This is interesting to me; that the vessel of the Torah is made of wood covered in gold. The lid; or the piece that keeps the Torah inside is made of pure gold; not wood covered in gold. What does that say about us? Our vessels are earthly – we are made from acacia wood. But what keeps the Torah inside of us is pure gold. Interesting.

On the ends of the lid of the ark we’re two cherubim; children. This, to me, relates to how we connect with the Torah- as a child; pure and full of wonder.

Then, Hashem tells Moses to put the Tablets of Testimony inside the ark.

Then Hashem tells Moses this will be where He meets with Moses; Hashem will speak from between the two cherubim. The faces of the cherubim looking at each other is where Hashem resides.

I wonder if this is connected to the study of Torah. It’s something for one person to engage with Torah with childlike wonder. But when two of us study (or more) we hear from Hashem!

After we are done with instructions for the ark, we learn about the table near the ark. Again, made of acacia wood, coated with pure gold. Then there were four rings attached so that poles could be inserted to carry it.

All the tools for the table were made of pure gold and the poles to carry the table were made of acacia wood covered in gold.

On this table was “multi surface bread” that was to be kept at all times.

The Mishnah tells us this signifies the importance of people sitting together, eating, and discussing Torah. It’s as if “they have eaten from the table of God.”

Wow. That’s something to literally chew on! What are your thoughts?