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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