Parashath Va-Yaqhél (Exodus XXXV,1-XXXVIII,20) 3/16/12

A.

Our parasha opens, as Rashi informs us, on the day after Yom ha-Kippurim, just under six months after the Exodus. Moshe has returned from his second trip up the mountain with the second pair of tablets, ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל ויאמר אלהם אלה הדברים אשר צוה ד' לעשות אתם: ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי יהי' לכם קדש שבת שבתון לד' כל העשה בו מלאכה יומת: (“And Moshe caused all the community of bënei Yisra’él to be gathered together and said to them, 'These are the things which Ha-Shem has commanded to do them: Six days mëlacha will be done, and on the seventh day you will have a qodesh, a Sabbath of resting [shabbath shabbathon] for Ha-Shem; anyone who does a mëlacha on it will be put to death”).

The parasha then goes on to recount Moshe’s instructions to collect the materials and make the Mishkan and its furnishings and accessories, as we have been discussing over the past three weeks. But this juxtaposition begs a question which must occur to anyone perusing the Book of Exodus Why does Moshe begin his pronouncement to this gathering with an admonition about shabbath? After all, the bënei Yisra’él had been aware of the laws concerning shabbath since before they had approached Mt. Sinai (cf. XV, 25, Rashi ad loc.).

B.

The reason, Rashi says, that הקדים להם אזהרת שבת לצווי מלאכת המשכן לומר שאינו דוחה את השבת (“he placed the admonition of shabbath before the commandment of the mëlacha of the Mishkan to say that [the mëlecheth ha-Mishkan] does not supersede shabbath”). Thus, “six days of mëlacha will be done,” the definition of mëlacha being those categories of activities necessary to fabricate and erect the Mishkan.

And no mëlachoth are to be done on the seventh day. Cessation of those activities necessary to make the Mishkan, which represents, as we have seen, the universe at large, is thus emblematic of G-d’s resting on the seventh day after Creation. Indeed, the Or ha-Hayyim tells us that this passage implies כי לא יקומו ששה ימים במלאכתו אשר הכינם ד' לעשות אלא אם יום הז' יהי' להם קדש אבל אם לא ישמרו שבת לא יהי' הששת ימים כי שבת הוא נפש קיום העולם וגו' (“that the six days would only arise though His mëlacha which Ha-Shem established to be done if the seventh day would be a holy thing [qodesh] to them; but if they would not keep shabbath, the six days would not be in existence, for shabbath is the soul of the universe’s existence [nefesh qiyyum ha-‘olam]....”).

“The soul (or, perhaps better, life-force) of the universe’s existence....” Why this is so becomes a bit clearer with a laconic remark of the Ba‘al ha-Turim, שעיקר התורה בשבת כשאדם פנוי מעסקיו (“that the essence [‘iqqar] of the Torah is inherent in shabbath, when a man is free of his pursuits”) and can devote more time to learning than otherwise. We are thus reminded that the Torah is both the plan according to which the universe was designed and made (אסתכל קב"ה באורייתא וברא עלמא, “The Holy One, Blessed is He, looked into the Torah and created the universe”; בראשית רבה פ"א סי' ב'), as well as the end and purpose of the Creation. Israel’s covenantal acceptance of the Torah and use of the various aspects of Creation to observe it within this world is, as the prophets and Hazal remind us, why the universe is here: התנה הקב"ה עם מעשה בראשית וא"ל אם ישראל מקבלין התורה אתם מתקיימים ואם לאו אני מחזיר אתכם לתוהו ובוהו (“The Holy One, Blessed is He, made a condition with Creation an said to it, If Israel accept the Torah, you are in existence; and if not, I am returning you to chaos!”; שבת פ"ח:), and: כה אמר ד' אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה חקות שמים וארץ לא שמתי (“Thus says Ha-Shem, If My covenant is not [observed] by day and by night, the laws of heaven and earth I did not set!”; Jeremiah XXXIII, 27).

