From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 4:33
AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Terumah,
5766
Does Anybody Know What Time It
Is?
By Rabbi Joshua (timelessly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
This
week's parsha begins with a commandment to collect funds from the people for the
purpose of building a mishkan, or sanctuary. According to the Rambam, the
essence of the mishkan was, as its name 'mishkan ha-edus,' or sanctuary of the
testimony,' implies, a place to house the luchos, or tablets, received at Sinai,
containing the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments. According to the Ramban, the
purpose of the sanctuary was to serve as a place for God's presence to dwell
among the people who would gather there, thus perpetuating the event that
occurred at Mt. Sinai. There is a dispute among the commentators whether the
command to build the mishkan was given to Moshe before the sin of the golden
calf, or only afterwards. Rashi follows the opinion, found in Shemos Rabbah
(33:1), and Midrash Tanchuma (Terumah, 8), that the command was given only after
that sin, and that the mikdash was to serve as an atonement for it. Seforno, who
follows this approach, actually writes that had it not been for the sin of the
golden calf, there would not have been a need for the mishkan. Ramban, however,
writes that the command was given to Moshe before the sin, and the sanctuary had
an independent purpose, that had relevance even before the incident of
worshipping the golden calf. That purpose, as we noted above, was to perpetuate
the Sinai experience of the dwelling of God's presence among the
people.
According to Rashi, the command to build the mishkan is
mentioned in the Torah out of sequence, while according to Ramban, it is
mentioned in sequence. Ramban, in his explanation, is following his general
approach that the Torah records the events in the sequence in which they
occurred, unless there is a compelling reason to say otherwise. In this
instance, according to the Ramban, there is actually a compelling reason to say
that the events are recorded in sequence, since the previous parsha ended with a
description of the events at Mt. Sinai, and the purpose of the mishkan,
according to his understanding, is to perpetuate that event. Although the
Midrash Rabbah and Midrash Tanchuma support Rashi's approach, there is another
midrash, the Tanna DeBei Eliyohu, which ostensibly seems to support the Ramban's
approach. That midrash says that the moment the Jews said, at Sinai, ‘we will do
and we will listen’ (Shemos 24:7), as recorded at the end of parshas Mishpotim,
God gave them the command of 'and you shall take for a portion,' for the purpose
of building the mishkan, as recorded in the beginning of parshas Terumah. Since
there is a midrash that seems to explain the events in sequence, even though
other midrashim explain the sequence differently, we need to understand why
Rashi chose to follow those midrashim that explain them to be recorded out of
sequence. I believe that, in fact, we can explain Rashi in a way by which the
Tanna DeBei Eliyohu also follows his approach to the order of events, rather
than the Ramban's approach.
We mentioned in last week's
Netvort (available at Torahheights.com) that Rashi explains the end of parshas
Mishpotim to be out of sequence, and that the events described there actually
occurred before the Torah was given. As we explained, Rashi understood, based on
the midrash, that the beginning of the pasha includes a charge to delve into the
mishpotim, the civil laws of the Torah, in a very thorough way. After the Torah
mentions many of these laws, it then records the events that occurred before the
Torah was given, and the people's statement of na'aseh venishma. Rabbi Yosef Dov
Soloveitchik, the Beis HaLevi, explained that this statement by the people
implied that Torah study, besides acquainting one with the actual laws that must
be followed, has an additional dimension of study for its own sake, which we
explained to mean, as a means of connecting to God through understanding his
wisdom. We may add that by connecting to God in this way, one is actually taken
beyond the limitations of time and place, just as God is beyond time and place.
Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik of Boston, a great grandson of the Beis HaLevi,
very movingly described how, when he immerses himself in a Talmudic passage, he
senses the presence of Rashi, the Rambam, and others throughout the generations,
and he also feels the presence of God, standing behind his shoulder and
listening to what he is saying. Understanding Torah study in this way, we can
now explain the Tanna DeBei Eliyohu in a different light.
According to halacha, the mishkan is in a different time zone than the outside
world. Whereas, for all other halachic purposes, we consider the day as
following the night, as we find in the creation of the world, in the mishkan and
the Beis HaMikdash, the night is considered as following the day. I believe that
one of the messages being conveyed here is that because the mishkan is the place
where God's presence dwells, by connection to God, who is beyond time, we, too,
are taken beyond the limitations of time. The author of the Sefer HaChinuch, in
a lengthy exposition on the meaning of the mishkan, says that, on one level, the
mishkan should lead a person to look beyond reward in this world for his good
deeds, and focus more on the world to come, though it is even better not to
think of reward at all, and focus on the connection with God that can be
achieved there. Here, too, we see the notion of being taken beyond time through
connecting with God, Who is beyond time. Ideally, Torah study should have this
kind of effect on us. Once the nation sinned at the incident of the golden calf,
however, a mishkan was needed. However, the ideal remains to connect with God
wherever we may be through the study of Torah.
Rav Chaim
Yaakov Goldvicht, in fact, in his Asufos Ma'arochos to parshas Terumah, explains
the prayer we say every day at the end of Shemoneh Esreh ' may it be Your will…
that the Temple be rebuilt, and that You grant us our portion in the Torah,' in
this way. What, he asks, is the connection between the building of the Temple
and God granting us our portion in Torah? Rav Goldvicht explains that the ideal
of the Beis HaMikdash, which is forming a close connection with God, should
really be attained wherever we are, through Torah study. The essence of our
prayer, therefore, is that God grant us that close connection which is available
in the Temple, through our Torah study, which follows us wherever we go. The
existence of the Temple at such a time, he goes on to explain, serves the
function of publicizing to the rest of the world the close connection that the
Jewish people has with God on a constant basis.
Rashi, then, in
explaining the record of events as being out of sequence, is connecting the
declaration of’ ’we will do and we will listen,’ which implies the transcendent
nature of Torah study, with the command to build the mishkan, which is also of a
transcendent nature. This too can be the meaning behind the Tanna DeBei
Eliyohu, which connects the two. While the ideal would have been to reach this
kind of connection with the transcendence of God through Torah study alone, God
foresaw that the sin of the golden calf would make it difficult for the people
to achieve this. Therefore, in Rabbeinu Bachya's words, He created the cure
before the illness, and recorded the command to build the mishkan before
recording the sin of the golden calf, which necessitated that command. Perhaps,
then, because the Torah wishes to connect the timeless nature of Torah with the
timeless nature of the mishkan, both the declaration of ‘ we will do and we will
listen,’ and the command to build the mishkan, are recorded out of order, since
both Torah and the mishkan represent a transcendence of time.
Please
address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following
address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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