God’s instructions to Noah for the building of the ark are reminiscent – in their detail and specificity and in their tone of command – of the instructions given to Moshe for the construction of the Tabernacle and its accouterment. In both, God makes it clear that there is a precise way to do this very important divinely ordained project.
Both feature an “ark” (though the Hebrew words are not the same) that must be made of a specific type of wood and plastered inside and out with a certain covering substance, to honor and preserve what is being carried and transported, in one, the Tablets and the Divine Presence hovering above them, and in the other, the living beings of God’s creation.
The implication of this parallel is that saving one’s own self – aseh likha tevah, “make for yourself an ark,” God says – is equivalent to creating a place on earth for the Divine Presence to dwell. Indeed, these two projects are, in some respects, one and the same. We save ourselves from the emotional storms that sometimes threaten to annihilate us, we create for ourselves havens of sanity and rest and peace, precisely because we are – and are ever becoming more so – a residence for God on earth. Ashe likha tevah. Make for your own Self, your own soul, a place of refuge, and what you are doing is making room for God on earth. This is sacred, commanded work.
Photo by Ono Kosuki at Pexels
‘The implication of this parallel is that saving one’s own self – aseh likha tevah, “make for yourself an ark,” God says – is equivalent to creating a place on earth for the Divine Presence to dwell.”
What a profound and succinct sentence!