Devar Torah Vayakhel-Pekudei: Chaos Out of Order

What Happens to the Torah if Moshe Doesn't Argue Back?

 

What would the Torah look like if God killed out B’nei Yisrael because of the golden calf? 

This is what Hashem threatened to do, right? Kill everyone, start over again with Moshe. Now, Moshe argues back and saves B’nei Yisrael, but what was the plan if he hadn’t? 

Now, don’t come at me and say “the plan was never that, Hashem was just saying that to get Moshe to argue with him, and obviously God never changes his mind”.

First of all, you’re no fun at all.

Second of all, the fact that it’s in the Torah and stated by God means that there was some legitimacy to the idea.

For the akedah we say that the idea that God could demand the sacrifice of Yitzchak is a legitimate idea, even if God ends up saying, no, I don’t want that.

Hear me out here.  B’nei Yisrael have already received the Torah at Har Sinai, right? So there is still a Torah. It’s just that:

a) B’nei Yisrael would have been killed off after the golden calf story

b) A new nation would be founded from Moshe

So….what happens to Sefer Bamidbar? You know, the one with all the B’nei Yisrael. What happens to Devarim without a B’nei Yisrael to say it to, if the events being recapped in Devarim didn’t happen? What’s the alternative Torah if the Golden Calf is the last act done by a sinful people before they are swept off the stage of history to make way for the Mosaic People? And if they are now the people whose lineage begins with Moshe….what happens to Sefer Bereishis? 

What happens when the Torah stops at

וְעַתָּה֙ הַנִּ֣יחָה לִּ֔י וְיִֽחַר־אַפִּ֥י בָהֶ֖ם וַאֲכַלֵּ֑ם וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥ה אוֹתְךָ֖ לְג֥וֹי גָּדֽוֹל

So now,

let me be, that my anger may flare up against them

and I may destroy them—

but you I will make into a great nation!

---

וַיִּ֜פֶן וַיֵּ֤רֶד מֹשֶׁה֙ מִן־הָהָ֔ר וּשְׁנֵ֛י לֻחֹ֥ת הָעֵדֻ֖ת בְּיָד֑וֹ לֻחֹ֗ת כְּתֻבִים֙ מִשְּׁנֵ֣י עֶבְרֵיהֶ֔ם מִזֶּ֥ה וּמִזֶּ֖ה הֵ֥ם כְּתֻבִֽים׃ וְהַ֨לֻּחֹ֔ת מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים הֵ֑מָּה וְהַמִּכְתָּ֗ב מִכְתַּ֤ב אֱלֹהִים֙ ה֔וּא חָר֖וּת עַל־הַלֻּחֹֽת׃

Moshe faced about to come down from the mountain,
the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand,
tablets written on both their sides:
on this one and on this one they were written;

and the tablets were God’s making,
and the writing was God’s writing,
engraved upon the tablets.

---

What happens when the Torah begins at

וְעַתָּה֙ הַנִּ֣יחָה לִּ֔י וְיִֽחַר־אַפִּ֥י בָהֶ֖ם וַאֲכַלֵּ֑ם וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥ה אוֹתְךָ֖ לְג֥וֹי גָּדֽוֹל׃ 

So now,

let me be, that my anger may flare up against them

and I may destroy them—

but you I will make into a great nation!

The following, (presented in translation) was found written in Paleo-Aramaic script on a stele found in Kadesh, with the remains of some kind of ancient temple, belonging to an unknown ancient culture

….And I came down from the mountain and I saw that I had been betrayed by a rebellious and sinful people, for they had made for themselves a molten golden calf. This despite the fact that they had heard the same revelation that I had had, that there was only one God, that he had no likeness or form, that it was prohibited to make graven images of Him. They had rebelled at the notion of a God they could not see, that could not be formed; they took all the gold they had in their hands, cast it into the fire, and poured it into the mold they had made for Him, refusing to make the effort to transcend the visual, the sensible, the limited and physical, and think of a God who could not be described in any terms but negative, who was not one person or face or one facet or one created thing, but all of them and none of them at once. The gold that I was supposed to collect from them to create a place for God to dwell, whose every detail God had shown me in a vision of fire, the gold they were supposed to give as a תְּרוּמָ֑ה, from every אִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ, had been instead turned into a pagan atrocity. I see this people, and look! They are a stiff-necked people. They have been quick to turn away from the way in which I commanded them. So God’s anger flared up against them, this people that I had brought out of Egypt with great power and a strong hand, and he destroyed them, and I let him alone. 

