The following article was written for and appears in the Jewish Chronicle February 2007

‘Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell (v’shachanti) among them’ (Exodus 25:8)

Last week’s parashah, Mishpatim, ends with Moses going up the mountain for forty days and nights; the tale of how the people made a ‘Molten Calf’ during his absence, is postponed until next week’s portion, Ki Tissa. So why does this week’s sidra interrupt the narrative with an account of the instructions for the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle)?

Midrash Tanchuma (T’rumah 8) makes it clear that the chronology of events dictated that the Tabernacle instructions followed the Molten Calf episode: ‘You will find that on the Day of Atonement their sin was expiated, and on that same day, the Holy One Blessed Be He said to him, “Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them”… Let the gold of the Tabernacle come and atone for the gold with which the calf was made.’ Rashi agreed, arguing that ‘there is no chronological sequence in the Torah’ – ditto ibn Ezra. For Ramban, though, the order we find in the Torah is correct, and the Mishkan was not a Divine response to the sin of the calf. Agreeing with the majority view, Abravanel emphasised that while the purpose of the Tabernacle was ‘to combat the idea that God had forsaken the earth, and that his throne was in heaven and remote from human kind’, the Mishkan was not God’s actual dwelling place, but rather, a sign of Divine Providence.

Abravanel’s point reminds us of the central issue in the narrative: Last week’s parashah closes with an image of a remote God, accessible only to Moses: ‘The glory of the Eternal One dwelt (vayishkon) on Mount Sinai’ (24:16). Interrupting the narrative, this week’s portion demonstrates what Israel needs to do to bring God down to earth to dwell amongst us: contribute our individual gifts – willingly – for the building of community. Perhaps if the people had got on with that task during Moses’ absence, they would not have felt so lost without him – and would not have felt the need to make a Molten Calf.

Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah