Rabbi Mordechai Greenberg - Shabbat Bi-shaabato Teruma 5773
"Make the Tabernacle out of ten curtains of twisted linen..." [Shemot 26:1]. The length of each curtain was twenty-eight Amot and the width was four Amot. "Five curtains should be attached to one another" [26:3]. Rashi explains that the curtains should be sown in two sets of five each. The two large cloths that were thus formed were then joined together by hooks and loops. One may ask about the point of this division. If what was needed was to have one piece of cloth forty Amot long, all ten curtains should have been sown together, and if it was necessary to have two separate pieces of cloth, why were they attached with hooks?
Sforno implies that since the two halves of the cloth were attached with the hooks at the line of contact between the holy area and the Holy of Holies, they are meant to show us that while the two areas in the Tabernacle are at different levels of sanctity, they are not to be separated. Covering the entire roof with a single cloth would have meant that there is no difference between the holy area and the Holy of Holies. On the other hand, using two separate cloths to cover the Tabernacle would have meant that the two levels of holiness are completely separate and opposite to each other. So the two pieces were neither sown together nor left kept separate but were attached with hooks and loops.
We can learn a lesson from this – there is a difference between the holy and the secular levels, but they are not completely separate. There is mutual contact between them, and they cannot exist totally separate from each other, in the same way that the body and the soul depend on each other's existence.
We must take this idea into account now that we are rebuilding our national life. While it is true that the author of "Chemdat Halevavot" wrote that "the more the physical settlement increases, the greater will be the destruction of the intellect," the Chatam Sofer explained that this refers to the situation outside of Eretz Yisrael. Within our land, everything that is built is within the framework of a mitzva and preparation for holiness. What is needed is to know the proper proportion. As is written, "The Holy One, Blessed be He, took hold of Yeravam by his cloak and said to him, 'Repent, and I, you, and the son of Yishai will walk together in the Garden of Eden' (Yeravam would be involved in secular matters, and David would be involved in holiness). But when Yeravam asked, 'Who will be in front?' the answer was, 'The son of Yishai will lead.'" [Yalkut Shimoni Melachim I, 202]. That is, the secular will serve as a basis for the holy.
As Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook said, "Differentiation is not separation." I heard him say that one time when he was on a ship he met the poet Chernikhovshy, who asked if he wanted to hear a new poem that he had written. After he read the poem, Chernikhovsky noted that Rav Kook had listen with rapt attention, and that he was surprised that a rabbi was so interested in a nonreligious poem. Rav Kook replied that many of the poets in the nation wrote secular poetry, and that the holy and the secular are not disconnected from each other. Separation exists only between the holy and the impure, and ritually impure material cannot enter the Temple (and Rav Kook took this opportunity to criticize poems Chernikhovsky had written that included impure ideas).