And I took all the gold, and all the silver, and all the bronze, and all the blue violet and the purple and the silk and all the materials that were now ownerless and I created a sanctuary, following the plan that God had given me, had shown me in the fire. It had not occurred to me at the time, but every instruction given was addressed to me, and me alone. A lot of second person singular verbs in those parshiyot. I had never been to the promised land, and it turns out, I was never supposed to. This was always the goal for me. To worship God in the desert. That’s all I ever asked Pharaoh for, after all. And it is that sanctuary, the one I built from the ashes of my destroyed people, that you arrive to today. That was what I spent all 40 days doing up there. I just thought my people were gonna help me. But they didn’t deserve to. 

 That is why God started over with me, and got rid of Aharon, my competition for High Priest. I didn’t know at the time the role he played in this. I didn’t even want the High Priest job at the time! But as I built this sanctuary, I realized what monotheism truly meant. It did not mean an invisible god who transcended all things. It meant one god, one sovereign, who ruled all, who could in an instant destroy all, who could demand the sacrifice of all, who cannot be questioned or second guessed. Just like Noach watched the world destroyed by the flood and said nothing, I said nothing as my entire people were destroyed in an instant of God’s wrath. That is what God demands of us; silence and obedience. That is the main idea of monotheism: There is only one god, one way, one truth, and we must accept it without question. 

And as I reflected on this, I realized what their sin had truly been: It was not that the Golden Calf was a physical representation of God, it was that it reflected a vision of divinity that came from the people themselves, not from the one God, not from his only messenger. It was the product of multiplicity, of each individual giving gold and it being collected and melted down and poured into a mold. Yes, the original plan had been for me to collect donations, but the Golden Calf showed that that was not workable. Too many visions and ideas of too many people mean that the one true divine vision cannot be realized. The sanctuary, like creation itself, had to be the product not of multiplicity but of unity. God created the world, alone. And I built this sanctuary in the desert, alone. For I, and I alone, have spoken to the one God who rules alone face to face, and I and I alone can rule this temple and this people.

This statement was given by Mo(n)she The High Priest of the Desert, who took his people out of Egypt only to destroy them in the desert and build this sanctuary, to his grandson and successor,  Yonatan ben Gershom, High Priest¹

מְחֵ֣נִי נָ֔א מִֽסִּפְרְךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֥ר כָּתָֽבְתָּ

please erase me from the record that you have written!

OK, well if you insist….

וַיְחַ֣ל מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶת־פְּנֵ֖י יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהָ֑יו וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לָמָ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ יֶחֱרֶ֤ה אַפְּךָ֙ בְּעַמֶּ֔ךָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר הוֹצֵ֙אתָ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם בְּכֹ֥חַ גָּד֖וֹל וּבְיָ֥ד חֲזָקָֽה׃ לָ֩מָּה֩ יֹאמְר֨וּ מִצְרַ֜יִם לֵאמֹ֗ר בְּרָעָ֤ה הֽוֹצִיאָם֙ לַהֲרֹ֤ג אֹתָם֙ בֶּֽהָרִ֔ים וּ֨לְכַלֹּתָ֔ם מֵעַ֖ל פְּנֵ֣י הָֽאֲדָמָ֑ה שׁ֚וּב מֵחֲר֣וֹן אַפֶּ֔ךָ וְהִנָּחֵ֥ם עַל־הָרָעָ֖ה לְעַמֶּֽךָ׃ זְכֹ֡ר לְאַבְרָהָם֩ לְיִצְחָ֨ק וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל עֲבָדֶ֗יךָ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֣עְתָּ לָהֶם֮ בָּךְ֒ וַתְּדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵהֶ֔ם אַרְבֶּה֙ אֶֽת־זַרְעֲכֶ֔ם כְּכוֹכְבֵ֖י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְכׇל־הָאָ֨רֶץ הַזֹּ֜את אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמַ֗רְתִּי אֶתֵּן֙ לְזַרְעֲכֶ֔ם וְנָחֲל֖וּ לְעֹלָֽם׃ וַיִּנָּ֖חֶם יְהֹוָ֑ה עַל־הָ֣רָעָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבֶּ֖ר לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת לְעַמּֽוֹ׃ {פ}

Moshe soothed the face of YHWH his God;
he said:
Why,
O YHWH,
should your anger flare up against your people
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt
with great power,
with a strong hand? Why
should the Egyptians [be able to] say, yes, say:
With evil intent he brought them out,
to kill them in the mountains,
to destroy them from the face of the earth?
Turn away from your flaming anger,
be sorry of the evil [intended] against your people! Recall Avraham, Yitzhak and Yisrael your servants,
to whom you swore by yourself
when you spoke to them:
I will make your seed many
as the stars of the heavens,
and all this land which I have promised,
I will give to your seed,
that they may inherit [it] for the ages! And YHWH repented of the evil
that he had spoken of doing to his people.

