Our Gemara on Amud Beis describes Dovid HaMelech and Shmuel’s process for determining the proper area to build the Temple:

“Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written concerning David: ‘And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. And it was told Saul, saying: Behold, David is at Naioth [beNayot] in Ramah’ (I Samuel 19:18–19)? But what does Naioth have to do with Ramah? They are in two distinct places. Rather, this means that they were sitting in Ramah and were involved in discussing the beauty [benoyo] of the world, i.e., the Temple.”

Does the search for the Temple’s location end with King David, or does every generation search for a place to bring the Shekhina? What is the meaning of the Temple as the “World’s Beauty”?

Nefesh HaChaim (Gate 1:4, hagah) explains the symbolic structure of the Temple and the order of the universe. The various structures, rooms, and compartments represent and channel different dimensions of reality and celestial worlds. The building of the Temple was considered equal to the creation of the world (Midrash Tanchuma, beginning of Pekudei). It is no coincidence that Betzalel, the builder of the Mishkan, was endowed with mystical wisdom to manipulate divine names and letters to create worlds, as described in Berachos 55a.

Nefesh HaChaim goes further to declare that even the human body is its own version of the Temple, and also a universe. The verse states (Shemos 25:8), “And you shall make for Me a sanctuary and I shall dwell in their midst.” The verse says “their,” not “its,” implying that the Shekhina will dwell in each person of Israel if they sanctify themselves like a Temple. This is what is meant by the Talmudic adage: “The deeds of the righteous are greater than the creation of heaven and earth” (Kesuvos 5a).

When the verse says about the Mishkan (Shemos 25:9), “And so you shall do,” and the Gemara (Sanhedrin 16b) infers “so you shall do for the generations,” it means that we all can create a dwelling place for the Shekhina within ourselves. While we pray and wait for the restoration of the Beis HaMikdash, we have plenty of work to do within ourselves to bring about internal redemption.