The Mishkan (Tabernacle) was the portable place of worship for the Jews in the wilderness and the precursor to the Temple (Beit Hamikdash) that King Solomon would build hundreds of years later in Jerusalem. Due to the unusual structure and language employed in the Torah to describe the day of the Tabernacle’s completion, Rashi explains that every day of the seven days of the installation of the clergy to their sacred office, Moses erected the Tabernacle and dismantled it. But on the eighth day, he erected it but did not dismantle it.
What was the significance of dismantling the Tabernacle every day and then rebuilding it on the following day; why not just build it once?
A similar question may be asked on the following Midrash; before G-d created this world, He created other worlds first and then destroyed them. Finally, He created this world and said, “This is the one I desire.”
This Midrash presents a theological challenge: Did the Almighty make a mistake during Creation and only then, after a few failed attempts, create the world in which we presently live? He is not like us; we do not see a finished product until it is—finished, and only then do we decide if it meets our expectations. However, G-d does not function that way; He creates things exactly as He wants them because He knows in advance exactly what they will be like. Why, then, did He create worlds and then destroy them (because He didn’t like them)?
Moses dismantled the Tabernacle each day for no apparent reason and G-d created and destroyed worlds for no apparent reason. In both cases, a one-time formation would have sufficed; therefore, it behooves us to find an explanation for these seemingly gratuitous labors.
Perhaps the answer is that both G-d and Moses sought to impart a lesson.
Proverbs (Mishlei) provides instruction for how to deal with the mistakes we have made in life.
A righteous person falls seven times and yet rises up again, but the wicked stumble into calamity. (24:16)
Some explain “seven” to mean “many,” and the verse comes to dispel a common misconception. Many people think that a righteous person is one who lives an upright life and never veers from the virtuous path. The wicked person, on the other hand, is one who makes corrupt choices and leads an evil existence. According to the verse above, this is an error. The wicked one is not the only one who falls, the tzaddik (righteous one) also falls—even many times—but the difference between the two is that the tzaddik (righteous person) picks himself up and tries again, no matter how many times he has already fallen; no matter how many poor choices in life he has made. The wicked person also falls but chooses not get up. The result of that modus operandi is that his behavior will cause him to “stumble into calamity.”
The classical Jewish works on Mussar (character development; self-awareness) as well as the Chassidic discourses tell us that an individual’s battle with his or her yetzer hara (inclination to do things leading us away from fulfilling our potential) ) is not a one-time battle. It is a war with many battles and, like in every war, you win some, you lose some. But the most important thing is that that you choose to continue engaging in the war because only then do you stand a chance of being victorious in it.
What is the strongest weapon of our internal enemy (yetzer hara); what’s the ‘Atom Bomb’ that leads to the downfall of so many people? Hopelessness and despair. When someone convinces himself or herself that the situation is hopeless—I’’ll never get married; I’ll never get into graduate school and have the life of my dreams; I’ll never advance in my job; I’ll never be loved or be able to love—the person falls and remains down. If the yetzer hara can succeed in convincing someone that his or her situation is hopeless, then it doesn’t even pay try to move on. The present vicissitude has put the person in a mindset in which all seems overwhelming and hopeless. This person not only lost a battle, (s)he has lost the war because (s)he can’t move forward and is willing settle with whatever circumstances they find themselves because they don’t think it can ever change.
One Chassidic work encapsulates this idea:
The main objective of the yetzer hara is not to seduce a person to do an immoral act or to transgress. Its main focus is to lead a person to slipup so that (s)he will become depressed and therefore be unable to deal with the ramifications of his or her poor decision or behavior. When a person believes there is no hope, his or her entire being has been taken over by that state of mind.
The only way to win the battle is to have clarity and realize that one must go on with life. Granted, a poor life choice was made and a once in a lifetime opportunity might have been lost, but that does not mean that all is lost. Good, upstanding moral people fail and make foolish decisions but what separates them from others is that they get up; they go on with life and deal with the situation in which they now find themselves. What makes them virtuous is that they take responsibility for their lives and don’t believe they are destined to a life of doom.
Perhaps G-d was teaching a lesson in creating and destroying worlds. He is omnipotent and doesn’t make mistakes—if He did, He would not be G-d. He purposely created worlds which were unsatisfactory, then destroyed them and re-created new ones, until He finally “got it right.” Moses erected the Tabernacle and dismantled it, until he finally constructed it to remain standing. This was to teach by example that we too must not get discouraged when we exert ourselves and attempt to build something—our personal lives, family, friendships—with tremendous self-sacrifice, and then see it crumble before us. As painful as it may be, we must not get discouraged or simply accept that we are a failure and do not need to continue the “war.” During those tumultuous times, we must remain engaged and strengthen ourselves to try again—and be prepared to engage in a new battle. And when we fall again, then we must strengthen ourselves even more; the main thing is to get up and remember that, as the verse above said, the only difference between the righteous person and the evil one is that the righteous person gets up after falling.
How does one get up when all seems hopeless? Pray. The knowledge that ‘I can’t do it all’ or control people or situations, is one of the most liberating ideas a human can have. Talk to G-d and tell Him you are in pain and you don’t see any light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Ask for help so that you can not only endure, but also remain in the game (of life) and be prepared for the next battle or battlefield.
Good Shabbos
(Sources: Rashi, 7:1; (Bereishis Rabbah 3:7; Yesod HaAvoda as brought in Nesivos Shalom I:93)