stone was before the ark – not below the ark, but in front of it. It is thus possible that during the First Temple period, the incense-ladle and the fire-pan were set on the eastern portion of the stone, which protruded to the east of the ark, between the poles, whereas during the Second Temple period, they were placed on the more western part of the stone, the place where the ark itself once stood.

 

The sprinkling of the blood of the Bullock and the blood of the goat

 

            Following the burning of the incense on Yom Kippur, the High Priest once again entered the Holy of Holies in order to sprinkle the blood of the bullock and then entered yet another time to sprinkle the blood of the goat. The Torah states as follows:

 

And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the kaporet eastward; and before the kaporet shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring its blood within the parokhet, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the kaporet and before the kaporet. (Vayikra 16:14-15)

 

            As opposed to the incense, which is placed before the Lord, the blood of the bullock and the goat was sprinkled upon the kaporet eastward and before the kaporet.

 

            The mishna describes the sprinkling of the blood:

 

He would take the blood from the one who was stirring it and enter [again] into the place where he had entered, and stand [again] on the place on which he had stood, and sprinkle thereof once upwards and seven times downwards. (Yoma 5:3)

 

Rashi explains that the mishna means that the priest was to stand between the two poles and sprinkle the blood toward the kaporet and before it.

 

            As for the precise location of the sprinkling, the gemara says:

 

It was taught: As he sprinkled, he did so not upon the kaporet, but against its thickness.

 

In other words, the blood did not fall on the ark, but on the ground in front of the ark.

 

            It would seem that according to the plain sense of the verses, the blood must actually fall "upon the kaporet," and also "before the kaporet" – that is, on the ground in front of the ark. In light of this, the Rambam rules:

 

First, he sprinkles the blood of the bullock eight times in the Holy of Holies between the poles of the ark within a handbreadth of the kaporet, as it is stated: "And before the kaporet shall he sprinkle…" Afterwards, he would sprinkle the blood of the goat between the poles of the ark… He then goes and sprinkles the blood of the bull eight times in the Heikhal on the parokhet… He then sprinkles the blood of the goat eight times on the parokhet. (Hilkhot Avodat Yom Ha-Kippurim 3:5)

 

            The source of the Rambam's ruling that the sprinkling should be within a handbreadth of the kaporet is Rabbeinu Chananel's reading in the gemara: "As he sprinkled, he did so not upon the kaporet, but against the handbreadth of the kaporet." The gemara there discusses at length the relationship between the blood of the goat and the blood of the bullock and between the sprinklings above and the sprinklings below and reaches this conclusion.[4]

 

            Where precisely did the High Priest stand? The mishna in Zevachim says:

 

The slaughtering of the bullock and the goat of Yom Kippur is [done] at the north, and the reception of their blood is [performed] with service vessels at the north, and their blood requires sprinkling between the poles [of the ark], on the parokhet¸ and on the golden altar. [The omission of] a single application of these invalidates [the ceremony]. The residue of the blood, he [the priest] poured out on the western base of the outer altar, but if he did not pour it out, he did not invalidate [the sacrifice]. (Zevachim 5:1)

 

Rashi explains:

 

He stood between the two poles of the ark and sprinkled once upwards and seven times downwards against the thickness of the kaporet, and it would not touch it. (Zevachim 47a, s.v. hazaya)

 

            We see, then, that the area between the two poles of the ark was used in the Yom Kippur service in two ways:

 

1. During the First Temple period, the incense, the incense-ladle, and the fire-pan would be set before the ark between the two poles; during the Second Temple period, they would be set on the site of the ark and the area between the two poles on the shetiya stone.

 

2) The blood of the bullock and of the goat would be sprinkled between the poles in the handbreadth closest to the kaporet, before the kaporet and to its east.

 

            These uses are mentioned in the verses in Parashat Acharei Mot and they are explained in detail by Chazal in tractates Yoma and Zevachim, as we have seen.

