In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, we read the last instructions that Moses received from God during the 40 days that he was on Mount Sinai. After receiving the laws in parashat Mishpatim and the instructions for the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and its tools and priestly garments, God instructed Moses to entrust the construction of the Mishkan to Bezalel ben Uri of the tribe of Judah, who would head the team that would carry out the complex and precise tasks of building the Mishkan and all that accompanied it. Then, a moment before he descended from the mountain, he was given the commandment of Shabbat:
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘And you, speak to the Children of Israel and say: ‘Only keep My Sabbaths! For it is a sign between Me and you for your generations, to know that I, the Lord, make you holy.... Thus shall the Children of Israel observe the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. Between Me and the Children of Israel, it is forever a sign....’” (Ex. 31:12-17).
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘And you, speak to the Children of Israel and say: ‘Only keep My Sabbaths! For it is a sign between Me and you for your generations, to know that I, the Lord, make you holy.... Thus shall the Children of Israel observe the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. Between Me and the Children of Israel, it is forever a sign....’”
Exodus 31:12-17
In reading this mitzvah, two questions immediately arise before the reader. The first: What is the connection between the commandment of Shabbat and the sequence of instructions related to the construction of the Mishkan? And the second: The commandment of Shabbat was already given to the entire nation at Mount Sinai, and only four weeks ago we read the commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. For six days you will work and perform all your labor, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” So why was it necessary to reiterate this commandment?
What is the connection between Shabbat and constructing the Mishkan?
The most important commentators who dealt with this saw these two questions as solving each other. Indeed, the commandment of Shabbat was already stated at Mount Sinai, but now there was a special need to reiterate its importance, precisely in the context of the construction of the Mishkan. This was because the construction of the Mishkan involved doing many forms of work that are forbidden on Shabbat, and it was conceivable that the construction of the Mishkan should take priority over the sanctity of Shabbat. Therefore, upon completion of the instructions for the construction of the Mishkan, God repeated the commandment of Shabbat to emphasize that the construction of the Mishkan does not take priority over the sanctity of Shabbat, and in the words of Rashi: “Although I mandated you to command them concerning the work of the Mishkan, do not let it seem to you that you may easily set aside the Sabbath because of that work.... Although you will be rushed to perform the work [of the Mishkan] quickly, the Sabbath shall not be set aside because of it” (Rashi on Ex. 31:13).
THE PROHIBITION against building the Mishkan on Shabbat touches on one of the most delicate issues in Jewish thought: the sanctity of time and the sanctity of place. The Mishkan expresses the sanctity of place. The Temple Mount, on which the Temple was later built, is the holiest place for the Jewish people. On the other hand, Shabbat expresses the sanctity of time. In the midst of the mundane routine of life, every seven days a sacred time emerges – a day of holiness. The question of building the Mishkan on Shabbat was actually a clash between the sanctity of time and the sanctity of place. Which one takes priority over the other?
We can point out different aspects of the relationship between the sanctity of time and the sanctity of place, and sometimes we can indeed find that the sanctity of place overrides the sanctity of time. For example, the sacrifice of the permanent sacrifices in the Temple is also done on Shabbat, even though it involves doing melacha. And yet, when the people approached the sanctity of place for the first time and built the Mishkan, the sanctity of time overrode and limited construction.
It can be seen as follows: The sanctity of time means that there are times when the presence of God breaks into the routine, a breach that makes us stop and dedicate the time to convene with God. When holiness breaks into time, we are called upon to devote ourselves to it in all aspects of life, including those that are sacred, such as the places that were designated for the dwelling of the Divine Presence and for the service of the sacred.
Shabbat is an invitation to devote oneself to the sacred, “For it is a sign between Me and you for your generations... for it is holy unto you.” The Sabbath was given to us so that it would influence the days of man, even the routine days, as Rabbi Aharon of Karlin (one of the leaders of the Hassidic movement in Lithuania, 1736-1772) wrote in his sublime poem “Ka Echsof Noam Shabbat” (How I Long for the Bliss of Shabbat): “Six days that receive holiness from Your holy Sabbath.”
Shabbat is a gift that every Jew is called upon to receive with open arms. And like any quality gift, even if it sometimes requires effort, the gain compensates for the effort.■
The writer is rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites.