Bankruptcy usually results from failure, but at times a company goes bankrupt because of its success. When a company expands too quickly, it risks outgrowing its infrastructure and falling apart at the seams. These types of bankruptcies typified the dot-com bubble and pop up every now and then.
In this week’s parsha, Moshe Rabeinu anticipates a similar problem in one of his final speeches to the Jewish Nation.
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 his bewilderment upon finding the nation worshipping idolatry. He breaks the luchos, and to make a long story short, he returns to the mountain to receive a second set of luchot.
| א בָּעֵת הַהִוא אָמַר יְהוָה אֵלַי, פְּסָל-לְךָ שְׁנֵי-לוּחֹת אֲבָנִים כָּרִאשֹׁנִים, וַעֲלֵה אֵלַי, הָהָרָה; וְעָשִׂיתָ לְּךָ, אֲרוֹן עֵץ. | 1 At that time the LORD said unto me: ‘Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto Me into the mount; and make thee an ark of wood. |
Moshe is told to make luchot, and this time he is told to construct an Aron as well.
Surprisingly, as Rashi points out, Moshe seems to switch the order.
| ג וָאַעַשׂ אֲרוֹן עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים, וָאֶפְסֹל שְׁנֵי-לֻחֹת אֲבָנִים כָּרִאשֹׁנִים; וָאַעַל הָהָרָה, וּשְׁנֵי הַלֻּחֹת בְּיָדִי. | 3 So I made an ark of acacia-wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in my hand. |
| ד וַיִּכְתֹּב עַל-הַלֻּחֹת כַּמִּכְתָּב הָרִאשׁוֹן, אֵת עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֲלֵיכֶם בָּהָר מִתּוֹךְ הָאֵשׁ, בְּיוֹם הַקָּהָל; וַיִּתְּנֵם יְהוָה, אֵלָי. | 4 And He wrote on the tables according to the first writing, the ten words, which the LORD spoke unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them unto me. |
Moshe first constructs the aron, and only then hewed the luchot, flipping the order of the previous verse.
Why?
Rashi explains that Moshe reinterpreted G-d’s command using strong logic: if I make the luchot first, where will I keep them? How will I protect them? It makes more sense to construct the aron, to build the infrastructure, before fashioning the luchot.
As we pass Tisha b’av, the next stop on our calendars is Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the yomim noraim, the high holidays. As we approach the month of Elul, we reserve our seats, we think about our three-day yom tov menus, and too often we wait until Yom Kippur to begin our teshuva process. If we wait until Yom Kippur for our inspiration, we will find that we have no aron to place our spiritual growth. If we would like to take a spiritual step up next year, now is the time to build that aron, creating and strengthening our spiritual infrastructure to set ourselves up for sustainable growth.
No responses yet