“And it shall come to pass that the place where the Lord your God chooses for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hands, and all your choice vows, which you will vow to the Lord” (Deuteronomy 12:11).

We should ask about this: Since the Torah is eternal, what is the place where the Lord has chosen for His name to dwell today? We should also ask what this place that the Lord has chosen means, since “I fill the heaven and the earth.”

A blind man asked Rabbi Meir that question (Beresheet Rabbah, Portion No. 4). He said to him, “Is it possible that it is written about it, ‘I fill the heaven and the earth?’ He was speaking with Moses from between the two curtains of the ark. He said to him, ‘Bring me big mirrors.’ He replied, ‘See Your image in them.’ He saw it big. ‘Bring small mirrors.’ He said to him, ‘See your image in them.’ He saw it small.

“He said to him, ‘As you, who is flesh and blood, change yourself however you want, he who said, ‘Let there be the world’ is much more so. When He wants, ‘I fill the heaven and the earth.’ And when He wants, He speaks with Moses from between the two curtains of the ark.’”

We should understand the answer in this allegory, for it seems as though the allegory does not fit the lesson. The image in the mirror is something outside of him. But in the person himself, of course he has a size: He is either big or small.

The thing is that “The place where the Lord will choose” means bestowal in mind and heart. “There you shall bring” means the whole Mitzva [commandment], for one must bring the Mitzvot [commandments] and good deeds that one has. Conversely, in the rest of the place, the Creator is not present, meaning that there is no revelation. This is specifically from between the two curtains of the ark.

The “two curtains of the ark” are regarded as love and fear, which is “do” and “do not do” as in “I” and “You shall not have.” Specifically on those two, the Shechina [Divinity], who is called “ark,” was revealed.

This is “the ark carries its carriers,” meaning that a person does not receive the face of the Shechina unless the Shechina brings the person closer, and then he can do everything in bestowal.

The meaning of the mirror is the revelation of the Creator, which is called “in sight, and not in riddles.”