 

All of Israel at the crossing of the Jordan

 

            The area between the poles of the ark is mentioned in another source – a midrash dealing with Israel's crossing of the Jordan River. In the context of Israel's preparation for that crossing, the Israelites are commanded that there must be a space of about two thousand cubits between them and the ark. They are commanded to sanctify themselves, and the priests who bear the ark of the covenant before the nation are commanded to stand in place in the Jordan River when the Israelites come to the brink of the river:

 

And Yehoshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” And Yehoshua said, “Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaani, and the Chiti, and the Chivi, and the Perizi, and the Girgashi, and the Emori, and the Yevusi.” (Yehoshua 3:9-10)

 

            The midrash cites three views concerning the meaning of the words, "Come here":

 

This is one of the places where a small area contained many people. This is like: "And Yehoshua said to the children of Israel, ‘Come here.’" R. Huna said: He stood them upright between the two poles of the ark. R. Chama bar Chanina said: He put them between the two poles of the ark. And Rava said: He squeezed them in between the two poles of the ark. This is what is written: "And Yehoshua said, ‘Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you.’" He said to them: Since the two poles of the ark contained you, I know that His Shekhina is between you. So too in the Mikdash, as we have learned: "They stood pressed together, yet prostrated themselves [with] wide spaces [between them]." (Vayikra Rabba 10:9)

 

            The three Amoraim agree that all of Israel entered into the space between the poles of the ark; they disagree only about the manner in which this was accomplished. Were they stood upright, placed, or squeezed into that space?

 

            According to the midrash, Yehoshua turns to the people and says: "Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you – he said to them: Since the two poles of the ark contained you, I know that His Shekhina is between you." In other words, gathering all of Israel so close to the ark and between its poles[5] demonstrates more than anything else God's presence among the children of Israel, and thereby Israel will know that the living God is among them.

 

            According to this, the objective of this event at the time of Israel's entry into the land was to teach the people that God oversees them, is found among them, and directs their actions. This is expressed in the fact that all the people of Israel were contained within the two poles of the ark. Interestingly, the midrash connects this to what regularly took place in the Temple - that the people stood pressed together, yet prostrated themselves with wide spaces between them (based on the mishna in Avot 8:5).

 

On the one hand, there is no place more physically delineated than the site of the creation of the world. According to Chazal, this was found in the Holy of Holies at the shetiya stone, upon which rested the ark during the First Temple period until it was hidden away in the days of Yoshiyahu. It is from this stone that the creation spread out.

 

            On the other hand, there is no place in the world more spiritual than the Holy of Holies, which is set apart from all physicality and whose vessels are not used for any service whatsoever. It is not by chance that Chazal expressed this through their accounts of various miracles that set apart that place and the vessels found in it from all materiality. We are thus told that the ark did not take up any space in the Holy of Holies and that it bore those who bore it. We are similarly told that those who stood in the Temple courtyard stood pressed together, yet prostrated themselves with wide spaces between them. These statements teach that the place in its entirety, with all its materiality, is a place where spirituality reveals itself through materiality.[6]

 

            Formulated differently, the Shekhina rests in this place beyond the limitations of time and space. When the people of Israel entered the Land of Israel, they entered, as it were, between the poles of the ark, thereby intimating that even though they were transitioning from the wilderness to the civilized world, from God's direct providence to mundane governance, the Shekhina would still be with them.

 

            This taught them that even as they were entering the material dimension of earthly life in Eretz Yisrael, the people of Israel were to relate to such life as to the Mikdash, whose earthly dimension was merely a foundation for the resting of the Shekhina. For this reason, when they entered the land, all of Israel was gathered in between the poles of the ark.[7]

 

            Not only is there no contradiction between the material and spiritual dimensions, but they complement each other. Accordingly, even if the physical place is unable to contain all of Israel, it expresses a spiritual reality connected to it.

