The Testimony I Give You

Parshat Terumah

by Rabbi Avi Billet 

In the instructions for the Mishkan, Moshe is told (25:21), “And into the Ark you will place the testimony that I will give you.” On the surface, this seems a straightforward instruction for where the Luchot are to be placed. 

When one thinks of the timing of the instruction of the Mishkan, however, consideration must be given to the Ark mentioned in Parshat Eikev to make a wooden (temporary) Ark (Devarim 10:1-5) (see also here - a related exploration in Ki Sisa). And the following questions must be considered as well: was it always the intent for there to be 2 sets of Luchot? Did God plan for Moshe to break the first Tablets? Considering that the instruction for the making of the wooden Ark came at the same time Moshe was told to carve out two stones to replace the ones he had broken, were the first Luchot originally to be left without a home from the time Moshe received them until the Mishkan was built? If the instructions for the Mishkan came before Moshe came down from the mountain, then God referencing Luchot “that I will give you” makes sense. But that thwarts the theory that the Mishkan instructions were given after the Golden Calf to help the Bnei Yisrael achieve a “tikkun” – a corrective – for the events of the Golden Calf! But if the instructions were given in that order – after the events of the Golden Calf (following the line of thinking of Rashi that the Torah is not presented in chronological order), then Moshe had already been given the Luchot! What does God mean when He says “Into the Ark you will place the testimony that I will give you”? First – they were given, and already destroyed, and Second – the second set of Luchot were carved out by Moshe, given for God to inscribe (or engrave?), and then returned to him! Who is giving stones to whom? 

Ramban says Moshe wasn’t given this instruction for the first Luchot, because God knew the first ones would be broken. Or HaChaim argues they were so supernatural they would have stored themselves had they not been destroyed by Moshe. He further suggests that Moshe was instructed by God to make an Ark “for you” (meaning for Moshe – עשה לך ארון עץ) to indicate that the second Luchot were actually Moshe’s, for he had carved them out himself and now would need a place to store them, whereas the first Luchot were entirely of God’s design in both selection and engraving. A number of sources indicate that the pieces of the broken Luchot were gathered and put into the Ark along with the second Luchot (Baba Batra 14b, Yerushalmi: Shekalim 6:1, Sotah 8:3). 

 There is likely a crossover in terms of which Ark is being referenced in some of these sources – our tradition has it that when the Ark of the Mishkan was completed both sets of Luchot were placed in it, the complete second set and the broken first set. 

 But the question remains about the timing of the instruction and what Moshe was being told? Rashi enhances the question by wondering why the instruction is given twice (in 25:16 & 25:21). Rashi suggests (and Ibn Ezra echoes) that the instruction may be assigning a specific order for how things are to be placed in the Ark. Don’t ever put the cover on the Ark (even while constructing it) until you’ve placed the Luchot inside. 

Ramban disagrees, feeling that it is also called an Ark when the cover is on it, so the cover could be placed on it, completing it, and then removed so the Luchot can be placed inside. 

 Ramban argues that the placement of the cover, which has its Keruvim, above the Luchos is a way of giving God a “Kisei Kavod” – a throne of glory in this world, a place from which “I will have My presence rest in this world.” כי אני אועד לך שם ואשכין שכינתי עליהם 

Alshikh quotes the Midrash Rabba that the instruction for the Mishkan is a parable to a king who had a betrothed daughter. As long as she remained in her father’s house, her fiancée would visit her in her father’s home. Once she married, her father, the king, would visit her in her new palace. 

 Putting the Testimony in the Ark refers to the Torah “which I will give you,” I (God – the king in the parable) will make her home my destination since I will have to visit her to see her. Prior to her moving, she (the Torah) was in my domain, and you needed to come to Me to see her. 

 This is how Alshikh explains his own parable. 

 I believe we can take this to a next stage. If God is speaking of how “you are to place the testimony I will be giving you” into the Ark, that implies that the Testimony might not be completely in their hands and that God will still be giving it as time continues to pass. 

Testimony refers to the Luchos, and also refers to the Torah, both of which we have a tradition that they were placed in the Ark. On a simple level that is easy to understand if we are looking to point to physical objects as being defined as the עדות/testimony. 

But if we look at them as ideas, as Jewish knowledge which testify of God’s existence, then the עדות is continuing to be disseminated and given over to the Jewish people, for us to learn from, grow from, and see as part of our continued education, and more importantly, identification, even in our day, over 3300 years later!

 There are times in our liturgy when we serve as witnesses, testifying to God’s existence and the truth of His Torah. We do this in Kiddush, in the recitation of ויכלו on Friday nights, and when we say most of davening, including most significantly, the שמע. 

 God continues to exist for us, in our world, and we have the opportunity to see how the Testimony He provides for us is continually placed in the Ark, the symbol that houses the Torah – His gift to us of His existence, and of His desire for there to be a place on earth from which His presence can be felt. 

 That place is our synagogues. May we be blessed to feel His presence, and to see that we are still putting testimony into the Ark, testimony of our continued existence due to God’s benevolence, and our fealty to His teachings.