The donation of materials for the building of the Mishkan fell into thirteen categories. The sefarim tell us that this number corresponded to the thirteen middle berachos of the Shemoneh Esrai. What spiritual message does this connection between the two share with us?

Let us understand the holy words of the Sfas Emes תרלא in this week's parsha. Chazal state that one who partakes from this world without first making a beracha it is tantamount to stealing from Hekdesh, objects sanctified to the Beis Hamikdash. This is learned out from a seeming contradiction between two pessukim. One says לה' הארץ ומלואה that Hashem owns the earth and all its contents. Another passuk states השמים שמים לה' והארץ נתן לבני אדם the heavens belong to Hashem however the earth was given over to man. The gemarah answers the contradiction by saying that the first passuk is addressing the case of an individual state who did not make a beracha while the second passuk is dealing with a situation where the beracha was said before he partook from the food.

What is the nature and mechanics of the beracha that possesses the ability to release Hashem's "ownership" on an apple that one eats? Where is the Kinyan which is the formal procedure to render an agreement legally binding, by the performance of acts that include pulling, transferring, controlling, lifting or exchanging an article? There is a well-known concept כח הפועל בנפעל that the mark of the creator is found in his creation. Hashem who created the world left a spark of G-dliness in every creation to sustain its existence constantly. This holiness of Hashem which is found in every atom is hidden from the human eye.

When a person makes a beracha he is admitting that this object does not belong to him but rather to Hashem. Not only does it belong to Hashem but inside the object there lies a spark of G-dliness that sustains and nurtures its existence. Therefore the gratitude that one must give to Hashem for the food he is about to eat is not only for its physical aspects of the apple but also for the spiritual component which gives it its flavor, color, pleasure and being satisfied from hunger. By the act of making a bracha one demonstrates his consciousness of recognizing the creator's presence in this very apple. Note that the letters ברך are identical to בכר which represents the first cause. Because of this acknowledgement, he is given the gift that this concealed G-dliness will leave its hiding place from the food, and now become part of his being. In other words, the purpose of a beracha is not to make an exchange or barter in order to produce the transfer the ownership of the apple from G-d to man. Rather it is the means through which man can absorb G-dliness within himself thereby becoming closer to Hashem.

This is the reason why one must recite the beracha before one partakes form it. For if one eats without a beracha he has already connected himself only to the physical pleasurable aspects and benefits of the apple, and thereby forfeited the inner G-dliness that lies within. By peeling away the physical layer of the object he triggers the actualization of the passuk והארץ נתן לבני אדם. Hashem gave over the world to such types of people who when they derive pleasure from the world they nevertheless still remain connected to kedusha. In contrast to these individuals who partake pleasure from this world but neglect the recognition of its inner life force, were not given the permission to experience the pleasure at the expense of severing themselves from Hashem.

This is what Hashem means when He says ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם . When a Yid involves himself in the physical world of עשייה , and yet he still realizes and focuses on the fact that every object is sustained by a holy spark from Hashem לי מקדש, it is only then that he merits to ושכנתי בתוכם My holiness will dwell in them.

In life there are two types of people, a giver and a taker. Hashem does not want man to be a taker without Hashem first giving it to him. As the passuk says והארץ נתן לבני אדם . When one makes a beracha he transforms the action of merely taking by himself into one that is also giving by involving Hashem as well. This is because one realizes that Hashem is the giver and the owner of what man desires and needs to take from this world. This recognition only comes from the awareness of the G-dliness that supports the existence that you want for your own consumption. Eating can be a way of acquiring holiness and closeness to Hashem but then again it depends on the quality and the emunah placed into your beracha.

The Mishkan was a place where the consciousness of the Shechina was evident and felt. It was there that one could sense the holiness that was manifest in all the vessels and materials that were used in its construction and the avodah. The Mishkan was a clear example to teach us how every object in the universe is sustained by the Holy spark of Hashem. For Chazal say that Bezalel fathomed the heavenly code of how to join together the letters of the Aleph Beis which Hashem used to create the world and he applied it in the construction of the Mishkan. It is not a coincidence that the walls of the Mishkan was constructed with 100 sockets in which the two legs of the wall planks were inserted. The Chidushei Harim says that this number corresponded to the 100 berachos that one must recite every day. This relationship is understood according to our mamar. It is from the Mishkan that we learn that we must not be takers form this world but rather involve the giver who is Hashem in order to partake from physicality and materialism only on the condition that Hashem also gives it to us by recognizing His presence.

The 13 brachos that we recite in the Shemoneh Esrai equal the number of construction materials from which the Mishkan was built. The Mishkan's 100 sockets which the Torah calls אדנים corresponded to one hundred daily berachos which declare Hashem is the אדון the master and source of the world. The Shemoneh Esrai also begins with the preface אדני שפתי declaring Hashem as the owner of the universe. This Tefillah Mishkan connection is that we realize that in this world we need to ask Hashem to be a giver because we are not allowed to take by ourselves. This is the lesson of reciting one hundred berachos every day. In the 13 middle berachos we beseech and request from Hashem our personal and national needs, from giving us wisdom, health, redemption, parnasah etc. Throughout our daily lives we involve Hashem to be our sustainer for we recognize Hashem's presence in everything מלא כל הארץ כבודו even if it hidden behind nature. Therefore, תפלה is an experience where the Yid proclaims I am not a taker by excluding Hashem in my daily life, I am a receiver by giving to Hashem requests to fulfill all my needs. That is why we find the gematriah of תפלה (including the word) to also equal הנותן with its letters. Davening is like being in the Mishkan the microcosm of the universe, surrounded by the stark reality that Hashem is truly our sole giver of every aspect of life even our response of taking from Him after we make a beracha.