In this week’s parsha, Ki Tisa, the Jewish people, just after hearing God at Mount Sinai, worship the golden calf.  This of course is a great sin for which Moshe appeals to God’s mercy and ultimately, gains forgiveness for the people.

Aviva Zorenberg points out that if we look at the larger context of the worship of the egel hazahav, the golden calf, we see a chiastic literary structure.   The laws of the mishcan are described in the last two parshiot, then Moshe is told of the shabbat, then the calf is worshipped, followed by shabbat again and the building of the mishkan.    Though there are a few other elements mixed in, the overall structure of A-B-C-B-A, (mishkan, shabbat, calf, shabbat, mishkan), emerges.

The center element in such a structure, is without a partner and is the element upon which the entire symmetry  is balanced.   This perhaps indicates that “C”, the balancing element in the center, is to be the focus of the narrative, in a sense it is the reason for the larger narrative.

Both Shabbat and the mishkan have their own reasons for being, stated earlier in the torah.  Shabbat is mentioned in regard to the creation of the world and the exodus from egypt, and the Mishkan according to the Ramban and others, has as its purpose to be a moveable mount sinai.   Nevertheless their presence here in these parshiot, in this structure, teach us something.

The golden calf story is one in which the jewish people feel  abandoned and fearful, they grab at what they can for comfort and direction.   There is a frenzied feeling to the golden calf episode.   On some level it is the golden calf story that brings the mishkan and shabbat here.  Perhaps the lesson is that the mishkan and shabbat in different ways come as a response to, or as a way of curbing the worship of the idol.

Shabbat is a complete stop, not doing, there is no frenzy, all is done and calm and we have what we need.   The mishkan is the opposite, it is about reaching for god.  In fact the mishkan and shabbat are deeply interwoven.  One is the obverse of the other.  All of the work to make the mishkan (39 melachot) is what one is not allowed to do on shabbat.  Shabbat is literally the non-mishkan.  Maybe the interplay between shabbat and the mishkan, an element of reaching out for the divine combined with and foiled by the shabbat, the not-mishkan, the complete stop, is the key to utilizing our passion which could lead to worshipping a calf instead toward a greater end.