During a recent trip to my hometown Chicago, I had the opportunity to see the newest skyscraper rising up on the Chicago skyline, the Vista Tower. Though the building has been under construction for three years, just a few months ago the building’s world class designers were thrown an architectural curveball. As you may know, Chicago is nicknamed the Windy City, and the skyscrapers in Chicago (in truth in all cities) sway ever so slightly in the wind. For example, the Willis Tower, Chicago’s tallest building, sways an average of six inches and as much as three feet in the wind. Midway through constructing this 101 story state of the art Vista Tower, engineers found the sway too significant; future occupants would feel like they were on a storm-tossed ship, feeling ill and possibly afraid for their safety.
In this week’s parsha, Moshe Rabeinu continues his address to the Jewish Nation on his final days and shares how he avoided a similar poor design.
As he recounts the journey through the desert, Moshe reminds the Jewish people of their lowest moment, the sin of the golden calf. He shares how G-d gave him the luchot and describes his bewilderment upon finding the nation worshipping idolatry. He shatters the luchot, and to make a long story short, he returns to the mountain to receive a second set.
בָּעֵ֨ת הַהִ֜וא אָמַ֧ר יְהוָ֣ה אֵלַ֗י פְּסָל־לְךָ֞ שְׁנֵֽי־לֻוחֹ֤ת אֲבָנִים֙ כָּרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים וַעֲלֵ֥ה אֵלַ֖י הָהָ֑רָה וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ לְּךָ֖ אֲר֥וֹן עֵֽץ׃
Thereupon the LORD said to me, “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood.
Moshe is told to carve out the luchot, to climb the mountain, and to construct an Aron.
Surprisingly, as Rashi points out, Moshe seems to switch the order.
וָאַ֤עַשׂ אֲרוֹן֙ עֲצֵ֣י שִׁטִּ֔ים וָאֶפְסֹ֛ל שְׁנֵי־לֻחֹ֥ת אֲבָנִ֖ים כָּרִאשֹׁנִ֑ים וָאַ֣עַל הָהָ֔רָה וּשְׁנֵ֥י הַלֻּחֹ֖ת בְּיָדִֽי׃
I made an ark of acacia wood and carved out two tablets of stone like the first; I took the two tablets with me and went up the mountain.
G-d commands Moshe to carve the luchot and make an aron. Instead, Moshe first constructs the aron, and only then hews the luchot, flipping the order.
Why did Moshe alter the plan?
Rashi explains that Moshe reinterpreted G-d’s command using strong logic: if I make the luchot first, reasons Moshe, where will I keep them? How will I protect these precious stone tablets? It makes most sense to construct the aron, to first build the infrastructure, before fashioning the luchot.
Moshe’s intuition seems logical, and you don’t need a world class architect to make this realization.
What bothers Rashi’s supercommentators is that we find Moshe being inconsistent on this very point.
The gemara in Brachot 55a points to some inconsistencies regarding the order of the building of the Mishkan in parshiot Terumah, Tetzave, Vayakhel, and Pekudei. To account for the discrepencies, the gemara shares the following discussion between Moshe and Betzalel, the Chief Architect of the Mishkan, which took place behind the scenes.
אמר לו עשה ארון וכלים ומשכן. אמר לו משה רבינו מנהגו של עולם אדם בונה בית ואחר כך מכניס לתוכו כלים ואתה אומר עשה לי ארון וכלים ומשכן כלים שאני עושה להיכן אכניסם
Moshe tells Betzalel: Make an ark, and vessels, and a tabernacle”.
Betzalel responds to Moshe: Moses, our teacher, the standard practice throughout the world is that a person builds a house and only afterward places the vessels in the house, and you say to me: Make an ark, and vessels, and a tabernacle. If I do so in the order you have commanded, the vessels that I make, where shall I put them?
Moshe seems inconsistent. When providing instructions to build the mishkan, Moshe commands Betzalel to fashion a menorah, to build a shulchan, to create each of the vessels of the mishkan first. Only afterwards should the structure be built. But when Moshe is tasked with carving the luchot, his knee jerk reaction is that the structure must be made first to hold them.
Why in our parsha does Moshe naturally assume that the structure should precede the contents, but by the Mishkan (which according to many opinions occurs after the giving of these Luchot) Moshe is comfortable constructing the contents before the structure?
Perhaps Moshe is teaching us a lesson in flexibility. There is not one model for all situations. We cannot take one approach and apply it across the board.
Different tasks need to be performed differently. It goes without saying that no one would dream of constructing a skyscraper without drawing a blueprint. But some of the greatest works of art come about through spontaneous action and would be spoiled with a planned out, detailed, and rigorous design.
Just ten minutes ago we benched Rosh Chodesh Elul as we approach the month of introspection leading to the Yamim Noraim. Over the next month, as we begin thinking of the year ahead, what is our focus? Some of us may opt to create a general structure, creating a framework for the year ahead. We can fill in the details later. Others may focus on some specific goals or resolutions, and allow the framework to fit around these aspirations.
But perhaps most importantly, before we begin the month of Elul is to check how much our tower is swaying. Had the Vista Tower engineers followed their initial plan, much of the 900 million dollar swaying skyscraper would be unlivable. Instead, they noticed the flaw as the plans were in action and were able to salvage the building with a slight design change.
As we enter the last month of the year, let’s check on our buildings before we enter the next phase of construction. Even the best designed buildings sway slightly. Are our relationships with those we care about swaying more than they should be? Do we find our other obligations blowing us away from feeling part of a community? Do we find our religious values and our tefillot moving away from where we drew them up?
The next two months are an exciting time for many of us, certainly on a communal and religious level. Let us use the upcoming month of Elul to reexamine the blueprints of our lives before we build the next story.
(This post is a twist of last year’s http://toratscott.com/2018/08/13/where-to-keep-the-luchot/ )
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