General Discussions
A thought pertinent to Episode 5.
It occurred to me recently that Exodus 25-40 is structured to explicity address all four (Aristotelian) causes in the construction of the Mishkan:
(1) Material, e.g.: "And these are the gifts that you shall accept from them: gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, goats’ hair; tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece."
(2) Formal, e.g.: "Exactly as I show you—the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—so shall you make it."
(3) Efficient, e.g.: "Let, then, Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled persons whom the LORD has endowed with skill and ability to perform expertly all the tasks connected with the service of the sanctuary carry out all that the LORD has commanded."
(4) Teleological, e.g.: "And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them."
Indeed, it seems that the entire discussion of the Mishkan centers around addressing these four categories in order to fully answer how and why it shall be constructed. (Of course there is also further substructure such as the 39 categories of work.)
With those thoughts in mind, while listening to your Episode 5 Podcast, I was reminded of Rabbi Fohrman's teaching that the Mishkan was the children of Israel's opportunity to build a "home" for God in their world just as God originally created a "home" for humanity in this universe (e.g. Into The Verse Podcast - Season One : FEBRUARY 21, 2023 - Terumah: God's Home and the Secret of Creation | Aleph Beta). On the one hand that means that Creation can help us understand the Mitzvot, but conversely it also means that God's instructions for building His house on earth may contain reflections of the same principles he used in Creation. In other words, it occurred to me that if God had such a specific blueprint for the formal design of the Mishkan as delineated in Exodus, then it would seem that He had a formal blueprint in mind that He worked off of in His creation of the universe, i.e. Torah Kadmonit!
Just some food for thought!
