Well, this week has been a bit slow for original thought and writing. I've been asked to put the Pshat out earlier, and you see what my obstinate inner self does when pushed, eh? Nevertheless, I wanted to share with you a Midrash you probably are partially familiar with but may not have seen in its entirety:
(א) ויקחו לי תרומה הה"ד (משלי ג) כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם תורתי אל תעזובו אל תעזובו את המקח שנתתי לכם יש לך אדם שלוקח מקח יש בו זהב אין בו כסף יש בו כסף אין בו זהב אבל המקח שנתתי לכם יש בו כסף שנאמר (תהלים יב) אמרות ה' אמרות טהורות כסף צרוף יש בו זהב שנאמר (שם יט) הנחמדים מזהב ומפז רב יש אדם לוקח שדות אבל לא כרמים כרמים ולא שדות אבל המקח הזה יש בו שדות ויש בו כרמים שנא' (שיר ד) שלחיך פרדס רמונים יש לך אדם לוקח מקח ובני אדם אינן יודעין מהו אבל משכר הסרסור נתודע מה לקח כך התורה אין אדם יודע מה היא אלא משכר שלקח משה שנאמר (שמות לד) ומשה לא ידע כי קרן אור פניו בדברו אתו ויש לך מקח שמי שמכרו נמכר עמו אמר הקב"ה לישראל מכרתי לכם תורתי כביכול נמכרתי עמה שנאמר ויקחו לי תרומה משל למלך שהיה לו בת יחידה בא אחד מן המלכים ונטלה ביקש לילך לו לארצו וליטול לאשתו אמר לו בתי שנתתי לך יחידית היא לפרוש ממנה איני יכול לומר לך אל תטלה איני יכול לפי שהיא אשתך אלא זו טובה עשה לי שכל מקום שאתה הולך קיטון אחד עשה לי שאדור אצלכם שאיני יכול להניח את בתי כך אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא לישראל נתתי לכם את התורה לפרוש הימנה איני יכול לומר לכם אל תטלוה איני יכול אלא בכל מקום שאתם הולכים בית אחד עשו לי שאדור בתוכו שנאמר ועשו לי מקדש:
1. THAT THEY TAKE FOR ME AN OFFERING (XXV, 2). It is written, For I give you a good lesson (lekach)(; forsake ye not my teaching (Prov. IV, 2). Do not forsake the transaction (mekach)I have made over to you.
When a man purchases an article, if it is of gold, then it is not of silver, of silver then it is not of gold. But the article I have given you has silver therein, for it says, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a crucible (Ps. XII, 7); it also has gold therein; for it says, More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold (ib. XIX, 11).
A man sometimes buys fields but not vineyards, or vineyards but not fields, but this purchase has both fields and vineyards therein, for it says, Thy shoots are a irrigated field of pomegranates (S.S. IV, 13).
A man may buy merchandise and people do not know what it is [i.e. its value], save from the commission received by the agent. Similarly with the Torah, one cannot know its value save from the reward received by Moses, for it says, That Moses knew not that the skin of his face sent forth beams while he talked with Him (Ex. XXXIV, 29).
But can you conceive a transaction in which the seller is sold with his goods! God, however, said to
It can be compared to the only daughter of a king whom another king married. When he wished tohis wife with him, he [the father] said to him: ' My daughter, whose hand I have given thee, is my only child. I cannot part with her, neither can I say to thee: "Do not take her," for she is now thy wife. This favour, however, I would request of thee; wherever thou goest to live, have a chamber ready for me that I may dwell with you, for I cannot leave my daughter.'
Thus God said to Israel: 'I have given you a Torah from which I cannot part, and I also cannot tell you not to take it; but this I would request: wherever you go make for Me a house wherein I may sojourn,' as it says, And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (ib. XXV, 8).
I think the midrash is powerful enough in its evocations even without added interpretations. I'll just note a couple of points:
Note how the Midrash turns our attentions from the Mishkan per se, first to the Torah, then to Hashem, by use of different aspects of the root לקח. The use of that root is strange here, because the people shouldn't be "taking" but "giving". Giving by taking suggests a transaction, and in fact, that's precisely how the same root is used by Chazal. So the Midrash moves us from a free-will gift to the transcendant, inconceivable G-d, to a loving father-in-law who just can't bear to be parted from his precious daughter, the Torah. But who wants his father-in-law living next door? And note how the dwelling is described - it's a mere chamber - in Hebrew, a "kiton", or cubicle. This is a far cry from the splendid structure, peak of human creativity thus far, described in our parasha.
But of course, we DO need to be reminded that "If G-d doesn't build a building, then its builders labor in it in vain" - the entire raison d'etre of the Mishkan is that Hashem can dwell in our midst, and if He's willing to abide His new son-in-law, in fact, if he willingingly gives away His daughter to this young pretender, then perhaps He sees in us more than we sometimes see in ourselves.
Another observation: The centerpiece of the Mishkan is the Aron - it is described first not because it was built first - see Rashi on Parashat Vayak'hel (if memory serves) to see that in fact, the structure housing the Aron was built first - but rather because it is the core of the entire structure, the living meeting place of Moshe with Hashem, the place where Hashem concentrates His Shechina between the two carrying poles of the Aron.
But wait a second - I thought that Hashem is dwelling amongst us as a people? That's surely the Chassidic take on "v'shachanti b'tocham". Aren't the two images contradictory.
No, because the Aron contains not just the Tablets of the Covenant, but also the master copy of the Torah. And the carrying poles, badei ha'aron, were never to be removed from the Aron even when it was stationed within the Holy of Holies because they represent the mobility and omnipresence of the word of Hashem, from which he couldn't bear to be parted. The word of Hashem in the Aron carried by human beings is the Torah She'b'al Peh, the Torah that is always in our mouth, waiting to be spoken. This is the meaning of the notion שכינה מדברת בתוך גדונו של משה - the Divine Presence speaks from Moshe's throat.
When we understand that Hashem clings to His Torah with fevent devotion, then then so will we, and our Torah can become truly both Mishkan and Mikdash.
Comments