Illustration credit: Rivka Tsinman
Prayer in the Parashah תְּפִלָּה
In the 17th blessing of the Amidah, we make this request:
הָשֵׁב אֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה לִדְבִיר בֵּיתֶֽךָ.
Bring the avodah (Temple rituals) back to the devir of Your home.
What’s the devir?
It’s the holiest part of the בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ (Beit Ha-Mikdash, Temple in Jerusalem). The אָרוֹן (aron, ark), which was originally part of the mishkan, was eventually housed in the devir.
Some midrashim connect the word “devir” to the שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh, root) ד.ב.ר, which means “to speak” (Midrash Tehillim 30:1). The idea is that the devir is a place for communication from God.
Our parashah also describes the aron this way:
וְנוֹעַדְתִּי לְךָ שָׁם וְדִבַּרְתִּי אִתְּךָ מֵעַל הַכַּפֹּרֶת מִבֵּין שְׁנֵי הַכְּרֻבִים אֲשֶׁר עַל אֲרוֹן הָעֵדֻת…
I (God) will meet with you there, and I will speak with you from above the kaporet (cover), from between the two keruvim that are on top of the aron…
When we ask to return to God’s devir, we might be expressing a wish to be in a time or place where we can experience what it’s like to communicate directly with God.
- Try it out! Next time you are saying the Amidah and you get to this line about the devir, think about communicating with God. What do you wish to hear, or know, from God? What would you like to ask or say?
- What would it be like to live in a world where you could hear God’s voice directly?
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