The Mishkan and the Creation of the World

Sacrifices being a complete sublimation and connection to G-d can be taken one step further. The Medrash informs us that the creation of the Mishkan was based upon the creation of the world. The Medrash states:

R. Jacob the son of Issi asked: Why does it say; I love the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth? Because the Tabernacle is equal to the creation of the world itself. How is that so? Concerning the first day, it is written: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1:1), and it is written elsewhere: Who stretched out the heavens like a curtain (Ps. 104:2), and concerning the Tabernacle it is written: And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair (Exod. 26:7). About the second day of creation it states: Let there be a firmament and divide between them, and let it divide the waters from the waters (Gen. 1:6). About the Tabernacle it is written: And the veil shall divide between you (Exod. 26:33). With regard to the third day it states: Let the waters under the heavens be gathered (Gen. 1:9). With reference to the Tabernacle it is written: Thou shalt also make a laver of brass … and thou shalt put water therein (Exod. 30:18). On the fourth day he created light, as is stated: Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven (Gen. 1:14), and concerning the Tabernacle it is said: And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold (Exod. 25:31). On the fifth day He created birds, as it is said: Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let the fowl fly above the earth (Gen. 1:20), and with reference to the Tabernacle. He directed them to offer sacrifices of lambs and birds, and it says as well: And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high (Exod. 25:20). On the sixth day he created man, as it is said: And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him (Gen. 1:27), and about the Tabernacle it is written: A man who is a high priest who has been anointed to serve and to minister before God. On the seventh day The heaven and the earth were finished (Gen. 2:1), and with regard to the Tabernacle it is written: Thus was completed all the work of the Tabernacle (Exod. 39:32). Concerning the creation of the world it is written: And God blessed (Gen. 2:3), and of the Tabernacle it is said: And Moses blessed them (Exod. 39:43); with regard to the creation it is said: And God finished (Gen. 2:2), and of the Tabernacle it is written: On that day Moses made an end (Num. 7:1); of creation it says: And hallowed it (Gen. 2:2), and of the Tabernacle: And had anointed it and sanctified it (Num. 7:1).

This medrash directly compares the creation of the Mishkan to the creation of the world. The person bringing the elevation sacrifice has a chance to ascend to the status of Adam, and delight within the world made anew through the Mishkan.

When Yisrael left Egypt and came in front of Mount Sinai and heard the Torah and the Mitzvot, there was no command relating to sacrifices. They were commanded concerning faith, and praiseworthy acts that they should do

However, after they made the golden calf, and G-d saw the will of their hearts, and every day they sinned every day. A cure for their evil was required. They therefore came with the sacrifices, and the elevation offerings to atone for their innermost thoughts… None of these sacrifices would have been necessary if they had not sinned. (Abarbanel on Jeremiah 7:22)

While the Abarbanel’s view of whether sacrifices would have been necessary had they not sinned with the golden calf is debatable. However, it is interesting that the

The Talmud in Avoda Zara says:

Reish Lakish says: Come and let us be grateful to our ancestors who sinned with the Golden Calf, as had they not sinned we would not have come into the world. Reish Lakish explains: As it is stated about the Jewish people after the revelation at Sinai: “I said: You are godlike beings, and all of you sons of the Most High” (Psalms 82:6), which indicates that they had become like angels and would not have propagated offspring. Then, God states: After you ruined your deeds: “Yet you shall die like a man, and fall like one of the princes” (Psalms 82:7).

Reish Lakish here indicates that the Jewish people achieved angelic status when they received the Torah, and that status was lost when they sinned with the golden calf. This status was the same status as the one achieved by Adam before he sinned with the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.

Put together with the view of the Abarbanel in Leviticus, we can infer that the sacrifices were commanded as a method of reaching once more for the exalted status of Adam - in the words of the Abarbanel “a cure” which would once again allow the Jewish people on an individual level to reclaim what was lost in the moments of bringing the elevation sacrifice.