The Torah portion of Terumah introduces a whole new level in our service of God and in His revelation in the world, as Moses is commanded about the Tabernacle and its vessels.
There are several schools of thought regarding the purpose of the Tabernacle and at what point the command to build it actually took place.
The Ramban in his commentary emphasizes, what I consider to be, a unique and exciting approach. The Tabernacle is none other than the immediate continuation to the Sinai revelation. The idea of the Tabernacle was to be the place of the Ark, which is where the Divine presence dwells. It is for this reason, according to the Ramban, that the order in which the Tabernacle and its vessels were built is in reverse order to the way in which they were commanded.
They were built in logical order, whereas they were commanded in order of importance with the Aron, Ark, being the first to be commanded. The Ramban lists several expressions which are unique to Sinai and the Tabernacle. The first of which is “And the glory of the LORD rested upon Mount Sinai” (Exodus 24:16) and “and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34).
The one noticeable difference between the Sinai revelation and the Tabernacle revelation is that Sinai was on a much bigger scale because it was a one time revelation, whereas the revelation in the Tabernacle was to be continuous and therefore more humble.
There is however another school of thought, which sees the concept of the Tabernacle arising as a result of the sin of the Golden Calf. Had the people not sinned, it is possible that there never would have been a Tabernacle. Some even extend this approach to the Temple. According to this opinion, though it is true that the commandment appears before the sin of the Golden Calf, it was only given afterwards. We should therefore apply the principal of ‘earlier and later events are not presented in chronological order in the Torah’.
There are several explanations to the purpose of the Tabernacle according to this approach. One of the names for the Tabernacle is ‘the Tabernacle of the testimony’. Though the testimony normally refers to the Tablets, which are also called ‘the Tablets of testimony’, nevertheless, it can also be explained that the Tabernacle itself is the testimony. It is a testimony, either to us or to the world that though His people have sinned, God continues to dwell within them.
Another purpose which the Tabernacle serves is to allow people to worship God in a way they can relate to. At the sin of the Golden Calf, it became evident that the people were in need of something physical they can turn to. The sin, as we learn in the Kuzari, was not the need of the people to pray to something physical but rather going about it in a forbidden way. The Tabernacle therefore was built and became the compulsory place of worship.
A question that arises from this is what was Judaism supposed to be without the Tabernacle? The Sforno addresses this question and states that the original plan was not to limit who can worship God (the Kohanim) and where (the Tabernacle), for the entire nation were to be Kohanim - ‘kingdom of Ministers’ and God was to be approachable everywhere: ‘in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come unto you and bless you. (Exodus 20:20).
Therefore, according to those who consider the Tabernacle to be a result of a sin, we have now lost that ability of becoming a ‘kingdom of Ministers’. Whereas according to the Ramban the Tabernacle was part of the original plan, and it is through the Tabernacle and God dwelling within us, that we will please God, soon merit fulfilling our purpose as a nation.
It would also seem that the Ramban’s approach of the Tabernacle being a continuation of the Sinai revelation is an approach which has more potential to awaken the yearning of the heart to long for the third Temple. May we merit to see it speedily in our days.