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Orchard of Delights
great disappointment, he is unable to understand Rabbi Akiba’s
complex and brilliant dissertation. He is only comforted when Rabbi
Akiba states that what he has just taught was transmitted by Moses
from Sinai. Moses then asks God, why if He has such a great teacher
like Rabbi Akiba, He chose Moses to give the Torah to? God responds
enigmatically: “Be quiet – this is the way it has been determined by
Me.” Moses then asks: “What reward will this great Torah luminary
receive?” God responds by granting him a vision of Rabbi Akiba
being tortured to death. Moses is shocked and exclaims: “This is
Torah and this is its reward?” To which God answers: “Be quiet –
this is the way it has been determined by Me” (Menachot 29b).
Rabbi Akiba was tortured to death by the Romans for teaching
Torah in public. As he neared death, he told his students, who were
forced to witness this torture, that he had always longed to fulfill
the verse that commands us to love God with all our souls. He was
now joyfully prepared to fulfill that mitzvah. As he uttered the last
word of “Hear O Israel, God our God [Hashem Elokeinu], God is
one” (Deuteronomy 6:4), his soul left his body. Even when Rabbi
Akiba stared evil in the face, he clung to his unwavering belief in the
righteousness of God’s ways.
This insight into Rabbi Akiba may provide us with deeper insight
into why Moses assumed that God should have chosen to give the
Torah to Rabbi Akiba. Rabbi Akiba was not plagued by the paradox
of God’s goodness and evil’s existence. Rabbi Akiba understood that
evil does not come directly from God; rather, God allows evil to exist
for the ultimate good of humanity. On an intellectual level, we may
be able to grasp this concept to some degree, but when confronted
directly by evil, most people find it extremely hard to integrate this
idea into the very fiber of their beings. Rabbi Akiba entered and
exited the Pardes in peace, for he completely accepted the teaching
that “this [the initial negative experience] is also for the good.”
Parenthetically, it is quite instructive to note that Rebbe Nachman
of Breslov explained that God’s command to Moses, “Be quiet – this
is the way it has been determined by Me,” when understood more
literally is not just a pointed reprimand. When interpreted more
literally, the expression means, “Be silent – this is how one is elevated
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thought that Moses was late and would never descend from Mount
Sinai, they demanded Aaron make “gods” for them. By using the
same word, the Torah alludes in a remez to the fact that by gathering
the people to build a Tabernacle for God, the sin of the Golden Calf
would be to some degree rectified.
It is important to note that the commentators disagree over
whether the children of Israel would have even been commanded
to build a Tabernacle had they not worshipped the Golden Calf.
Some feel that the children of Israel would have been on such a high
spiritual level that they would have had no need to worship God in a
specific physical location; His Presence would have been perceivable
and accessible in every place and at all times. Others argue that, even
if they had not made a Golden Calf, the children of Israel would still
have been commanded to build a Tabernacle. In any event, clearly
much of the symbolism associated with the Tabernacle is directly
connected to the sin of the Golden Calf.
The derash interpretation, which adopts a metaphorical approach,
focuses on the intrinsic connection between Mount Sinai and the
Tabernacle. In the “Time, Space, and Soul” section above, we noted
that the prerequisite for receiving the Torah at Sinai was the people’s
unity, the sense that all the children of Israel were “as one person,
with one heart.” Only this extraordinary unity and brotherhood
among the people prepared them to be fitting receptacles for the
awesome revelation at Sinai. Recognizing this, Moses gathered all
the people not only to instruct them on how to build a sanctuary for
God but also to teach them that this task could only be accomplished
when unity and peace prevailed among them.
Rebbe Natan, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s foremost student,
taught that the Tabernacle was so holy because all the materials were
brought with willing and loving hearts. Since everyone brought from
their very best, what Rebbe Natan referred to as their “good points,”
every part of the sanctuary became a vehicle for God’s light and
holiness. The people’s gathering to build the Tabernacle recreated the
energy present at the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. This energy
was integrated into the holy mission of building a dwelling place for
God. The Ramban in fact posits that the Tabernacle as a whole was
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