Torah's Cinematic Twist
By: Rabbi Jordan Silvestri, Head of School
I remember the day that movies changed for me forever. “I see dead people,” changed my appreciation for the way that a story is built up, the way it pulls us in one direction until the very last moment where it reveals what it was actually looking to do. Perhaps that is exactly what Hashem had in mind with the aftermath of Har Sinai.
Immediately after Har Sinai, we are introduced to three parshiot - Mishpatim, Terumah and Tetzaveh - that discusses the nuances of Jewish law, the design of the Mishkan, Tabernacle, and the clothing of the Kohanim. However, these do not belong here at all.
As Rashi explains in Ki Tisa, the first set of tablets were destroyed on the 17th of Tammuz, on Yom Kippur (10th of Tishrei) Hashem expressed His desire for the Jewish people and began the collections for the Mishkan which was eventually erected on the first of Nisan. Our parsha, along with the one that precedes and follows it, depicts events that took place after the sin of the Golden Calf which is only brought to our attention halfway through Parshat Ki Tisa in two weeks from now! This might be the single most extreme case of a movie twist that we have ever encountered. The question that we are faced with is why? Why is the Torah designed in such a roundabout manner?
The Sforno has a fascinating response. The Torah designed this moment to highlight the significance of human choice. The Torah outlines the majestic beauty in the design of the Mishkan and the clothing of the Kohanim. The Jewish people were given the opportunity to be a nation of Kohanim and a holy people. They simply squandered that moment. The Sforno was combating any question that we might have that Hashem coerced the Jewish people from showing that they were a nation of free people expressing freedom in their choice to act.
The Sforno sees these long interludes as a glimpse to the treasure that was in store for us if we only followed the direct path that Hashem laid out for us. Instead, we took a turn down a dark and dangerous alley that almost severed our relationship with Hashem completely. The Evan Ezra has a different take.
The interlude was intentional in a different light. The Evan Ezra focused on what relationship was being forged at Har Sinai. Hashem was finally bringing all the last few hundred years together in a culminating monumental event that would forge an everlasting bond between Hashem and His people. However, a relationship is not built simply from the mind/brain. It is not enough to intellectually know Hashem and therefore have a relationship with Him. Such a bond requires emotion, heart, a real feel of connection between Hashem and His people. Once you feel that, then you are able to see the wonders that Hashem performs in acts of kindness, justice and righteousness.
As readers and learners of the Torah, we did not and will never experience the events of receiving the tablets from Hashem. In turn, Hashem designed the next best experience of connection - the building of a home which is based on emotion, heart and intimate feelings of appreciation and care.
The Torah designed a deeply thoughtful approach to the experience that is Har Sinai. If we simply read it and moved on, it would dissipate into the ether that was and not live beyond the words on the page. Instead, the design was intentional to create a space for Hashem’s people to develop a relationship that spans thousands of years into the past so that our future can be designed in the way He intended our predecessors to experience in real life. The heart must guide the head so that the head can continue to be supported through the times it falters. Only then can our future generations be supported to thrive even in the darkest of times.