---

וַיִּ֜פֶן וַיֵּ֤רֶד מֹשֶׁה֙ מִן־הָהָ֔ר וּשְׁנֵ֛י לֻחֹ֥ת הָעֵדֻ֖ת בְּיָד֑וֹ לֻחֹ֗ת כְּתֻבִים֙ מִשְּׁנֵ֣י עֶבְרֵיהֶ֔ם מִזֶּ֥ה וּמִזֶּ֖ה הֵ֥ם כְּתֻבִֽים׃ וְהַ֨לֻּחֹ֔ת מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים הֵ֑מָּה וְהַמִּכְתָּ֗ב מִכְתַּ֤ב אֱלֹהִים֙ ה֔וּא חָר֖וּת עַל־הַלֻּחֹֽת׃

Moshe faced about to come down from the mountain,
the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand,
tablets written on both their sides:
on this one and on this one they were written; and the tablets were God’s making,
and the writing was God’s writing,
engraved upon the tablets.

---

Now, let’s look at our Parsha

שמות ל״ה:ד׳-י׳

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶל־כׇּל־עֲדַ֥ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר זֶ֣ה הַדָּבָ֔ר אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה לֵאמֹֽר׃ קְח֨וּ מֵֽאִתְּכֶ֤ם תְּרוּמָה֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה כֹּ֚ל נְדִ֣יב לִבּ֔וֹ יְבִיאֶ֕הָ אֵ֖ת תְּרוּמַ֣ת יְהֹוָ֑ה זָהָ֥ב וָכֶ֖סֶף וּנְחֹֽשֶׁת׃ וּתְכֵ֧לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָ֛ן וְתוֹלַ֥עַת שָׁנִ֖י וְשֵׁ֥שׁ וְעִזִּֽים׃ וְעֹרֹ֨ת אֵילִ֧ם מְאׇדָּמִ֛ים וְעֹרֹ֥ת תְּחָשִׁ֖ים וַעֲצֵ֥י שִׁטִּֽים׃ וְשֶׁ֖מֶן לַמָּא֑וֹר וּבְשָׂמִים֙ לְשֶׁ֣מֶן הַמִּשְׁחָ֔ה וְלִקְטֹ֖רֶת הַסַּמִּֽים׃ וְאַ֨בְנֵי־שֹׁ֔הַם וְאַבְנֵ֖י מִלֻּאִ֑ים לָאֵפ֖וֹד וְלַחֹֽשֶׁן׃ וְכׇל־חֲכַם־לֵ֖ב בָּכֶ֑ם יָבֹ֣אוּ וְיַעֲשׂ֔וּ אֵ֛ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוָּ֖ה יְהֹוָֽה׃

Exodus 35:4-10

Moses said further to the whole community of Israelites: This is what יהוה has commanded: Take from among you gifts to יהוה; everyone whose heart is so moved shall bring them—gifts for יהוה: gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, and goats’ hair; tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and the breastpiece. And let all among you who are skilled come and make all that יהוה has commanded:

At first glance, this command given by Moshe seems to be a repetition of what he was told all the way back in Parshas Terumah:

שמות כ״ה:א׳-ט׳

וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְיִקְחוּ־לִ֖י תְּרוּמָ֑ה מֵאֵ֤ת כׇּל־אִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִדְּבֶ֣נּוּ לִבּ֔וֹ תִּקְח֖וּ אֶת־תְּרוּמָתִֽי׃ וְזֹאת֙ הַתְּרוּמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּקְח֖וּ מֵאִתָּ֑ם זָהָ֥ב וָכֶ֖סֶף וּנְחֹֽשֶׁת׃ וּתְכֵ֧לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָ֛ן וְתוֹלַ֥עַת שָׁנִ֖י וְשֵׁ֥שׁ וְעִזִּֽים׃ וְעֹרֹ֨ת אֵילִ֧ם מְאׇדָּמִ֛ים וְעֹרֹ֥ת תְּחָשִׁ֖ים וַעֲצֵ֥י שִׁטִּֽים׃ שֶׁ֖מֶן לַמָּאֹ֑ר בְּשָׂמִים֙ לְשֶׁ֣מֶן הַמִּשְׁחָ֔ה וְלִקְטֹ֖רֶת הַסַּמִּֽים׃ אַבְנֵי־שֹׁ֕הַם וְאַבְנֵ֖י מִלֻּאִ֑ים לָאֵפֹ֖ד וְלַחֹֽשֶׁן׃ וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ כְּכֹ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֤ר אֲנִי֙ מַרְאֶ֣ה אוֹתְךָ֔ אֵ֚ת תַּבְנִ֣ית הַמִּשְׁכָּ֔ן וְאֵ֖ת תַּבְנִ֣ית כׇּל־כֵּלָ֑יו וְכֵ֖ן תַּעֲשֽׂוּ׃ {ס}

