February 25, 2012 | 2 Adar 5772 | Exodus 25:1-27:19

What came first – the chicken or the egg?  When Jews want to ask that question in a Jewish way, they ask, “What came first – the instruction to build the desert Tabernacle, the Mishkan (mentioned in this week’s parasha), or the Golden Calf (which we will read about two weeks from now in Parshat Ki Tissa)?  Seems like an easy question to answer, doesn’t it?  After all, in the Torah, the instruction to build the Mishkan precedes the great apostasy of our people in the desert!  Therefore the instruction was obviously given prior to that terrible incident.  Not so quick, says Rashi.

There is no chronological order in Scripture.  The incident of the Golden Calf preceded the commandment of the construction of the Mishkan by many days (Rashi on Ex. 31:18)

Rashi doesn’t have a different version of the Torah in front of him than our version, one in which the Golden Calf incident actually appears prior to God’s instruction to build a Tabernacle.  He bases his comment on a certain logic that suggests that prior to the Golden Calf incident, there was no reason for the Israelites to build a structure that would remind them of God’s presence in their midst.  Up to that point, God was speaking to Moses and the community and doing much on their behalf.  How could the Israelites have missed God’s presence?!  The Golden Calf changed all of that. That’s why Rashi insists the instruction to build the Mishkan follows the community’s act of apostasy.  That terrible episode proved the Israelites needed a visual reminder of the presence of the God of Israel in their midst.  The Tanchuma, a midrashic work upon which Rashi bases his view here, makes this connection and revised order even clearer.

‘Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them' - When was this portion concerning the Mishkan stated?  On the Day of Atonement, though it was placed [in the Torah] before the story of the Golden Calf.  Rabbi Juda son of Rabbi Shalom said: There is no chronological sequence in the Torah.  It was on Yom Kippur that Moses was commanded 'Let them make Me a sanctuary.’... You will find that on the Yom Kippur their sin [of worshipping the Golden Calf] was forgiven, and on the same day the Holy Blessed One said to them: 'Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them' in order that all the nations should know that the sin of the Golden Calf had been atoned for.  It is therefore called the 'Mishkan Eidut' (Tabernacle of Testimony), a testimony to all the inhabitants of the world that the Holy Blessed One dwells in our sanctuary.  Said the Holy Blessed One, "Let the gold of the Mishkan come and atone for the gold of which the calf was made ... (Midrash Tanchuma, Exodus 25:8).

So which came first – the instruction to build the Mishkan or the Golden Calf?  Rashi and the Tanchuma probably have it right, the Golden Calf.  Why?  Because the Golden Calf incident boldly declares that our Israelite ancestors were in need of a visual reminder pointing to the presence of the God of Israel among them.  The visual reminder would help them to maintain proper perspective and focus.

Today, we neither individually nor collectively build “Golden Calves,” though I would have to admit that anyone who disagrees with that statement has more than just “a leg to stand on.”  But if that is the case, I can’t help but feel that visual reminders of God’s presence among us would be a good thing.

What do you think?  What might be an effective visual reminder?

Shabbat Shalom.