unorthodox torah
by William Finn

Ki Tissa, Vayakhel-Pekudei

My stepson, Micah, wisely observed, “The Torah runs out of the good stuff in the beginning.” Enthralling tales of passion, miracles and family intrigue give way to tiresome lists of laws and rituals.

The last portions of the book of Exodus reflect this transition. There’s a full blown spectacle of sin, idol worship and good times, when the Israelites throw a major party to honor the Golden Calf. Discovering the festival, Moses works up some Old Testament rage, destroys the tablets of the Ten Commandments and puts the kibosh on quite a few Jews as well. We are then treated to an excruciatingly detailed description of how to construct the Tabernacle.

The relationship between the Golden Calf and the instructions on the Tabernacle is illustrated by the story of the teenage boy who “borrowed” his father’s expensive car. After he ran it into a ditch, the father swore that his son would never drive that car again. Months passed and the father needed Sabbath bread from the bakery. Begrudgingly, the father handed the keys of his beloved car to his no-good son.

The father didn’t just say, “Go to the bakery, and get bread.” He said, “Now take the car and go directly to the bakery on First St. Do not stop anywhere else, not at your girlfriend’s, not at the mall, not at the library, and certainly not at the liquor store. Buy exactly two loaves of challah, one sweet, and one not sweet. Then come directly back home. At all times you are to drive below the posted speed limit.”

This is the way God talks to us in these Torah portions. Think of Am Yisrael (People of Israel) personified as a young teenage boy, slouching against the wall, hands in his pockets, his eyes rolled up in bored exasperation, as the Old Man goes on and on and on.

We were forgiven for the sin of the Golden Calf. However, God still doesn’t trust us, which is why the Tabernacle’s construction is so tediously spelled out. To paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, the tedium is the message.

The People of Israel at the end of the Book of Exodus are quintessentially adolescent. No longer children in the slavery of Egypt, they are not quite adult enough to be a free people. Their lingering idolatrous slave mentality caused them to be attached to the physical being of Moses. When he failed to return at the expected time, they created the Golden Calf. Building the Tabernacle fixes this sin, by giving Israelites adult responsibilities, and by creating a physical representation of the Divine Presence, which they clearly needed.

Building a home in this world for the Divine Presence is an awesome task. Given this mission, a mature adolescent, one who is aware of his own limitations, would say “I am not worthy. What if I screw up again?”

God would answer as any parent would. He would respond, “Everyone grows up, even children. Ready or not, you must assume full responsibility of adulthood.”

Thus, the Book of Exodus, a book full of miracles, ends with the greatest miracle of all. The miracle is not that we believe in God, but that God believes in us.

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