Now with the Ba‘al ha-Turim’s help, we see that the prime focal point, the ‘iqqar, of Torah is shabbath, and are reminded that Ha-Shem Himself commanded: ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת לעשות את השבת לדרתם ברית עולם: ביני ובין בני ישראל אות הוא לעולם כי ששת ימים עשה ד' את השמים ואת הארץ וביום השביעי שבת וינפש (“And the bënei Yisra’él will keep the shabbath, to make the shabbath for their generations an eternal covenant. Between Me and the bënei Yisra’él it is a sign forever that [in] six days Ha-Shem made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He desisted and relaxed [va-yinnafash]”; XXXI, 16-17. It will surely not be lost on the sharp-eyed reader with a living sense of the Hebrew language that the last word in this passage shares its root with the word nefesh). על כן ברך ד' את יום השבת ויקדשהו (“Therefore, Ha-Shem blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it [va-yëqaddëshéhu]”; XX,22).

C.

In a comment on this last verse, the Or ha-Hayyim writes: לא עשה בתכונת בריאתה שיעמדו אלא ששת ימים ומעתה יצטרך ד' לחדש הבריאה בכל יום א' ובאמצעות נפש העולם שהוא שבת שברא ד' נח מהתמד' המלאכה וכמאמרם ז"ל שהי' העולם רופף ורועד ובבא שבת עמד בקיומו והוא אמרו "וינח" ביום הזה ויום זה מעמיד העולם עוד ששה ימים ובכל יום ששי לערב שכלתה תכונת העולם יבא שבת ויקיים העולם עוד ששת ימים אחרים וגו' (“[Ha-Shem] did not provide in his establishment of creation for [the heavens and the earth] lasting more than six days, and from that point Ha-Shem had to renew the creation every Sunday. By means of he nefesh ha-‘olam, which is shabbath, which He created, Ha-Shem desisted from perpetuating the mëlacha; as Hazal say, the world was provisional and conditional, and when shabbath arrived it stood in its exist-ence; and this is why He said, ‘and he desisted’ on this day; and this day sets the world for another six days. And on every Friday, toward evening, when the establishment of the world is coming to an end, shabbath comes and effects the world’s existence for yet another period of six days....”).

Had Ha-Shem not desisted from the hathmadath ha-mëlacha, the “perpetuation of the mëlacha”, the universe would have remained provisional and conditional, unfinished, not in a final configuration, since all of the creative functions would have been ongoing. G-d’s “resting”, then, froze the universe’s configuration as of twilight of the sixth day. As G-d Himself tells it: ויכלו השמים וכל צבאם: ויכל אלקים ביום השביעי מלאכתו אשר עשה כו' ויברך אלקים את יום השביעי ויקדש אתו כי דבת מכל מלאכתו אדר ברא אלקים לעשות: (“And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their content. And G-d finished on the seventh day His mëlacha which He had done.... And G-d blessed the seventh day and sanctified [va-yëqaddésh] it, because on it He rested from all his mëlacha which He had created to do”; Genesis II, 1-4).

From this point on, the Or ha-Hayyim tells us, the creative processes had to be renewed for another six days, then “set” again in the configuration’s next iteration.

And then Israel arrived on the scene.

D.

The Torah consistently and very strikingly uses in the passages cited above, as well as many others relating to the “sanctification” of shabbath the pi‘él or factitive verbal form of the root quf-dalet-shin, which conveys the sense of “holy, sacred”, qiddésh, rather than the hif‘il, causative form, hiqdish. The reason appears to be that hiqdish is used to render a previously existing thing or entity sacred; an example is an animal dedicated for sacrificial purposes. Such a thing or entity is thus said to become heqdésh, and is divorced from the profane world.

A factitive verb, by contrast, brings into being a state, condition, or entity which did not previously exist; in this case, something sacred, shabbath. The term designating such a sacred entity is qodesh.

As the Torah tells us, this is what G-d did on the arrival of the first shabbath, and then on every subsequent seventh day throughout the 26 generations stretching from the advent of the first man until Israel’s fateful encounter at the foot of Sinai: He blessed the Sabbath day, va-yëqaddëshéhu.

Once Israel had come into being through acceptance of the Torah on that occasion, the factitive function of “making a qodesh” in this world at the end of each six-day period devolved on the new Torah-nation. This is what we are actually doing, every Friday night, when we (as the colloquial phrase has it) “make qiddush.” The animating force of the universe, its nefesh, has been placed in our hands.

