Approach #1. Commandment and collection for Mishkan
took place before the Golden Calf.
Zohar II:224A
Likewise, "All the gold that was applied for the work" (Shemot 38:24). What is the meaning of 'applied'? It means that here the Holy One, blessed be He saw Yisrael giving gold for the calf, and He applied the gold as a remedy beforehand, by putting the gold for the Tabernacle before the gold for the calf. For all the gold they had with them, and about them, they donated to the Tabernacle. FOR could you possibly imagine, that they had gold when they made the calf, and that they would take the gold off their ears, as it is written, "And all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears" (Shemot 32:3)? He therefore took first the gold of the donation to expiate for the making OF THE CALF.
Approach #2 Commandment and collection for Mishkan
took place after Golden Calf
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Exod. 25:8). On which day did He relate to Moses the portion relating to the Temple? It was on the Day of Atonement. That was so despite the fact that the Torah portion describing the Sanctuary precedes the incident of the golden calf. R. Judah the son of R. Shalum said: There is actually no such thing as preceding or following in the Torah, as is said: Lest she should walk the even path of life, her ways wander, but she knoweth it not (Prov. 5:6). This verse refers to the arrangement of the Torah and its sections. Hence, it was on the Day of Atonement that He told Moses: Make Me a Sanctuary.
ויתן אל משה וגו׳ AND HE GAVE UNTO MOSES etc. — There is no “earlier” or “later” (no chronological order) in the events related in the Torah: in fact the incident of the golden calf (related in ch. 31) happened a considerable time before the command regarding the work of the Tabernacle was given (ch. 25 and the following chapters). For on the seventeenth of Tammuz were the Tablets broken (when the people were worshipping the calf) and on the Day of Atonement God became reconciled with Israel (after Moses had prayed 80 days for forgivenness; so that it is very unlikely that the command for the building of the Tabernacle should have been given before that day) and on the next day, the eleventh of Tishri (cf. Rashi on Exodus 33:11, at end of comment on ושב אל המחנה), they began to bring their contributions for the Tabernacle which was set up on the first of Nisan. (From the seventeenth of Tammuz until the eleventh of Tishri are almost three months — ימים רבים) (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 31).
Bahya Ibn Paquda: The Torah whose ways are pleasant deliberately presented the making of the Tabernacle representing atonement, to the narration of the iniquity itself. For such is the way of the Holy One Blessed be He to have the antidote ready before the disease. Our Sages referred to this when they expounded: The Holy One Blessed be He first creates for Israel the antidote and only then delivers the blow as it is stated (Hosea 7, I): "When I have healing for Israel, then is the iniquity of Ephraim revealed".
Midrashim that speak of the Mishkan connected to
the theme of atonement for sin of the Golden Calf
ויקחו לי תרומה, הה"ד (שיר ה): אני ישנה ולבי ער. אמרה כנסת ישראל: אני ישנתי לי מן הקץ, אלא הקב"ה ער ... אני ישנה ממעשה העגל, ולבי ער והקב"ה מרתיק עלי. פתחי לי אחותי רעיתי עד מתי אהיה מתהלך בלא בית...? אלא, עשו לי מקדש, שלא אהיה בחוץ:
"Take for me an offering" (Ex 25, 2). To this applies the verse (Song of Songs 5, 2): "I sleep but my heart wakes". Said the congregation of Israel, I despaired (slept) Of the End but the Holy One Blessed be He wakes, as it is stated: "But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever (Psalms 73, 26) … I sleep (i.e. am lost in despair) on account of the deed of the Golden Calf, but my heart wakes; the Holy One Blessed be He knocks — "Take for Me an offering". As it is stated (Song of Songs 5, 2): "The voice of my beloved knocks, open up for Me my sister". How long shall I wander abroad homeless, but "make Me a sanctuary" that I should not remain outside.
"These are the accounts of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of Testimony." The Mishkan of Testimony is testimony for all who come into the world that the Holy One, blessed be He, has been reconciled with Israel.
A parable: To what is the matter comparable? To a king who took a wife and loved her excessively. He became angry with her and left her.
Her woman neighbors said to her: He will not return to you. After some days the king was reconciled to her and entered his palace with her, where he ate and drank. Now her neighbors would not believe that he had been reconciled to her; but when there was an aroma in the heavens over her, they immediately knew that the king had been reconciled to her.
Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, loved Israel, gave them the Torah, and called them a priestly kingdom and holy nation. At the end of forty days they made the calf and said: "This is your god, O Israel." In that hour the nations of the world said: The Holy one, blessed be He, will never again be reconciled to them.
When Moshe arose and prayed for them, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "I have pardoned them as you asked" (Numbers 14:20). Moshe said: Who will inform the nations? He said to him: Let them make Me a sanctuary. When the nations of the world saw the incense rising from the Mishkan, they understood that the Holy One, blessed be He, had become reconciled with them.
It can be compared to a young man who came to a city and found the people thereof collecting money for charity, and when they asked him also to subscribe, he went on giving until they had to tell him that he had already given enough. Further on his travels, he lighted on a place where they were collecting for a theater, and when asked to contribute towards it, he was also so generous the he had to be told, "Enough."
Israel, likewise, contributed so much towards the golden calf that they had to be told "Enough," and they also contributed gold so generously towards the construction of the Mishkan that they again had to be told "Enough," as it is said: "For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much" (Shmemot 26:7).
The Holy one, blessed be He, thereupon said: "Let the gold of the Mishkan atone for the gold they brought towards the making of the golden calf." Further did God say to Israel: "When you made the calf, you provoked Me to anger by exclaiming: "This (eleh) is your god," but now that you have built the Mishkan with the word "eleh," I have become reconciled to you." Hence, "These (eleh) are the accounts of the Mishkan." God said unto Israel: "Just as in this world I have become reconciled unto you by means of the word "eleh," so in the World-to-Come," because it says: "Behold these (eleh) shall come from far; and, lo, these (eleh) from the north and from the west, and these (eleh) from the land of Sinim (Yeshaya 49:12); and also: "Who are these (eleh) that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their cotes?" (ibid. 58:8).
Approach #3 Commandment of Mishkan before the Golden Calf,
collection after the Golden Calf.
Zohar II:195A
Come and see what is written above: "of every man whose heart prompts him" (Shemot 25:2), which includes everyone, EVEN THE MIXED MULTITUDE. This is because the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to build the tabernacle from all sides, the inner part and the shell. And since there were a mixed multitude among them, it was said, "of every man whose heart prompts him," in order to include them in Yisrael who are the inner part. Thus, everyone was commanded TO TAKE A PART IN THE TABERNACLE.
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Afterwards, people came together according to their ilk, and the mixed multitude came and created the calf and those from among Yisrael were drawn towards them who eventually died. The mixed multitude brought upon Yisrael death and killings. The Holy One blessed be He, said: from now on the building of the tabernacle would be performed only on the part of Yisrael. At once, "Moses gathered all the Congregation of the children of Yisrael together..." (Shemot 35:1). Afterwards it is written: "Take from among you an offering to Hashem" (Ibid. 5). "From among you" surely, instead of as written before, "of every man whose heart prompts him" (Shemot 25:2). "And Moses gathered..." Where did he gather them from? Because the mixed multitude was among them, Moses had to gather and separate Yisrael from among them. |
By way of proper interpretation of Scripture, Moshe was commanded about the building of the Mishkan prior to the incident of the golden calf, and when the Holy One, blessed be He, became reconciled to him and promised him that He would cause His Divine Glory to dwell among them, Moshe understood of his own accord that the command concerning the Mishkan remained valid as before, and he then commanded Israel regarding it, as I have explained in the section of Vayakhel. (Vayikra 8:2)
והנה עקר החפץ במשכן הוא מקום מנוחת השכינה שהוא הארון, כמו שאמר (להלן כה כב) ונועדתי לך שם ודברתי אתך מעל הכפרת, על כן הקדים הארון והכפרת בכאן כי הוא מוקדם במעלה, וסמך לארון השלחן והמנורה שהם כלים כמוהו, ויורו על ענין המשכן שבעבורם נעשה אבל משה הקדים בפרשת ויקהל את המשכן את אהלו ואת מכסהו (להלן לה יא), וכן עשה בצלאל (להלן לו ח), לפי שהוא הראוי לקדם במעשה: וסוד המשכן הוא, שיהיה הכבוד אשר שכן על הר סיני שוכן עליו בנסתר וכמו שנאמר שם (לעיל כד טז) וישכן כבוד ה' על הר סיני, וכתיב (דברים ה כא) הן הראנו ה' אלהינו את כבודו ואת גדלו, כן כתוב במשכן וכבוד ה, מלא את המשכן (להלן מ לד). והזכיר במשכן שני פעמים וכבוד ה' מלא את המשכן, כנגד ''את כבודו ואת גדלו,; והיה במשכן תמיד עם ישראל הכבוד שנראה להם בהר סיני. ובבא משה (להלן לד לד) היה אליו הדבור אשר נדבר לו בהר סיני. וכמו שאמר במתן תורה (דברים ד לו) מן השמים השמיעך את קולו ליסרך ועל הארץ הראך את אשו הגדולה, כך במשכן כתיב (במדבר ז פט) וישמע את הקול מדבר אליו מעל הכפרת מבין שני הכרובים וידבר אליו:
ונכפל ''וידבר אליו'' להגיד מה שאמרו בקבלה שהיה הקול בא מן השמים אל משה מעל הכפרת ומשם מדבר עמו' כי כל דבור עם משה היה מן השמים ביום ונשמע מבין שני הכרובים, כדרך ודבריו שמעת מתוך האש (דברים ד לו), ועל כן היו שניהם זהב וכן אמר הכתוב (להלן כט מב מג) אשר אועד לכם שמה לדבר אליך שם ונקדש בכבודי, כי שם יהיה בית מועד לדבור ונקדש בכבודי: והמסתכל יפה בכתובים הנאמרים במתן תורה ומבין מה שכתבנו בהם (עי' להלן פסוק כא) יבין סוד המשכן ובית המקדש, ויוכל להתבונן בו ממה שאמר שלמה בחכמתו בתפלתו בבית המקדש, ה', אלהי ישראל (מ''א ח כג) ' כמו שאמר בהר סיני ויראו את אלהי ישראל (לעיל כד י), והוסיף שם לפרש ''ה'''לענין שרמזנו שם למעלה כי אלהי ישראל יושב הכרובים (מלכים א ח כג), כמו שאמר וכבוד אלהי ישראל עליהם מלמעלה היא החיה אשר ראיתי תחת אלהי ישראל בנהר כבר ואדע כי כרובים המה (יחזקאל י יט כ) ואמר דוד ולתבנית המרכבה הכרובים זהב לפורשים וסוככים על ארון ברית ה' (דהי''א כח יח), וכן יזכיר תמיד בבית המקדש לשם ה, (מ''א ה יט), לשמך (שם ח מד), ויאמר בכל פעם ופעם ואתה תשמע השמים (שם ח לב), במדת רחמים, וכתיב (שם ח מד מה) והתפללו אל ה' דרך העיר אשר בחרת בה והבית אשר בניתי לשמך ושמעת השמים, ובביאור אמר כי האמנם ישב אלהים את האדם על הארץ הנה שמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך (דהי''ב ו יח). וכתיב על הארון להעלות משם את ארון האלהים אשר נקרא שם שם ה' צבאות יושב הכרובים עליו (ש''ב ו ב). ובדברי הימים (א יג ו) להעלות משם את ארון האלהים ה' יושב הכרובים אשר נקרא שם, כי השם יושב הכרובים:
(1) When God spoke the Ten Commandemnts to Israel face to face, and He commanded them through Moshe a few of the commandments, which are like the principles of the Torah's commandments - as the rabbis practice with the converts that come to be Jewish (Yevamot 47b) - and Israel accepted to do all that He would command them through the hand of Moshe, and He made a covenant with them about all of this; behold, from then they are His as a people, and He is for them a God, as He made a condition with them from the beginning - "And now if you will listen to My voice and and keep My covenant and you will be a treasure to Me" (Exodus 19:5). And He [also] said (Exodus 19:6), "And you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
And behold, they are holy and it is fitting that there should be a temple among them for His presence to dwell among them. And hence He first commanded about the matter of the tabernacle that He should have a house among them that would be dedicated to His name - and there would He speak with Moshe and [continue to] command the Children of Israel.
