A.
ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל כו' (“And Moshe gathered the entire community of bnei Yisra’él...”; XXXV, 1).
Rashi explains that the occasion for this gathering was the day after Yom Kippur, 2449, when Moshe had descended from the mountain with the second set of tablets. Chazal assert that when Israel answered the call, every one of them, man woman and child, brought a gift, a donation for the Mishkan (אבות דרבי נתן רפי"א, ע"ע אור החיים כאן עה"פ).
The Shlah ha-qadosh suggests that the main reason for the erection of the Mishkan built from these donations was as a kappara, an atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf, a transgression which he terms a chét’ klali, a “general sin” which affected all of Israel, to include both the tribe of Levi (even though they had not actively participated), as evidenced by the fact that Moshe, a Levi, had been forced to descend from his exalted atop the mountain, and even the children, ordinarily exempt by their innocence from such things; for, as the mitzva of the îr ha-niddachath demonstrates, when the sin is âvoda zara, foreign worship of the sort of the Golden Calf, even children may suffer (של"ה חלק תושב"כ של"ד ע"ב, ועיי' רמב"ם הל' עבודה זרה פ"ד ה"ו ומנחת חנוך מצוה תס"ד, ואולי אפשר גם ךהביא ראי' מענין פורים שהשתחוו לצלם ומתוך כך יצאה גזירת המן להשמיד כו' מנער ועד זקן טף ונשים). Hence, the earnest desire of every man, woman, and child of Israel to participate in the Mishkan by bringing a donation.
Yet there was another sort of donation, also connected with the needs of the Mishkan, but very different in its nature. This was the donation of machatzith ha-sheqel, the “half sheqel.”
The machatzith ha-sheqel is a donation beset with limitations on all sides. It is limited in terms of who can participate in the mitzva: כל העבר על הפקדים מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה (XXX, 14), i.e., only adult males. It is limited in terms of the amount to be donated: exactly half a sheqel, העשיר לא ירבה והדל לא ימעיט (“the rich man may not increase [it] and the poor man may not decrease [it];” ibid., 15). And it was limited in its application to the Mishkan: All of the silver which had been donated as machatzith ha-sheqel was used for the adanim, the sockets into which the boards which for the main support of the wall of the Mishkan’s walls fit.
Contrast this with the donations with which we opened this essay: Clearly they were not limited in who could bring them; since equally clearly, there was no limitation on the amount, since they brought far more than was needed (XXXVI, 5-6); and finally, the goods which were brought were not limited in use to any particular aspect of the Mishkan: wherever it was suitable to use a given material, it was used, without regard to who had brought it.
Yet, interestingly, Chazal assert that the machatzith ha-sheqel was also intended as a kappara for the Golden Calf (עיי' למשל מדרש תנחומא כי תשא י' ). How are these both kapparoth for the same sin? For what are they atoning?
B.
The nature and scope of the prohibition of âvoda zara is often misunderstood, especially when the phrase is translated by the vague term “idolatry." Âvoda zara is not necessarily the complete abandonment of Ha-Shem for some other entity, chas v’shalom. It can be much subtler than that, as the Rambam makes quite clear at the beginning of Hilchoth Âvoda Zara. The belief that anything has an existence independent of G-d, that there is any other force or fordes capable of autonomous action, constitutes a form of âvoda zara.
The antithesis and alternative to âvoda zara is achduth Ha-Shem, the perfect and ineffable unity and oneness of G-d. This is the true meaning of the verse, ד' הוא האלקים אין עוד מלבדו (“Ha-Shem is the Eloqim, there is nothing else but Him;” Deuteronomy IV, 35). The apparent plurality of the name Eloqim (whose singularity is evident from the fact that it is always used with a singular verb, beginning in Genesis I, 1) is emblematic of the fact that every force or cause perceived by us has its source and origin in Ha-Shem; to imagine anything else, is to believe in elohim achérim, “other gods” (עיי' למשל נפש החיים שער ג', בין השאר).
