Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
We read about Moshe up on הַר סִינַי (Har Sinai, Mount Sinai) last week in Mishpatim, and the big Ten Commandments scene was just before that in Yitro. This week and next, we hear the plans for building the mishkan.
But two weeks from now, in Ki Tissa, we will read about חֵטְא הָעֵגֶל (heit ha-eigel), when Benei Yisrael are impatient waiting for Moshe to come down from Har Sinai, and they create a golden calf to worship. Moshe comes down the mountain and shatters the לֻחוֹת (luhot, tablets) when he sees this.
The story of heit ha-eigel seems to be a continuation of the story of the giving of the Torah. This prompts our פַּרְשָׁנִים (parshanim, commentators) to ask:
What actually happened after Benei Yisrael received the Torah?
אֵין מוּקְדָּם וּמְאוּחַר בַּתּוֹרָה. מַעֲשֵׂה הָעֵגֶל קוֹדֵם לַצִּוּוּי מְלֶאכֶת הַמִּשְׁכָּן יָמִים רַבִּים הָיָה...
The Torah is not always written in the order of how things happened. The story of the golden calf happened a long time before the command to make the mishkan.
- Rashi makes a point worth thinking about. The story of the golden calf takes place right after receiving the Torah, while Moshe was still on Har Sinai. What parashah was that in? (Hint: check chapter 20!)
- If Rashi is correct, and the mishkan was only really commanded after the story of the golden calf, does that mean there is some connection between them? What might that be?
Ramban sticks with the order of how the Torah is written:
... וְאָמַר לְכֻלָּם עִנְיַן הַמִּשְׁכָּן אֲשֶׁר נִצְטַוָּה בּוֹ מִתְּחִלָּה, קֹדֶם שִׁבּוּר הַלּוּחוֹת...
...Moshe told all of them about the mishkan, which had been commanded before the story of the breaking of the tablets...
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