Exodus 25:1-9

יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart is so moved. And these are the gifts that you shall accept from them: gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, goats’ hair; tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Exactly as I show you—the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—so shall you make it.

But notice the key differences. All the way back in Terumah, before the Golden Calf story appears in the Torah, Moshe is told that he is in charge of its building, because he is the one with the blueprints (תַּבְנִ֣ית) that Hashem has shown him. You’re going to be giving the orders, Moshe, based on what I have shown you.

But in Vaykhel, something has changed. Moshe is not telling the people to follow his exact instructions, he is not telling them that he alone has the vision that must be adhered to. Rather he is telling all of B’nei Yisrael, all who have a “חֲכַם־לֵ֖ב”, anyway to come and start working. The תַּבְנִ֣ית is no longer being presented as part of the building process. Rather, the vision is coming from the חֲכַם־לֵ֖ב of B’nei Yisrael themselves.

Perhaps this was a change wrought by the story of the Golden Calf. As I have pointed out previously², the Torah prefers to refer to the “Golden Calf” as an עֵ֣גֶל מַסֵּכָ֑ה, “a molten calf”, ie, formed in a mold. B’nei Yisrael made a fundamental mistake; lost without Moshe, afraid he would never come back, and still getting used to the whole monotheism thing, they took the concept of a Faceless God behind all Multiplicities and poured it into a mold that would produce a shape they could at least recognize, turning a single aspect of the multiplicity of creation into the Only Thing.³ But God is bigger than your boxes, your preconceived notions, your calf-shaped molds in which you pour your accumulated gold, and limiting God to what can be comprehended or represented merely means creating God in your own image.

There seems to be a rejection, post -עֵ֣גֶל מַסֵּכָ֑ה of the very concept of pre-conceived ideas when it comes to divine worship, even the plans of the Mishkan itself. People are just told to get to work, not necessarily following plans, but following their intuitions, their חֲכַם־לֵ֖ב, to produce the necessary items for the mishkan. The Netziv (Haamek Davar Shemot 36:2) goes so far as to say that nobody has any training whatsoever. They are, in the Netziv’s example, like children let loose into a workshop and told to pick up anything they want and start working. The goal is to let each child play around a decide what they want to do, and the fact that it was their decision what to do helps them keep up practicing to do it. So too, in the building of the Mishkan, rather than tell all of B’nei Yisrael their specific jobs and specific tasks, each member of B’nei Yisrael was given the chance to choose what to do, without any force or coercion, with the understanding that every task would find someone to do it who was uniquely suited to it. Because, after the sin of the עֵ֣גֶל מַסֵּכָ֑ה, the mishkan can no longer be the product of a mold, of a preconceived notion, the result of only one human vision, it cannot conform to a pre-existing plan held by one person, rather it must be the result of all of B’nei Yisrael, each bringing their own unique and God-given perspective to the task.

It is then significant that these parshiyot seem to go out of their way to involve people who aren’t ordinarily involved in the laws and narratives of the Torah:

