פרשת כי תשא/פרשת פרה
One of the striking verses that we read in the events surrounding Eigel Hazahav reads (Sh’mos Perek 33/Posuk 7):
ומשה יקח את האהל ונטה לו מחוץ למחנה הרחק מן המחנה וקרא לו אהל מועד והיה כל מבקש ה' יצא אל אהל מועד אשר מחוץ למחנה:
Moshe took[1] the tent and he pitched[2] it outside the encampment, far from the encampment, and he called it Ohel Moed and if a person sought G-d, he went out to the Ohel Moed that was outside of the encampment.
There is much to investigate in this verse. The primary question is which tent is under discussion and why Moshe Rabbenu moved it.
Additionally, the verse practically demands of us to understand the repeated implications of distance. This Ohel Moed was outside the camp, far from the camp and outside the camp. We may venture a preliminary opinion as to why Moshe Rabbenu wished to distance himself-in reaction to חטא העגל it would seem-but why the repeated ‘outside’s?
Rashi shares two opinions with us. The first is what he considers to be the P’shat and the second is the Midrash which he brings in a very concise manner.
What was the reason Moshe Rabbenu separated himself from the encampment of Israel? It was true that Israel sinned, but why should there be this division?
Rashi writes: אמר מנודה לרב, מנודה לתלמיד . Moshe said, [the Halachah is that] in the master excommunicates someone, the students must follow suit[3].
Excommunication is meted out because of sins and brazenness. The sin of Eigel Hazahav was a combination of both to the maximum.
G-d said to Israel (Posuk 3):אל ארץ זבת חלב ודבש כי לא אעלה בקרבך כי עם קשה ערף אתה פן אכלך בדרך. [You will be led] to a Land flowing with milk and honey, but I [Hashem] will not go up in your midst because you are a stubborn people, lest I destroy you on the way. The fact that He would not be with them is a symbol of that Divine excommunication. In consonance with the Halachah, Moshe Rabbenu removed himself from their presence as well.
Thus, the explanation that the tent in question was Moshe’s personal domicile follows quite logically. Rashi writes: לוקח אהלו ונוטהו מחוץ למחנה. He took his[4] tent and pitched outside of the encampment.
Now, if this would be the conclusion of this semi-episode in the middle of the subject of Eigel Hazahav, I would understand that Moshe demonstrated his revulsion to that terrible sin, in conformity to that which he saw from Hashem.
However, the Torah has much more to tell us about this tent-moving.
We read (P’sukim 8-11):
והיה כצאת משה אל האהל יקומו כל העם ונצבו איש פתח אהלו והביטו אחרי משה עד באו האהלה: והיה כבא משה האהלה ירד עמוד הענן ועמד פתח האהל ודבר עם משה: וראה כל העם את עמוד הענן עמד פתח האהל וקם כל העם והשתחוו איש פתח אהלו: ודבר ה' אל משה פנים אל פנים כאשר ידבר איש אל רעהו ושב אל המחנה ומשרתו יהושע בן נון נער לא ימיש מתוך האהל:
When Moshe left the tent the people would arise and stand erect, each person at the opening of his tent and they would look at Moshe until he came to the tent. When Moshe came to the tent, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the opening of the tent and He spoke with Moshe. The people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the opening of the tent and the people would arise and each one would bow at the opening of his tent. Hashem spoke with Moshe, face to face, as a person speaks with his friend and Moshe returned to the encampment and his aide, Yehoshua bin Nun a lad, did not depart from the midst of the tent.
The fact that Hashem spoke with Moshe at the tent seems to most appropriate in the context. It was necessary for Moshe to speak with Hashem. Hashem, evidently would not speak with Moshe in the midst of the camp because of the excommunication that He imposed upon them.
G-d’s unique relationship with Moshe Rabbenu would not override the nidduy that was imposed upon them because, as G-d’s student, Moshe was required to observe the rules of the excommunication as well.
Thus, in order to speak with Hashem, Moshe was forced to move his tent. When he did so, G-d spoke to him. The Torah tells us here, as it mentions in other places[5], the unparalleled way in which G-d spoke with Moshe so that we understand that His relationship with Moshe Rabbenu was not lessened because the sin of Israel[6] or because of Moshe’s powerful defense of them.
I do not understand, however, what was the going back and forth of Moshe that the verses imply. The verses talk about Moshe coming to the tent and returning to the encampment. What was the purpose of this coming and going?
An answer to this question is apparent from the Shulchan Aruch. We read in Yoreh Deah (Siman 334/s’if 2): ומותר בדברי תורה. שונה, ושונין לו. One who is excommunicated is permitted to learn Torah. He can learn with others and others can learn with him.
