This week, we read a double Parsha: Behar-Bechukotai—and it’s the second parsha, Bechukotai, that is very special. Not only because it’s my Bar Mitzvah Parsha, but also because it brings Sefer Vayikra to a dramatic and meaningful close. Among the blessings promised for following Hashem’s mitzvot, we find a deeply emotional promise:
“וְנָתַתִּי מִשְׁכָּנִי בְּתוֹכְכֶם”
“And I will place My Mishkan among you.”
Vayikra 26:11
On the surface, this verse promises closeness—Hashem will dwell among us. But the Zohar adds a deeper, more mysterious layer. It teaches that even when the Jewish people are exiled, Hashem’s Shechinah—His Divine Presence—goes into exile with us. The Mishkan is not just a memory of the past; it becomes a משכון—a pledge or collateral—that Hashem entrusts to us.
This wordplay is striking:
משכני—My Mishkan
—is also a משכון—a deposit held as a guarantee.
Hashem is saying: Even in galut (diaspora), I give you My presence as a pledge, as proof that I have not abandoned you—and that I will one day return to claim it.
When someone gives a “mashkon” it means they’re committed to coming back for it. The very fact that Hashem gives us His Mishkan as a mashkon is a promise of redemption. It’s as if He’s saying: I am with you now in exile, but I will surely return with you in Geulah (redemption).
This interpretation gives us great strength. Even when we feel distant, even when we experience loss, Hashem’s presence has never truly left. We are holding something sacred in trust—a divine collateral that guarantees a future of reconnection and rebuilding.
As we close Sefer Vayikra with these hopeful words, may we recognize the holiness we still carry, and may we soon return the Mashkon – משכון—to the Mishkan—to its proper home in Yerushalayim.
Shabbat Shalom!
Elisha Guberman and the JET Team