שמות ל״ה:כ״ה-כ״ט

וְכׇל־אִשָּׁ֥ה חַכְמַת־לֵ֖ב בְּיָדֶ֣יהָ טָו֑וּ וַיָּבִ֣יאוּ מַטְוֶ֗ה אֶֽת־הַתְּכֵ֙לֶת֙ וְאֶת־הָֽאַרְגָּמָ֔ן אֶת־תּוֹלַ֥עַת הַשָּׁנִ֖י וְאֶת־הַשֵּֽׁשׁ׃ וְכׇ֨ל־הַנָּשִׁ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר נָשָׂ֥א לִבָּ֛ן אֹתָ֖נָה בְּחׇכְמָ֑ה טָו֖וּ אֶת־הָעִזִּֽים׃ וְהַנְּשִׂאִ֣ם הֵבִ֔יאוּ אֵ֚ת אַבְנֵ֣י הַשֹּׁ֔הַם וְאֵ֖ת אַבְנֵ֣י הַמִּלֻּאִ֑ים לָאֵפ֖וֹד וְלַחֹֽשֶׁן׃ וְאֶת־הַבֹּ֖שֶׂם וְאֶת־הַשָּׁ֑מֶן לְמָא֕וֹר וּלְשֶׁ֙מֶן֙ הַמִּשְׁחָ֔ה וְלִקְטֹ֖רֶת הַסַּמִּֽים׃ כׇּל־אִ֣ישׁ וְאִשָּׁ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר נָדַ֣ב לִבָּם֮ אֹתָם֒ לְהָבִיא֙ לְכׇל־הַמְּלָאכָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁ֑ה הֵבִ֧יאוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל נְדָבָ֖ה לַיהֹוָֽה׃ {פ}

Exodus 35:25-29

And every woman wise of mind,
with their hands they spun
and brought their spinning—
the blue-violet, the purple, the worm scarlet and the byssus, and every one of the women whose mind uplifted them in practical-wisdom
spun the goats’-hair. And the exalted-ones brought
the onyx stones and the stones for setting,
for the efod and for the Breastpiece, and the fragrant-spice and the oil
for lighting, for oil of anointing, for fragrant smoking-incense. Every man and woman
whose mind made-them-willing to bring [anything] for all the workmanship
that YHWH had commanded to make through Moshe, the Children of Israel brought it,
as a freewill-offering for YHWH.

Women, ordinarily not counted as part of the people, are specifically mentioned here as contributing to the Mishkan. The Mishkan is meant to be a creation of all of Klal Yisrael, each member of which contributes their unique, God-given perspective and intuition to the task which they are suited for. The sum of all those perspectives, then, represents God’s vision for the Mishkan, scattered among the multiplicity of the people He has created for the task. If that is the case, then leaving out any potentially God-guided perspective for reasons of gender threatens to ruin the entire Mishkan! How are we supposed to build a mishkan that, unlike the עֵ֣גֶל מַסֵּכָ֑ה, represents not one aspect of creation but a divine vision that finds expression in the multiplicity of B’nei Yisrael, if we don’t involve everyone, including women?

But wouldn’t letting everyone do whatever they want without a plan, without hierarchy, without coercion, lead to societal breakdown rather than a beautiful Mishkan? Says the Mei HaShiloach, that’s exactly the point:

כי בבנין המשכן נתחברו כל ישראל בלבם מבלי שום התגאות אחד על חבירו, כי בתחילה עשו כל חכם לב במלאכת המשכן כל אחד את עבודתו והראה לו כי עשו מלאכה נפלאה למאד, ואח"כ כאשר ראו החיבור שנתחבר יחד כל העבודה כל היריעות והקרשים, ראו כי כל אחד שייך לחבירו כאלו עשאם אדם אחד, והבינו כי כל מה שעשו לא היה בשכלם רק בסיעת הש"י ביד כל העושה במשכן, שיהיה אח"כ שלימות צורת הבנין, ואיך יוכל להתגאה אחד על חבירו מאחר שלא עשה בשכלו רק בסיעת ה

Because in the building of the mishkan, all of B’nei Yisrael came together without any hierarchy over his fellow, because at first all the wise of heart in the work of the mishkan did their own work and it was shown to them that they did wonderful work, and afterwards, when they saw the connection that connected all the work of the curtains and boards together, they saw that each one was connected to their fellow as if one person had made them, and they understand that this was not the result of their intellect; only with the support of God in the hand of all that did the mishkan, was there afterwards a perfected form of the building, and how could one see themselves as better than their friend once they considered they did not do it with their intellect only with divine support

God’s oneness and unity does not mean that there is only one right perspective and only one right way to build the mishkan. Just the opposite! God is the unity behind all multiplicity, and it is in the work of multiple people each doing their best to do what they understand to be God’s will according to their own perspective that God’s unity eventually becomes expressed in the finished mishkan. Monotheism is not a belief in order for the sake of order, or unity for the sake of unity, it is a belief that there is an order behind the chaos, a pattern we lack the perspective to see ourselves but is being produced by a Being whose perspective unites all perspectives. The Mishkan represents an example of the order that emerges from the chaos of multiple perspectives, the product of B’nei Yisrael as a whole, not merely of Moshe.

1. See Shoftim 18:30 and commentators there

2. Which is itself an idea I took from R. Pesach Wolicki

3. See Pachad Yitzchak on Purim 1