That is, though the one who is excommunicated is shunned, that lack of communication does not apply to the study of Torah.
Thus, Rashi writes: היה משה שב אל המחנה ומלמד לזקנים מה שלמד. Moshe would return to the encampment [from his Ohel Moed] and teach the elders that which he learned[7].
Thus, Moshe’s behavior was in complete conformity to the Halachos of niduy.
What is less evident is the moving description of how the people reacted to Moshe Rabbenu’s comings and goings and to the presence of the Shechinah at Moshe’s personal Ohel Moed.
I think that the answer to that question may be found in the explanation with which Rashi provides us in presenting us with a time frame for this event of the moving of the tent of Moshe.
Rashi writes:
והדבר הזה נהג משה מיום הכפורים עד שהוקם המשכן ולא יותר, שהרי בשבעה עשר בתמוז נשתברו הלוחות, ובשמונה עשר שרף את העגל ודן את החוטאים, ובתשעה עשר עלה...עשה שם ארבעים יום ובקש רחמים...ובראש חדש אלול נאמר לו (שמות לד/ב) ועלית בבקר אל הר סיני, לקבל לוחות האחרונות, ועשה שם ארבעים יום...בעשרה בתשרי נתרצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לישראל בשמחה ובלב שלם, ואמר לו למשה סלחתי כדברך, ומסר לו לוחות אחרונות. וירד והתחיל לצוותם על מלאכת המשכן ועשאוהו עד אחד בניסן, ומשהוקם לא נדבר עמו עוד אלא מאהל מועד:
Moshe had this practice form Yom Kippur until the Mishkan was erected, and no longer. On the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets of the Ten Commandments were broken. On the eighteenth he burned the Eigel and convicted the sinners. On the nineteenth he ascended {Mt. Sinai]… and was there for forty days and sought mercy [for Israel]…On Rosh Chodesh Elul Moshe was told, ‘You will ascend in the morning to Har Sinai’ to receive the second Ten Commandments. He was there for forty days…On the tenth of Tishrei (Yom Kippur) Hashem accepted the appeasement of Israel with happiness and a full heart and He Yisborach said to Moshe, “I forgive, in accordance with your word.’ Hashem gave Moshe the second tablets. Moshe descended and began to command the people regarding the building of the Mishkan and they made it until the first of Nissan. When the Mishkan was erected, Hashem only spoke to Moshe then on from the Ohel Moed (=Mishkan).
Now Rashi presents us with a seeming paradox. He just told us that that the moving of Moshe’s tent occurred from Yom HaKippurim. Earlier, Rashi taught that the reason for moving the tent was because Moshe had to follow the lead of his Rebbe-Hashem and relate to Israel as excommunicates, just like Hashem related to them. However, here Rashi writes that Hashem was completely pleased with Israel from Yom Kippur. Thus there would be no need for Moshe to move his personal tent![8]
Perhaps we can understand this event as follows.
The period between Yom HaKippurim of that second year following the Exodus and Rosh Chodesh Nissan when the Mishkan would be dedicated was fraught with danger.
There could be no more illusions regarding relying upon Israel to lead a life of consistent behavior. If the unmatched sanctity of Mattan Torah could be contaminated by the Eigel, then there is no question that splendor of G-d’s forgiveness could be violated easily.
Thus, Moshe Rabbenu chose this delicate period between Yom HaKippurim and the first of Nissan to provide protection from Israel so that they should not sin. It was his hope that when the Mishkan would be built and the Shechinah would find a permanent presence among Israel the draw of sin and idolatry would be minimized.
How could Moshe navigate this delicate period so that the people would not slip once again?
Rambam writes in Hilchos Teshuva (Perek 2/Halachah2):
אי זו היא תשובה גמורה, זה שבא לידו דבר שעבר בו ואפשר בידו לעשותו ופירש ולא עשה מפני התשובה, לא מיראה ולא מכשלון כח, כיצד הרי שבא על אשה בעבירה ולאחר זמן נתייחד עמה והוא עומד באהבתו בה ובכח גופו ובמדינה שעבר בה ופירש ולא עבר זהו בעל תשובה גמורה...ואם לא שב אלא בימי זקנותו ובעת שאי אפשר לו לעשות מה שהיה עושה אף על פי שאינה תשובה מעולה מועלת היא לו ובעל תשובה הוא...
What is complete Teshuva? That is when a person has an opportunity to sin and separates himself from the sin in order to repent, not because of fear or because of failure to commit the sin. For example, if a man lived with a woman illicitly and another time he was secluded with her and he still loves her and is physically able to be with her and is in the same environment in which he sinned-but he separates himself and does not sin, he is a complete Baal Teshuva…If he only repented in his old age at a time where he could not commit the sin, even though it is not the best Teshuva, it is significant and he is a Baal Teshuva....