And behold the main object in the tabernacle is the place that the Divine presence would rest, which is the ark, as He said (Exodus 25:22), "And I will meet with you there and I will speak with you from above the ark-cover." Therefore, He had the ark and the ark-cover precede here, as it has precedence in [its] level. And He placed next to the ark, the table and candelabra (menorah), since they are also vessels like it. And [then] they were instructed about the matter of the [actual] tabernacle, for which it was made. But in Parshat Vayakhel, Moshe had the tabernacle and the tent and the cover precede (Exodus 35:11) - and so did Betsalel (Exodus 36:8) - as it was appropriate to have it precede in the [actual] act.
And the secret of the tabernacle is that the glory of God that dwelt on Mount Sinai, [also] hiddenly dwells upon it. And it is like it is written there (Exodus 24:16), "And the glory of the Lord dwells upon Mount Sinai," and it is written (Deuteronomy 5:21), "Behold, the Lord, our God, has shown us His glory and His greatness." And so [too] was it written about the tabernacle, "and the glory of the Lord, filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40: 34)." And with the tabernacle, it twice mentioned, "and the glory of the Lord, filled the tabernacle" - corresponding to "His glory and His greatness." And the glory that was shown to them on Mount Sinai was always with Israel in the tabernacle. And when Moshe came [to it] (Exodus 34:34), the [Divine] speech that spoke to him at Mount Sinai [came] to him. And as [Moshe] said at the giving of the Torah (Deuteronomy 4:36), "From the skies, He made you hear His voice, to discipline you, and upon the earth, did He show you His great fire"; so too, about the tabernacle, it is written (Numbers 7:89), "and he would hear the voice speaking to him from above the ark-cover, between the two cherubs and He would speak to him."
And "and he would speak to him" is repeated, to say that which they said according to the received tradition - that the [Divine] voice would come from the Heavens to Moshe from upon the ark-cover, and from there, it would speak to him, since every word with Moshe was from the Heavens during the day and was heard between the two cherubs, in the way of "and His words you heard from amidst the fire" (Deuteronomy 4:36), and therefore they were both gold. And so did the verse (Exodus 29:42-43) state, "that I will meet them there to speak to you there [...] and it will be sanctified by My glory," as there will be the house of meeting for [Divine] speech and "it will be sanctified by My glory."
And one who looks carefully at the verses that are stated at the giving of the Torah and understands what we wrote about them (Ramban on Exodus 25:21) will understand the secret of the tabernacle and the Temple. And he will be able to examine it, from that which Shlomo said in his wisdom in his prayer at the Temple (I Kings 8:23), "Lord, God of Israel," as it said at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:10), "And they saw the God of Israel." And he added there to explain, "the Lord," according to the issue that we hinted to there above, that the "God of Israel sits on the cherubs" (I Kings 8:23), like [the prophet] said (Ezekiel 10:19-20), "and the glory of the God of Israel was upon them from above. It was the creature that I saw under the God of Israel at the Kevar River, and I knew that they were cherubs." And David said (I Chronicles 28:18), "and for the pattern of the chariot, the cherubs of gold, for their spreading out and covering the ark of the covenant of the Lord." And so [too, Shlomo] would always mention, "for the name of God" (I Kings 5:19), "for Your name" (I Kings 8:44), and each and every time he would say, "and You will hear in the Heavens" (I Kings 8:32), in the trait of mercy. And it is written (I Kings 8:44-45), "and they shall pray to the Lord, through the city that You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your name. And You will hear in the Heavens." And in elucidation [of this], he said (II Chronicles 6:18), "And however, will God dwell with man upon the earth; behold the Heavens and the Heavens of the Heavens cannot contain You." And it is written about the ark (II Samuel 6:2), "to bring up from there the ark of God - which is called the name, the name of the Lord of hosts - that the cherubs sit upon"; and in I Chronicles 13:6, "to bring up from there the ark of God, the Lord, who sits on the cherubs, that is called the name," as the name [of God] sits upon the cherubs.