We attest to this fact numerous times in the course of the week, for instance, when we recite Proverbs III, 17-18, which begins by telling us of the Torah, עץ חיים היא , “It is a tree of life” (עיי' זוה"ק ח"ב קכ"א. ברעיא מהימנא, וע"ע המגיד מישרים לפר' בשלח) or, perhaps most tellingly, in the blessing said by each ‘ole la-Torah as his ‘aliya ends, and he recites the bëracha containing the words וחיי עולם נטע בתוכנו; “and the life of the universe He has planted within us” (עיי' נפש החיים ש"ד פכ"ו).

A thought to keep in mind, as we “make qiddush this shabbath, and from now on.

Parshath Va-Yaqhél (Exodus XXXV,1-XXXVIII,20) 2/25/11

A.

As our parasha opens, Moshe has come back down the mountain with the second set of tablets, and gathered Israel around him (Rashi at the beginning of our parasha). ויאמר אליהם אלא הדברים אשר צוה ד' לעשת אתם: ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי יהי' לכם קדששבת שבתון לד' כל העשה בו מלאכה יומת: לא תבערו אש במשבתיכם ביום השבת: (“And he said to them, 'These are the things which Ha-Shem has commanded to do them. Six days work [mëlacha] will be done, and on the seventh day you will have a qodesh, a Sabbath of resting for Ha-Shem; anyone who does a mëlacha will be put to death. You will not burn a fire in your dwellings on the Sabbath day”; XXV, 1-3).

This passage is immediately followed by another דבר אשר צוה ד' (“thing which Ha-Shem has commanded”), which turns out to be basically a repetition of parshoth Tëruma and Tëtzavve, a restatement of the commandment to gather the materials for the Mishkan and what is to be done with them.

Shabbath, of course, was also commanded earlier, first at Mara (cf. XV, 25, Rashi ad loc.), then in the ‘Asereth ha-Dibbëroth. So our parasha consists of two repetitions, joined by the vav ha-hibbur (which, of course, also joins our parasha to the one preceding it). Why?

B.

The Talmud tells us: והתניא רבי אומר "דברים, הדברים, אלה הדברים" אלו ל"ט מלאכות שנאמרו למשה בסיני (“And this is taught: Rabbi [Yëhuda ha-Nasi’] says, ‘things, the things, these [are] the things’; these are the 39 mëlachoth which were told to Moshe at Sinai”; שבת צ"ז:, וע"ע ירושלמי שבת פ"ז ה"ט ששם מגיעים לידי החשבון מתוך דברים אלה דרך דרשה אחרת ). As Rashi ad loc. helpfully explains, the minimum of a plural word (“things”) is two; the definite prefix ha- (“the”) increases it by one, and the gimatriya or numerical value of élle (“these”) is 36; thus, the total is 39.

But this is not the only allusion to the 39 basic mëlachoth to be found in this initial passage. After taking note of this Talmudic teaching, the Ba‘al ha-Turim next focuses our attention on the penultimate word in the first verse, לעשת, la-‘asoth, “to do.” The word is spelt anomalously, lacking the vav which normally represents the long “o.” Hence, the letters can be rearranged as ל' תשע, i.e. “thirty-nine” (with the added feature that the number nine, tésha‘, is in the proper, feminine form required by the word mëlachoth).

Nor is this all. Verses 1-3 contain a total of 40 words, the last one being ha-shabbath, “the Sabbath.” So the very word count is an allusion to thirty-nine mëlachoth not to be performed on shabbath (interestingly, the mishna which specifies the thirty-nine basic mëlachoth begins: אבות צלכות ארבעים חסר אחת, “The fundamental mëlachoth are forty less one”; עיי' שבת ע"ג.).

Our passage, therefore, is a fitting introduction to the rest of our parasha, since Hazal derive the thirty-nine basic mëlachoth from the mëlecheth ha-Mishkan (שבת מ"ט:), which, as we have already noted, occupies the rest of the reading. But why is that?

C.

