The Table of Transformation

The first furnishing that G-d instructed the people to make was the Ark of the Covenant, which housed the two tablets upon which G-d had engraved the Ten Commandments. Next, G-d commanded the people to make a golden Table, specifically designed to hold 12 loaves of bread that would be placed on it every Sabbath.

The Table of Transformation

You must have them make a Table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high.

Exodus 25:23

The three furnishings in the outer chamber of the Tabernacle – the Candelabrum, the Table for the showbread, and the Altar for the incense – signified the three components of the intellect – insight (chochmah), understanding (binah), and knowledge (da’at) – respectively.

Binah (“understanding”) processes the insight of chochmah, analyzing it and integrating it into our already-existing mental picture of reality. Without binah, new flashes of insight will dissipate, leaving us with a fleeting sense of having glimpsed reality

from a higher perspective, but grasping hopelessly for some way

to retain that inspiration.

Da’at (“knowledge”) then makes the mental picture of binah relevant. Without da’at, information remains abstract. We must always seek the practical implications of new knowledge, so it can help us remake ourselves into better human beings and ascend the ladder of Divine consciousness.

--Daily Wisdom Vol. 3