These and these (and these) are the words of the Living G-d
The Rebbe: Likutei Sichot, vol. 6, pp. 153-156.
They shall make Me a sanctuary: According to Rashi, God commanded the Jewish people to build the Tabernacle at the end of Moses' third stay on Mt. Sinai, i.e., on the 10thof Tishrei, Yom Kippur. Moses communicated this instruction to the people the day after he descended the mountain.
In fact, however, there are three opinions about when the instruction to build the Tabernacle was given and when it was actually built:
- According to one opinion in the Zohar, both the instruction and the construction took place immediately after the giving of the Torah, i.e., before the sin of the Golden Calf. (Hence, the Jews donated only their gold earrings for the Golden Calf, for that is all they had left after having given away the rest of their gold for the construction of the Tabernacle.)
- According to the Midrash—and this is the opinion Rashi adopts—the instruction was given after the sin of the Golden Calf, on Yom Kippur. By commanding the Jews to build Him a dwelling, God demonstrated that He had forgiven the sin of the Golden Calf.
- According to a second opinion in the Zohar, Moses heard God's instruction before the sin, but transmitted it to the Jewish people only after Yom Kippur.
On the physical plane, only one of these opinions can be correct.
But on a deeper level, these three opinions can coexist, addressing the three types of people God wants to build His Tabernacle—to make the world a Godly place—and who each imagine themselves to be exempt.
The holy mystic: According to the first opinion, God addresses Jews who are righteous and pure, having just experienced their rebirth at Sinai. Such a Jew may be unwilling to dirty his hands with gold and silver. He is addressed by the first opinion: "Despite your holiness, you are still human and physical. You are not exempt from fulfilling God's purpose in putting your soul into its body: to sanctify physicality and transform the physical world into God's dwelling place. Moreover, holy as you are, you still maintain at least a minimal relationship with physicality: you must eat, sleep, and so on. If you refuse to tangle with the world for the purpose of converting it to holiness, that minor but unrefined connection that you do have to the world will ultimately ensnare you."
The returnee: According to the second opinion, God addresses Jews who have sinned and repented, who have worshipped the Calf and have now returned. Such a Jew agrees that a holy person needs to engage in sanctifying his physical involvement in the world, lest it ensnare him in its material orientation. He, the penitent, however, is immune to this danger. He has "been there, done that," and knows better; he is untouchable. The second opinion is addressed to him: "The instruction to build the Tabernacle was given on Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, after the Jews had returned to the right path and been forgiven. Know that your return is not complete until you have built Me a Tabernacle. It is not enough to renounce the enticements of materialism; you, especially, must transform the material world into God's dwelling place."
The sinner: According to the third opinion, God's command applies even to sinners, to worshippers of a graven image. There is no mention of God rescinding the commandment to build the Tabernacle after the Jews had sinned, nor of re-instructing them to build it after they had been forgiven. Such a Jew, feeling tainted by his misdeeds, is convinced that the commandment to build the Tabernacle does not apply to him. He is addressed by the third opinion: although the instruction was given before the sin, it was not voided by it. God's Tabernacle is to be built by every Jew, even those that are idol-worshippers.