Netvort Vayakheil 5773:         What Comes First?

By Rabbi Joshua (structurally known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

            As we noted a few weeks ago, the details of the construction of the Mishkan and its utensils are repeated several times in the last five portions of the book of Shemos. There are, however, some significant differences in the way they are recorded in the various parshiyos, and as Rav Amnon Bazak points out in his Nekudas Pesicha the fact that those differences occur within that which is otherwise repetition, gives them more prominence. One of these differences is that in Parshas Terumah, where the original commandment to build the Mishkan appears, the utensils, such as the aron, the menorah, and the shulchan, appear first, and the structure of the Mishkan, which includes the boards, the drapes, and the partitions, appears later, while in Parshas Vayakheil, in connection to the actual construction, the opposite order is followed. Rashi, citing the Talmud, says that there was actually a dispute between Moshe and Betzalel, the architect of the Mishkan, over what should be built first. Rav Bazak offers an additional explanation of the change in order, based on a dispute between Rashi and the Ramban whether the command to build the Mishkan was given before or after the sin of the eigel. 

            Following the opinion of the Ramban that the command to build the Mishkan was given before the sin of the eigel, Rav Bazak says that before that sin, the emphasis was on the utensils, and especially on the aron, which served as the primary vehicles to bring the divine presence into the camp among the people. After the sin of the eigel, however, there was a need to emphasize safeguards which would prevent a repetition of the sin. Therefore, after the sin, the structure of the Mishkan, which set up boundaries indicating who could enter what area of the Tabernacle at what time, was emphasized. I would like to point out a few additional points that can be derived from Rav Bazak’s explanation.

            First, the idea of setting boundaries as part of the function of the Mishkan, fits well with the Ramban’s approach to it in general. In his introduction to Parshas Terumah, the Ramban writes that the function of the Mishkan was to carry over the experience of Mt. Sinai, where the divine presence dwelled among the people, into daily life, in a more hidden fashion. I once heard Rav Shaul Yisraeli, zt”l, point out that part of this experience was the setting of boundaries around the mountain beyond which different segments of the people could not venture to go. Additionally, according to Rav Shmuel Borenstein in his Sheim MiShemuel, although, according to the Ramban the Mishkan had a purpose unrelated to the sin of the eigel, once that sin was committed, the Mishkan served, even according to the Ramban, as an atonement for that catastrophic sin, although for Rashi the Mishkan was built from the outset to serve as an atonement. 

            I believe that we can add yet another factor to Rav Bazak’s explanation of the change in order between Parshas Terumah and Parshas Vayakheil, in connection with the message of the structure of the Mishkan. Part of that structure was the adanim, or sockets, that supported the boards. These sockets, as pointed out by Rav Yosef Salant in his Be’er Yosef, actually supported the entire structure of the Mishkan. Each person had to contribute a half-shekel to their production. The idea here, says Rav Salant, is that the first two letters of the word adanim are the first two letters of God’s name. Giving half a shekel for them indicates that whatever we may think we know about God’s running of the universe, it can only be a partial understanding. This idea serves to guard the people from venturing into the area of idolatry. Additionally, the Ba’al HaTanya says that the one hundred sockets are an allusion to the obligation to recite one hundred blessings a day. The Shibolei Haleket says that this obligation is Biblical, even though most individual blessings are only rabbinic requirements. Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt”l, explained that through turning to God one hundred times a day, we become filled with a sense of awe from Him, and thus fulfill the Biblical requirement of fearing God, which is actually mentioned in the verse from which the obligation to recite one hundred blessings is derived (see Devarim 10:12). By focusing on the structure of the Mishkan, solidified through the adanim, the people would be imbibed with a sense of God’s presence, and no longer slip into idolatry.