The Jew recognizes this fundamental reality by striving to fulfill Chazal’s exhortation וכל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים (“all your actions should be for the sake of Heaven;" אבות פ"ב מי"ב), as Rav Ovadya mi-Bartenura explains: אף בשעה שאתה עוסק באכילה ושתי' ובדרך ארץ לא תתכווין להנות גופך אלא שתהי' בריא לעשות רצון ד' (“Even at a time when you are occupied with eating and drinking and caring for your physical needs, you should not have the intention of benefitting the body, but rather that you should be healthy to do Ha-Shem’s will”).
In its purest, most exalted form, this is what the sfarim ha-qdoshim call bittul ha-êtzem, “the nullification of the self.” The material world, simply by virtue of its materialisation and manifestation, is to a degree alienated from its Divine source. We, because of our uniquely dipartite nature, being half physical and half metaphysical, are capable of overcoming that alienation and dissipating it. We do this by becoming extensions of the Divine will, and using the world in accordance with His will.
C.
Now let us return to our question concerning the Mishkan qua kappara.
When G-d commanded its construction, He told Israel: ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם (“And make Me a Miqdash – a holy place – and I shall dwell within them;” Exodus XXXV, 8). Not “I shall dwell within it” but rather within them. Every man, woman, and child of Israel would be transformed by selfless dedication to this holy task, would rise above himself or herself, above the ego, beyond the self, to return to a state of embodiment of Ha-Shem’s will. This is what it means to be a holy nation, and this is how the Mishkan served as a kappara for the great mass of our nation.
D.
But to reach such a level of pure exaltation is a process, indeed, for most of us it is a lifelong process. We have to start somewhere; we have to have a basis, and if the basis is solid and good, then what is erected on it will equally be solid and good.
Klal Yisraél the nation is made of individuals. The collective âvoda of the holy nation is composed of the discreet, daily âvoda of holy individuals. When a Jew wakes up in the morning, his very first act is to wash his hands and recite: מודה אני לפניך מלך חי וקיים שהחזרא בי נשמתי בחמלה רבה אמונתך. The sentence is almost untranslatable.
Modeh ani l’fanecha Melech chai v’qayyam – the first three words are both an expression of gratitude – “I thank You, living and exisring King” – and also an admission of G-d’s ineffable existence in the world, that its King is indeed the source of life and existence.
She-hechezarta bi nishmathi b’chemla “because" – or “that" – "You have returned my soul to me in mercy;” I can now have another day to perform the tasks for which I was put into this world, to be the bridge between the metaphysical and the physical, to correct the material world’s alienation.
Rabba emunathecha – “Great is Your faithfulness.” This foundation, this basis is precious, for it leads directly to the morning service, shacharith, and a day filled with the order of Divine service (I have remarked before that the siddur, the daily prayer book, is so called because it imposes séder – “order” on one’s day). The basis is of purest, spiritual silver.
And it was emulated, and modeled, in the pure silver of the adanim, the sockets which formed the foundation of the entire Mishkan. which was erected upon them. The same sentence is recited by each individual – one who is rich in mitzvoth, experienced and expert in Divine service says no more, and one who is poor in mitzvoth, making a faltering beginning, should say no less. Through the strength and power of this great admission and expression of gratitude comes about v’shchanti b’thocham, that Ha-Shem indeed does return our souls, the חלק אלוקי ממעל, the “Divine portion from Above,” as the Ba’âl ha-Tanya terms it, and thereby comes to dwell in each and every one of us.
In this way, the sin of the Golden Calf, the notion that something had existence alongside Ha-Shem to help us, to rescue us from the desert, to bring us to the Promised Land, is atoned for, both collectively and individually, every day by each of us, just as it was on that long ago occasion in midbar Sinai, when the Mishkan, the paradigm of our national existence, was built through such enthusiastic individual efforts.
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