The inside of the Tabernacle was divided by a curtain into an outer chamber (which is described as being “holy”) and an inner chamber (or “Holy of Holies”).
Transcending the Intellect
וְהִבְדִּילָה הַפָּרֹכֶת לָכֶם בֵּין הַקֹּדֶשׁ וּבֵין קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים: (שמות כו:לג)
The Curtain will separate for you between the Holy and the Holy of Holies. Exodus 26:33

The outer chamber of the Tabernacle contained three furnishings: the Candelabrum, the Table of twelve loaves (both of which are discussed in this section of the Torah), and the incense Altar (which is discussed in the next section). The Holy of Holies, in contrast, contained only one furnishing: the Ark of the Covenant.

The two chambers of the Tabernacle signify the two stages of achieving Divine consciousness. In the Tabernacle’s outer chamber, we begin to orient our consciousness toward Divinity by focusing our intellect on G‑d. This is why there were three furnishings in the outer chamber; they signify the three components of the intellect: the ability to gain insight (chochmah, in Hebrew), the ability to comprehend (binah) the meaning of that insight, and the ability to make what we comprehend relevant to our own lives (da’at).

Once we arrive at an intellectual consciousness of G‑d, we can proceed to the next level, supra-rational consciousness of Him. This is the consciousness of the inner chamber and the Ark contained within it. At this level, not only our intellect but our entire being is engulfed in Divine consciousness.1