These are the accountings of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony...
Rashi comments on this Passuk as follows:
המשכן משכן. שני פעמים, רמז למשכן שנתמשכן בשני חורבנין על עונותיהן של ישראל: עדות לישראל שויתר להם הקב"ה על מעשה העגל שהרימשכן העדות. השרה שכינתו ביניהם:-
The Mishkan, The Mishkan: The word Mishkan (which is an allusion to the word מַשְכּוִן – Mashkon, which means collateral) is stated twice, as an allusion to the Bais Hamikdash which was taken as collateral in its two destructions, for the sins of Israel. The Mishkan of the Testimony: Testimony for Israel, that Hashem overlooked the incident of the Golden Calf for them, for He rested His Shechinah among them, in the Mishkan.
The commentaries ask the following, on the words of Rashi. After Hashem forgave the Jews for the sin of the Golden Calf, He told Moshe as follows;
וביום פקדי ופקדתי (פרק ל"ב פסוק ל"ד)עליהם חטאתם – And on a day that I make an accounting, I shall bring their sin to account against them.
Rashi explains this Passuk to mean that “Although I have heeded your entreaty not to annihilate the Jewish Nation, nevertheless, whenever I shall make an accounting of Israel’s sins, I will bring up this sin against them, too”. Thus, there is no punishment that comes upon Israel which does not have in it some retribution for the sin of the Golden Calf. Accordingly, after Rashi just finished stating that the Passuk that says the word ‘Mishkan’ twice is alluding to the Bais Hamikdash which was destroyed as a result of the sins of the Jews, and we know, as well, that every punishment for the Jews includes within itself a punishment for the sin of the Golden Calf, too, consequently it would seem that the punishment of the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash would demonstrate the contrary; that the sin of the Golden Calf was not absolved.
The Gemara in Avodah Zarah (ה ע"א) says, לא דוד ראוי לאותו מעשה ולא ישראל ראויין לאותו מעשה וכו' אלא למה עשו לומר לך שאם חטא יחיד אומרים לו כלך אצל יחיד ואם חטאו ציבור אומרים להו לכו אצל ציבור – King David was not suited to perform that deed with Bas-Sheva and Israel was not suited to perform that deed with the Golden Calf... If so, why did they act in this manner? To teach you that if an individual sins we tell him: “Go and reflect about another individual; King David, who committed a sin and his repentance was accepted”, and if a community sins we tell them: “Go and reflect about another community; the Jews who worshipped the Golden Calf, and their repentance was accepted”.
The Gemara teaches us that if not for the sin of the Golden Calf, one could have assumed that only an individual who has sinned can repent and be forgiven, yet a community that has sinned does not have the opportunity to repent, rather every member of that community would need to accept his just and deserving punishment. For this very reason, Heaven decreed that the Jewish Nation should sin with the Golden Calf, with the aim that their subsequent repentance and forgiveness would serve as an example to all future offenders, that sincere repentance will assuredly bring Divine absolution even for an entire community that has sinned. Furthermore, we can say, that not only did the sin of the Golden Calf and the Jews’ repentance and subsequent forgiveness prove that a community, too, can repent, moreover, the very fact that the Nation as a whole sinned with the Golden Calf and then repented and were subsequently forgiven by Hashem due to Moshe’s pleading on their behalf was what set the precedence and ability for a community to also have the opportunity to repent and to be forgiven.
The destruction of the Bais Hamikdash was obviously not a ‘punishment’ for their sins, as their severe sins which caused the destruction were all of great severity, warranting a destruction of the transgressors themselves, and not ‘merely’ destroying the Bais Hamikdash. Rather, we must say that the Bais Hamikdash was only destroyed as ‘collateral’, until the Jews would repent. This is actually the very reason why the Bais Hamikdash was called ‘Mishkan’, which has the same root as the word ‘Mashkon’, collateral, in reference to its eventual being ‘taken’ and destroyed, not as a punishment for their sins rather as collateral for their repentance.
Since the Bais Hamikdash was taken as collateral for the Jewish Nation’s repentance, this would obviously establish that even a community who has sinned can repent, which would demonstrate that the sin of the Golden Calf was absolved, in order to be the basis, foundation and testimony to the future generations that even a community, who has sinned as a whole, can repent and be forgiven.
זרע שמשון אות א