 

The two poles as the site of the resting of the shekhina

 

            Several sources describe the resting of the Shekhina in the Mishkan between the poles of the ark. Thus, for example:

 

Before the Mikdash was built, the Shekhina was located between the two poles of the ark. (Midrash Shir Ha-shirim Rabba 1:68)

 

            The Vilna Gaon writes as follows:

 

This means: Afterwards, when they made the Mishkan, the Shekhina descended into the world. For at first, when the Torah was given, even though it descended, it was only in the sky that was over Mount Sinai. But in the Mishkan, it descended into the world and rested among Israel between the poles of the ark, which were similar to the breasts of a woman. This is, "That lies between my breasts" – but not permanently. (Shir Ha-shirim 1:14, s.v. tzeror ha-mor)

 

            The Vilna Gaon describes several stages in the resting of the Shekhina:

 

1) When the Torah was given, the Shekhina hovered in the sky over Mount Sinai.

 

2) In the Mishkan, it was among Israel – between the poles of the ark.

 

            Between the poles of the ark means among the people of Israel. This is very understandable in light of the midrash cited earlier in connection with the crossing of the Jordan in the days of Yehoshua. In any event, even according to the Gaon, the reference is to the Mishkan.

 

Between the Poles – opposite the tablets and the book of the TOrah

 

            The Si'ach Sadeh writes in a homily on Parashat Teruma:

 

The main resting of the Shekhina was in the Holy of Holies between the two poles of the ark, where there were the two tablets written by the finger of God. For the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are one, as the Torah is the very will of the blessed One, and He and His will are one.

 

            The Meshekh Chokhma (Devarim 8:10), on the other hand, writes:

 

For the dwelling place of God (blessed be He) is the Torah, as [the Sages] have said: He confined them between the two poles of the ark to show that the soul of Israel is included in the holy Torah, and that when they are connected to the testimony, He rests His Shekhina upon all of them and appears to them in its light.

 

            These two commentators draw a direct connection between the area between the poles and the Torah. The Si'ach Sadeh connects the area between the poles to the tablets written by the finger of God, as the Torah is identical, as it were, with God. The Torah represents the very will of God, and there is a full identity between God and His will that reveals itself in the Torah. The Meshekh Chokhma, on the other hand, emphasizes the close relationship between Israel and the Torah. The soul of Israel is included in the Torah, and when they are connected to the testimony, the Shekhina rests upon them.

 

            Going beyond what these two commentators have suggested, I wish to propose that the resting of the Shekhina between the two poles of the ark has additional symbolic meaning.

 

            In previous shiurim, we discussed the relationship between the tablets and the book of the Torah that rested in the ark, which constituted the Written Law with all that it signifies, and the Divine revelation to Moshe from between the two keruvim, which constituted the Oral Law.

 

            It is commonly accepted that the Shekhina rested between the two keruvim, the site of God's speaking and revelation.

 

            Perhaps it is possible to suggest that according to the sources mentioned above, there is also a resting of the Shekhina that corresponds to the tablets and the ark, which constitute the Written Law.

 

            According to this suggestion, the resting of the Shekhina is expressed in the voice of God, which was heard by Moshe from between the two keruvim, whereas opposite the tablets and the Torah, the Shekhina rested between the poles of the ark, parallel to what was taking place between the two keruvim.

 

            The midrash says:

 

"That lies between my breasts" - this is the Shekhina that was set between the two keruvim. (Shir Ha-shirim Zuta 1:3)

 

The midrash does not mention the poles, but it would seem that the words "that lies between my breasts" alludes to the two poles, in which case an identification is being made here between the resting of the Shekhina between the two poles and the resting of the Shekhina between the two keruvim. We have suggested that the two are not identical, but rather they express two parallel phenomena. There is no detailed explanation as to how in a practical sense the Shekhina rested between the poles (as opposed to the revelation from between the two keruvim, which is spelled out in the Torah), but there is still room to suggest that the Shekhina rested in two parallel ways.

 

(Translated by David Strauss)

 

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