In the ‘Asereth ha-Dibbëroth, the Torah offers us a reason for observing the Sabbath: כי ששת ימים עשה ד' את השמים ואת הארץ את הים ואת כל אשר בם וינח ביום השביעי על כן ברך ד' את יום השביעי ויקדשהו (“For [in] six days Ha-Shem made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore, Ha-Shem blessed the seventh day and sanctified it”; XX, 11). The sanctification of the seventh day came about as the culmination of creation.
In a very long comment at the beginning of parshath Tëtzavve (XXVII, 20ff.), the Ha‘améq Davar demonstrates and establishes that the Mishkan was designed so as to constitute a microcosmos, a simulacrum of the created universe. With this in mind, we return to the Ba‘al ha-Turim, who discovers yet another allusion, as he counts up the various acts of creation, forming, making, constituting, bringing forth, and distinction in the creation account, and arriving again at the number 39. Be it noted that the creation account itself ends: ויכלו השמים והארץ וכל צבאם: ויכל אלקים ביום השביעי מלאכתו אשר עשה: ויברך אלקים את יום השביעי ויקדש אתו כי בו שבת מכל מאכתו אשר ברא אלקים לעשות: (“And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host. And G-d completed on the seventh day His mëlacha which He had done. And G-d blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He desisted from all His mëlacha which He had created to do”; Genesis II, 1-3).

The generic term, then, for all the various categories of creative work counted by the Ba‘al ha-Turim is mëlacha.

The Torah thus makes abundantly clear that ultimate purpose of shëmirath shabbath is to provide regular testimony that G-d created the world. The Eloqim created a cosmos, and all His actions in carrying out and refining that creation are collectively termed mëlacha; human beings, the dëmuyoth Eloqim (ibid., I, 26), “likenesses of G-d,” were tasked with building a microcosmos, a task similarly termed mëlecheth ha-Mishkan. As He desisted from His mëlacha, comprising 39 categories, so do the dëmuyoth Eloqim emulate Him. For this reason, our parasha is comprised of these two elements, seemingly unrelated, but in fact intimately intertwined.

D.

Why is this vital and salient parasha, without which we would have no idea how to שמור את יום השבת לקדשו (“keep the sabbath day to sanctify it”; Deuteronomy V, 12) located where it is, connected to the incident of the golden calf, with which last week’s parasha concludes, by the vav ha-hibbur?

The Or ha-Hayyim is bothered by this question, and begins his answer with the Talmudic dictum: כל המודה בעבודה זרה ככופר בכל התורה (“Anyone who confesses to ‘avoda zara is like one who denies the entire Torah”; הוריות ח.). He then goes on: ומעתה הנה צריכין כל ישראל לתקן כל תרי"ג מצות אשר פגמו בכולן כו' ואמרו רבותינו ז"ל "שקול שבת כנגד כל התורה" ובזה יתוקן פגם שפגמו בכל התורה והוא מאמר משה כאן "אלה הדברים אשר צוה ד' לעשת אתם" פירוש לשון תיקון כו' ובזה יתיישב כו' למה חזר עוד לצוות השבת אחר שכבר צוה כמה פעמים ועוד למה צוה עליו סמוך למצות מעשה במשכן ולדברינו יבא אל נכון כי יצו ד' על תיקון העבר כדי שיהיו מוכשרים לשכון בתוכם ובמצות שבת ששקולה ככל התורה היא תקנת עבודה זרה כאומרו "אשרי אנוש יעשה זאת" ודרשו ז"ל "כל השומר שבת כהלכתו אפילו עובד עבודה זרה [כדור] אנוש מוחלין לו" וגו' (“and from now, all Israel had to repair all 613 mitzvoth, all of which they had damaged... And Hazal said, ‘Shabbath is weighed against the entire Torah” [שמות רבה פכ"ה סי' י"ב], so that by this means the damage which they had done to the entire Torah might be fixed; and this is why Moshe said here, ‘These are the things which Ha-Shem has commanded to do them,’ referring to repair.... And through this may be resolved... why He commanded the Sabbath yet again after already having commanded [it] several times, and further, why He commanded it close to the mitzva of making the Mishkan; according to our words it seems correct that Ha-Shem commanded the correction of the past so that [Israel] might be fit [that He] dwell amongst them, and it is through the mitzva of shabbath which is weighed like the entire Torah is the correction of ‘avoda zara, as [Yësha‘yahu] says, ‘Happy the man [enosh] who will do this’ [Isaiah LVI, 2] and Hazal interpreted, ‘Anyone who observes the Sabbath according to its halacha, even if he serves ‘avoda zara as was done in the generation of Enosh is forgiven’ [שבת קי"ח:]....”). Be it remembered that the origins of ‘avoda zara in the generation of Enosh lay in shittuf, an illegitimate “partnership” between Ha-Shem and something else (עיי' רמב"ם הל' עבודה זרה פ"א ה"א).

