Just as in the Torah, living our lives out of order
The saying in “out of order” has several meanings. On a vending machine it means you aren’t getting your favorite candy bar. In a courtroom it means you’ve offended the sensibilities of the presiding judge. But usually it means out of the proper sequence, either numerically, alphabetically or chronologically.
In Torah study, the idea that events presented in Torah may be out of chronological order is represented by the term ain mukdam u’meuchar ba’Torah (which literally means “there is no early and no late in the Torah,” that is, things can be presented out of chronological sequence.
This clearly is the case starting with last week’s parsha Mishpatim and continuing over the next few parshiyot.
Commentators Rashi and Ramban differ on the extent of this “out of order” principle. Both agree the laws of Mishpatim were presented to Moshe Rabenu at Har Sinai, after the Luchot were given. But when were they in fact presented by Moshe to B’nei Yisrael? And what about the command to build the Mishkan itself and all the details of its construction?
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According to Rashi, relying on Talmudic and Midrashic sources, we can go back to parshat B’shalach when after the miraculous splitting of the Sea, B’nei Yisrael camped at Marah, so named because its waters were bitter. They complained they had no water, so Hashem showed Moshe a way to make the water sweet and drinkable, and also placed before him a chok u’mishpat (a decree and ordinance) that were immediately taught by Moshe to the people and included a recapitulation of the Seven Noahide Laws, the Laws of Shabbat, honoring one’s parents, Parah Adumah, and the Civil Laws of Mishpatim — all before he giving of the Luchot on Har Sinai.
These of course were later explained and expounded, first when the people were gathered for three days at the foot of Har Sinai, then more specifics with the giving of the Luchot and then the Mishpatim, the civil laws in more detail after the Luchot were given, while they were still camped at Sinai. (No wonder tradition tells us B’nei Yisrael overslept the morning of the giving of the Luchot; they were exhausted!)
Now here is where it gets complicated. At the end of parshat Mishpatim, the Torah tells us that Moshe was commanded by Hashem to take Aharon, his sons Nadav and Avihu and the 70 z’keiinim (elders) and to approach Har Sinai from a distance — but only Moshe will approach Hashem, after which Moshe will “tell the people all words of Hashem” and all the ordinances and the people will respond to all of this “na’aseh (we will do).”
Moshe was instructed to write down all that Hashem had told him, and build an altar and 12 pillars, corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel. He would then bring karbanot (sacrifices), take the sefer ha’brit (the Book of the Covenant, understood to be the Torah Moshe had been instructed to write, from Bereishit up to this point in Sh’mot) and read it aloud to the people after which they would famously proclaim, “Everything that Hashem has said “naaseh v’nishmah (we will do and we will obey).
Afterwards, Moshe, Aharon, Nadav and Avihu and the 70 z’keinim will have an incredible vision of Hashem’s Throne and Glory and Majesty followed by a tremendous and delicious kiddush!
Thus according to Rashi, quoting the Talmud (Pesachim 6b) this all happened two to three days before he Luchot were given, with the events of Sh’mot Chapter 20 (parshat itro) occurred after the events of Chapter 24 (parshat Mishpatim)!
How can that be? No problem: Ein mukdam u’meuchar (the Torah is not written in chronological order.
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The Ramban disagrees. He subscribes to the view that generally the Torah is presented in chronological order, and only on rare occasions are things presented out of order. The Mishpatim were presented as described, after the Luchot, not before, and the momentous events described at the end of Mishpatim took place after the Luchot were received at Har Sinai.
But what about the construction of the Mishkan and its vessels in parshat Terumah, the garments and role of the Kohanim in parshat Tezaveh, and the sin of the Egel Hazahav (the Golden Calf) in parshat Ki Tisa?
For Rashi that is easy. Things are frequently written out of order, so the sin of the Golden Calf happened shortly after B’nei Yisrael heard but didn’t yet receive the actual Luchot from Moshe. This would be one of the rare times the Ramban would have to agree, since it is recounted so long after the Torah was actually given.
Why the delay? Simply because the giving of the Torah was so profoundly consequential that to talk of Israel’s terrible failing at that moment would have farshtered (spoiled the simcha).
Then why did the Torah not relate it after the Torah was received and before the command to build the Mishkan?
The answer is fundamental to understanding the purpose of the Mishkan. According to Rashi and the S’forno and other commentators, the building of the Mishkan was not supposed to be necessary — it was only required after the sin of the Egel.
As the S’forno beautifully describes, every home was originally to be a mikdash me’at (a mini-Holy Temple) and every b’chor (firstborn) a Kohen. With the sin, that plan was revoked by Hashem. But as always, He gave us a way of repairing our sin, a “plan B,” a kapara (atonement for our sins) — and that was the building of the Mishkan.
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In contrast, according to Ramban, the building of the Mishkan, a place for Hashem’s shechina on earth, was part of the original plan, the culmination of the entire geula, the redemption from the galut of Mitzrayim. Therefore it is in the Torah narrative in the precise order, coming immediately after matan Torah on Har Sinai, allowing us to replicate that experience of Revelation in the Mishkan, later in the Batei Mikdash and even in our Batei Knessiyot, our synagogues, till such time when the Beit Hamikdash can be rebuilt, b’mehaira beyamenu.
This idea of whether the Torah is “in or out of order” is not a trivial issue. It has stirred some of the deepest controversies amongst us, leading to outright apikorsus (heresy and crises of faith). Thankfully the “documentary hypothesis” has been largely debunked by careful textual analysis, historicity and archaeological discoveries.
But in truth this issue of “order” shouldn’t trouble us at all. Just like the differences between Hillel and Shammai, the differences between Rashi and Ramban, Ibn Ezra and the Rashbam — they are all elu va’elu divrei Elokim Chayim (words of the living G-d). And that is what the Torah is, a living document.
Life is messy, often out of order, unexpected and unpredictable. We know what we need to do but we forget. So we have to repeat it, to our children, to our spouses, to ourselves.
Often we intend to do the right thing, but we blow it. We mess up, we sin. But Hashem, in His infinite mercy, always has a plan B, called teshuva, available to us to make things right, to put things back in order.
What a comfort, what a relief. Just as Hashem says, back in parshat B’Shalach: “Ani Hashem Rof’echa (I am Hashem, your doctor).”
Just what the Doctor ordered.
Shabbat shalom.
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
