This week’s parshah is “sandwiched” in middle of the narrative of the construction of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. The two preceding Torah portions (Terumah and Tetzaveh) discuss the construction of the Mishkan, its vessels and the priestly garments, as do the next two Torah portions of Vayakhel and Pekudei. This configuration suggests that this week’s parshah, Ki Tisa, represents the core of the theme of the Mishkan.

The Mishkan is arguably the single most discussed theme in the Torah. While hundreds of laws are contained within one or two Torah portions, there are hundreds of verses devoted to the single theme of the Mishkan!

Why is the Mishkan so important as to warrant such incredible attention to its every detail?

Its importance lies in the one verse the Torah uses to introduce the construction of the Mishkan: “Make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell within them.” This sanctuary is G-d’s instrument through which He reveals Himself to each and every Jew and beyond, to the entire world. The Mishkan thus represents the ultimate purpose for which the world was created: to transform it into a dwelling place for G-d.

It is, thus, surprising to discover that the central theme of Ki Tisa is the Jewish people’s greatest indiscretion! In Moses’ absence—when he was on the mountain to receive the Torah—they created and worshipped a golden calf! Why would the Torah insert this tragic episode of national shame and degradation in the center of the Torah’s most cherished subject—the construction of the Mishkan?

When the Midrash establishes that the purpose of creation is for G-d to have a Sanctuary in our world, it describes the location wherein G-d wants to dwell as tachtonim, literally translates as “down below,” the lowest possible level of existence.

What can be lower than a nation who saw the greatest miracles of all times, saw and heard G-d’s revelation at Mount Sinai, heard directly from G-d to not make graven images and worship them, and then, just forty short days later, creates an idol and worships it?!

And it is precisely in that “location,” where the Jew finds himself in the lowest of places, at the very nadir of his or her life, that G-d says: “this is exactly where I would like to dwell!”

Thus, the insertion of the golden calf episode, in the middle of detailed instructions about the Mishkan, was intended to underscore that G-d chooses to dwell precisely in those places where He would most likely not be found.

The above has particular relevance to us in these last moments of living in the darkness of exile. The term tachtonim—the lowest place—can also be applied to the end of the exile. We are situated in this tachtonim of time and, in many respects, also the tachtonim in terms of our spiritual sophistication.

Many tend to look back nostalgically to the good old days when there was so much more light and we had so many more spiritual and G-dly people. Could G-d really have the same positive feelings for our generation that worships its own version of the golden calf? Are we not so far from G-d’s purpose and plan?

It is precisely in our age with all of its darkness where G-d’s plan is fully realized. If G-d wanted a dwelling place in the lowest and lowliest of places then it is in our day and age—the tachtonim—that His plan will finally be actualized. Our generation, notwithstanding all the obstacles and challenges, has responded admirably to this challenge, as no generation before us.