Therein lies the reason for our parasha’s location and connection to last week’s; therein lies the way that modern Israel can repair the immense damage which has been done to Torah by the modern form of ‘avoda zara, famously identified by the great Rabbi Elhanan Bunim Wasserman הי"ד, in his prophetic séfer ‘Iqvëtha di-Mshiha, published on the eve of the Second World War, as ideology.

Parshath Va-Yaqhél-Pëqudei (Exodus XXXV,1-XL,38) 3/12/10

A.

Our parasha begins ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל לאמר אלהם אלה הדברים אשר צוה ד' לעשת אתם (“And Moshe convened the entire community of bënei Yisra’él to say to them, 'These are the things which Ha-Shem has commanded to do them'”), and goes on to discuss the prohibition of mëlachoth on shabbath: ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה וביום השביעי יהי' לכם קדש שבת שבתון לד' כל העשה בו מלאכה יומת: לא תבערו אש בכל משבתיכם ביום השבת: (“Six days mëlacha will be done, and on the seventh day you shall have a holy institution [qodesh], a sabbath of rest [shabbath shabbathon] for Ha-Shem; anyone who does on it a mëlacha will be put to death. You shall not kindle a fire in all your dwellings on the sabbath day”).

Here there is a break in the text, a paragraph, if you like, and the next paragraph begins: ויאמר משה אל כל עדת בני ישראל לאמר זה הדבר אשר צוה ד' לאמר (“And Moshe said to the entire community of bënei Yisra’él to say, 'This is the thing which Ha-Shem has commanded to say'”), which introduces the recapitulation of the donations of materials and skilled labor, and the production of the various objects and components of the Mishkan, culminating in the erection of the Mishkan, which takes up the rest of the double parasha.

Hazal tell us that the presence of the vav ha-hibbur (“and”) at the head of each of these passages indicates a continuity and connection between the passage and what has gone before it (עיי' למשל שמות רבה פ"ל סי' ב'); hence, we are justified in asking why the prohibition of performing mëlachoth on shabbath, which had already been taught at Mara (Exodus XV, 25, Rashi ad loc.) and again at Mt Sinai (ibid., XX, 8-11) is yet again repeated here, and how it is connected to last week’s parasha, which was largely concerned with the incident of the Golden Calf and its aftermath, and with the account of the construction of the Mishkan.

Furthermore, while we are asking, we note that Moshe first proclaims אלה הדברים אשר צוה ד' לעשת אתם (“these are the things which Ha-Shem has commanded to do them”), yet the prohibition of mëlachoth on shabbath is a matter of שב ואל תעשה (“sit and do not do”), i.e., refraining from action, rather than positively doing something. What, then, was Moshe getting at?

B.

Let us deal with the second relationship first. The Mëchilta points out that, after having twice elaborated the laws of shabbath, G-d told Moshe, ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתכם (“And [Israel] will make for Me a sanctuary and I shall dwell in their midst”; ibid., XXV, 8). As Ramban points out in his introductory remarks to parshath Tëruma, the construction of the Mishkan and, later, the Béyth ha-Miqdash, enabled the purpose for all of history up to that point, the permanent residence of the Shëchina, the “Divine Presence,” in this world amongst His Holy Nation. One might imagine that such a lofty purpose might override the sabbath, at least temporarily.
Not so, said Moshe: אלה הדברים אשר צוה ד' לעשת אתם, ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה – בחול ולא בשבת (“These are the things which Ha-Shem has commanded to do them. Six days mëlacha will be done – on weekdays, and not on the sabbath”). The sabbath’s testimony to the world that Ha-Shem created and reigns over the universe thus takes precedence even over the imperative of mëlecheth ha-Mishkan.

