A vort from the Rebbe on this week's parsha, Parshas Pekudei. At the end of Parshas Pekudei, the Torah talks about the traveling of the Mishkan. After the pasuk says that the ענן, the cloud which represented the kavod of Hashem, the glory of Hashem, rested on the Mishkan, and this was the גילוי אלקות, everyone knew that the Shechinah is there and they were able to feel and see the Shechinah there, the Torah continues and talks about the traveling of the Mishkan, that when the cloud went away, that means the glory of Hashem went away, they knew the time to travel, and the Mishkan traveled. And the Rebbe asks the question, what's the connection? In the parsha that deals with the building of the Mishkan, why would it finish itself, finish off with the time when the Mishkan traveled? The whole parsha talks about the building of the Mishkan, they put up the Mishkan, the Shechinah came there, the ענן represented the Shechinah, and then it says that they traveled and the Shechinah went away and they traveled. Why is it mentioned in the parsha where it talks about the building of the Mishkan, a time when the Mishkan was traveling? Especially that the pasuk before says that the ענן covered the Mishkan, and Moshe Rabbeinu couldn't even go in.

And it says in Midrash that this is the connection to the beginning of the next parsha of Parshas Vayikra. In Vayikra, it says Hashem called Moshe. So the Midrash says, because the parsha says here, the pasuk says that Moshe couldn't enter because the ענן was there, the cloud was there, the שכינה, משה couldn't enter, that's why it continues the only way he was able to go in when Hashem called him. So we see there's a connection with the pesukim before the traveling. And what the Torah does, after that pasuk where it says that Moshe couldn't go in, and that's going to be the connection to Parashat Vayikra, the Torah puts in a few more pesukim, talks about the time when the Mishkan traveled, when the Shechinah left, the anan went up and they traveled. So obviously, it's very important that we should know, when it talks about the Mishkan, that we finish off with the idea that the cloud would sometimes go up, and then the Mishkan traveled. What's the connection? What is it telling us?

So the Rebbe says like this: We all know that the purpose of building the Mishkan is the Eibershter wanted דירה בתחתונים, he wanted a dwelling place in this low world. Not only like pashut pashut, he wanted a building, so to speak, where he would be able to live, so to speak, but it means the Eibershter wanted we should bring Godliness into תחתונים, into the very low world. Now the Mishkan, there were two positions of the Mishkan: There was time when the Mishkan stood in one place, and the cloud of Hashem, which is the glory of Hashem, the Shechinah was there. And then there was a situation, the position when the Mishkan traveled. When did the Mishkan travel? When the anan, the cloud went up, means that the Shechinah that was there always, left, and then they traveled, and when they stopped it came back. But the position when they traveled, the anan left, which means the גילוי השכינה left. That's another position of the Mishkan. Now these two positions, the Rebbe says, represents two periods bay Yidden. There were period of גילוי אלקות, we had the Beit Hamikdash, we had all the revelations of Hashem. Then there was a time there is no revelation of Hashem, we have no Beit Hamikdash, and there's the גלות, and there is concealment of Godliness. So the the position of the Mishkan, when it stood in one place and there was the cloud was on it, that was גילוי אלקות, that's the represents the time when there's גילוי אלקות. When the Mishkan traveled and the Shechinah left, העלות הענן, the anan went up and left, that's a time when there's concealment of Godliness. But the tachlit of the mishkan is for both. The tachlit of the mishkan is that when there's גילוי אלקות you should have the גילוי אלקות in the mishkan, but the purpose, the goal of the mishkan is to give us a koach that even when there is no גילוי אלקות, we should also be able to bring down Elokus through our עבודת השם, through Torah and mitzvot. And that's why the end parashah of building the mishkan, it tells us there will be a time that there will be נעלה הענן, the anan goes away, the גילוי אלקות is not there, but that is part of the mitzvah of making the mishkan. Making the mishkan is not only for the time when there is גילוי אלקות, the mishkan has this inyan in it, this goal, to give a koach that we should be able to serve Hashem and bring Elokus even when there is no גילוי אלקות. That's why the end of the parashah, where the end always tells you the top, the end end goal, the end goal of the building the mishkan is this idea, that when there's a time ונעלה הענן, the anan goes away, that's part of what the mishkan accomplishes, it gives us a koach that we shouldn't get nifal, and even though there is no גילוי אלקות in the world, we have the ability of bring down Elokus and make a דירה לו יתברך בתחתונים, in the real tachtonim. Tachtonim means when there is a low level, when there is a lack of גילוי אלקות, and we're able to bring Elokus there also.