[After. From the brief unauthenticated notes made by one of those present. the morning prayers,1 the Rebbe said to a bridegroom2 who had been called to the Reading of the Torah in preparation for his wedding a few days later:] This week’s Torah reading speaks of the offerings contributed for the construction of the Mishkan — gold, silver, copper, and so on.3 True, these are physical things, but through them a sanctuary was built as an abode for the Divine Presence,4 “so that I may dwell among them.”5

The same is true in the life of every individual Jew. When one is building a Jewish home that is to become “an everlasting edifice,”. In the original, binyan adei ad; from the Seven Blessings recited at the chuppah and during the following seven days of celebration (Siddur, p. 98). one must take physical materials and transform them into a sanctuary for G‑d.