But if the above is true, our attention is drawn to the undeniable fact that the recapitulation of the mëlecheth ha-Mishkan is independently prefaced by the words זה הדבר אשר צוה ד' לאמר (“this is the thing which Ha-Shem has commanded to say”), suggesting that the dëvarim in the first passage refer to shabbath, and the davar in the second passage refers to the Mishkan.
What is more, if we look at the next verse, which prohibits kindling a fire in one’s house on shabbath, we conclude that it surely has nothing directly to do with the mëlecheth ha-Mishkan. Why is it there?

Though we find the prohibition of mëlachoth on shabbath mentioned several times in the written Torah, a transgression so serious that, as we see from our own passage, it can incur a death sentence, G-d forbid, it is striking that the term mëlacha is nowhere defined in the written Torah. What, precisely, a mëlacha is would seem to be a vital issue to anyone wishing to observe shabbath properly and avoid possible execution!

The Talmud derives the 39 fundamental categories of mëlacha – avoth mëlacha – from the various categories of work performed in fashioning the Mishkan, summarized in the rest of our parasha (עיי' שבת מ"ט: וע'.), and Hazal spy an allusion to this fact in the two phrases mentioned: רבי חנינא דצפורין בשם רבי אבהו, אל"ף – חד, למ"ד – תלתין, ה"א חמשה, "דבר" חד "דברים" תרין, מיכן לארבעים חסר אחת מלאכות שכתוב בתורה (“Rabbi Hanina of Sepphoris [says] in the name of Rabbi Abbahu, [the numerical value of] alef [the first letter of élleh, ‘these’] is one, that of lamed is thirty, that of hé is five; davar is one, dëvarim is [minimally] two; from here [we see a reference to] forty less one mëlachoth written in the Torah”; ירושלמי שבת פ"ז ה"ב, עיי' קרבן העידה שם).

We see, therefore, that the connexion between shëmirath shabbath and specifically our account of the Mishkan is organic and whole (וע"ע רמב"ן וכלי יקר על אתר).

But how is shabbath related to the incident of the Golden Calf?

D.

To understand the connection, it is necessary to establish that, whatever Aharon’s pure and holy motives in fashioning the image (which Ramban ad loc. discusses at some length), the fact is that the ‘erev rav, the “mixed multitude” who had left Egypt with the bënei Yisra’él, had already deified Moshe in their own minds, creating an illicit shittuf, a “artnership,” as it were, between a deified human being and the ineffable. unique Creator. To them, and those influenced by them, the calf was a substitute for Moshe in this shittuf, as is evident from their words: אלה אלהיך ישראל אשר העלוך מארץ מצרים (“These are your gods, Israel, who brought you forth from the land of Egypt”: XXXII, 4) which, of course, constitutes idolatry.

With this in mind, we learn: כל המודה בעבודת כוכבים ככופר בכל התורה כולה (“Anyone who grants credence to idolatry is like one who denies the entire Torah”; ספרי פר' ראה פיסקא ב' וע"ע פר' שלח פיסקא ה'). The entire point of Mattan Torah and the whole of the historic process which had led up to it is negated by the acceptance of some other deity alongside or instead of Ha-Shem, Creator of Heaven and Earth. Hence, the incident of the Golden Calf had the effect of nullifying, as it were, the full panoply of 613 mitzvoth in the Torah.

But Hazal also tell us, in several places: שקולה שבת כנגד כל המצות (“Shabbath is weighed equally with all the [rest of the] mitzvoth”; עיי' למשל ירושלמי ברכות פ"א ה"ה, שמות רבה פכ"ה סי' ט"ז וזוה"ק ח"ב פ"ט.).

Viewed in this light, Moshe’s declaration of אלה הדברים אשר צוה ד' לעשת אתם (“These are the things which Ha-Shem has commanded to do them”) becomes an exhortation to tëshuva, a recognition that the major significant step back to performing mitzvoth lies in the abstentions of shëmirath shabbath.

We have thus answered our three questions, and in the course of doing so, affirmed the wisdom underlying the common Jewish custom or referring to seriously observant people as shomér shabbath.

Parshath Va-Yaqhél (Exodus XXXV,1-XXXVIII,20) 2/29/08

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.