Moshe Rabbenu wished to reconstruct a situation which would replicate, somewhat at least, the events at Sinai but inculcate within them a strength that would let them withstand sin.
How was that done?
First, Moshe Rabbenu had to remind them of how distraught they were when they felt the loss of G-d’s presence. That is conveyed in the verses adjacent to our episode.
There we read (P’sukim 2-4):
ושלחתי לפניך מלאך וגרשתי את הכנעני האמרי והחתי והפרזי החוי והיבוסי: אל ארץ זבת חלב ודבש כי לא אעלה בקרבך כי עם קשה ערף אתה פן אכלך בדרך: וישמע העם את הדבר הרע הזה ויתאבלו ולא שתו איש עדיו עליו:
I Hashem will sent My angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Emorites, the Chittites, the Prazi, the Chi’vi and the Jebusites. To the land flowing with milk and honey, because I will not ascend in your midst because you are a stubborn people, lest I Hashem destroy you on the way. The people heard this bad thing and they mourned and no one donned his adornments.
How could Moshe remind that of such a feeling? He acted with them as if they were still excommunicates. He put his tent far from the People.
‘Far’ is a distance of 2000 amoh, as Rashi explains:
הרחק - אלפים אמה, כענין שנאמר (יהושע ג/ד) אך רחוק יהיה ביניכם וביניו כאלפים אמה במדה
Far- Two Thousand Amoh, as it says in regard to the distance the Israelites had to maintain between themselves and the Aron Kodesh when they crossed the Jordan River-‘However there should be a distance between you and it, of a measured 2000 amoh’.[9]
By replicating the situation of niduy, the people could be reminded of the sense of distraught that overcame them.
How would the presence of Hashem be replicated? It would be impossible to duplicate the events at Sinai. The Shechinah was palpable. Everyone heard the Aseres HaDibros as a unit and the first two Dibros ‘spoken’ individually[10]. That event cannot be repeated.
Thus, Moshe attempted to make a situation where the presence of G-d could be felt and sensed in a most real way, even though by definition it had to be qualitatively, as well as quantitatively, less than at Mattan Torah.
The goal of Moshe Rabbenu was that this time, the People’s dedication to G-d would not dissipate and they would have unwavering loyalty to Him in this interim period between Yom HaKippurim and Rosh Chodesh Nissan.
The Torah tells us of the success of Moshe Rabbenu. The people were in awe of the Shechinah and they were moved by the greatness of Moshe Rabbenu.
We read that when Moshe went from his Ohel and returned to it that the people arose in his honor and they stared after him. What was the purpose of that staring? Rashi writes:
יקומו כל העם - עומדים מפניו ואין יושבין עד שנתכסה מהם:
All the people arose-they stood before Moshe and would not sit down until he was no longer visible to them.
והביטו אחרי משה - לשבח, אשרי ילוד אשה שכך מובטח, שהשכינה תכנס אחריו לפתח אהלו:
They stared after Moshe-This is a praise [to Moshe]. How fortunate is a this one born of woman to know with surety that the Shechinah will enter after him into the opening of his tent.
The purpose of Mattan Torah was not only to give Mitzvos. Its goal was to establish the uncontested authority of Moshe Rabbenu as G-d’s emissary[11] and thus to begin the line of authority that would extend throughout history[12].
We this was accomplished on a daily basis, apparently many times a day.
Moshe Rabbenu did not wish to impose a punishment on Israel. The contrary is true. He continued his role as their protector and their defender[13].
Perhaps, before the sin of the Eigel Moshe could not have contemplated the rapid downfall of the people. However, after he witnessed that downfall, he was dedicated to prevent its reoccurrence.
Moshe Rabbenu instituted in a means of protection, a defense of such a reoccurrence. He brought the people to a state that approximated the salient aspects of Mattan Torah, the presence of G-d and the uncompromising belief that Moshe spoke the word of G-d. He allowed that the loving forgiveness of G-d on that Yom HaKippurim would be transformed and empowered to a complete repentance on the part of Israel when they did not fall into sin as they did with the Eigel.
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This week is the third of the Arba’ Parshios, the four special readings that we have at the time of Purim and Pesach.
Parshas Poroh tells us of the laws of impurity and purity and how one who became impure by the highest level of impurity[14] can become pure again. This Parsha is read in the weeks before Pesach in order that everyone would be reminded and know the Halachos of become טהור in order to bring the Korban Pesach.