Shabbat & The Mishkan
Mar 8th, 2010 by Rabbi Simcha Weinberg in Portion of the Week
Mishkan
My Rebbi, Rabbi Yochanan Zweig, asked why. Why may we not build the Mishkan on Shabbat?
Would it not make sense to use the Holiest day of the week to perform our holiest work? Should we not use every possible Mitzvah on Shabbat?
Rabbi Zweig explains that the Mitzvot that are specific to the other days of the week serve the purpose of directing our independence in a manner that can bridge the distance between independent human beings and their Creator.
However, Shabbat, which also means to return, is a time when we do not need to bridge the gap created by our independence. The very nature of the day repairs any faults in the relationship.
And there’s more.
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At Betzalel Weinberg’s bar mitzvah, Rav Yaakov Weinberg ztllh’h spoke about the construction of the Mishkan.
I can only paraphrase the brilliant conclusion of the Rav’s address:
“The Mishkan, by its very nature, had to include all the possible work human beings could do, i.e., *EVERYONE’S* contributions.”
Rav Yaakov described a vision of the Third Temple while he spoke and described the inclusiveness the construction of the Mishkan brought with it.
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When I read Rav Zweig’s question, Rav Yaakov’s teaching occurred to me as an answer.
It seems to me it expresses Rav Zweig’s answer in another illustrative way: Activities that rightly belong to the “Six days of Action” would need to be included in the construction of the Mishkan.
Perhaps we can go one step further and say: even the days of the week themselves need to be included!
(We’ve got to get a copy and transcribe Rav Yaakov’s discourse.)
There is a concept in kabballah elaborated upon in Chassidic literature of parallel planes ‘olam, shannah and nefesh’-space time and person.
Shabbat may be considered to be the Mishkan of Time.(Yom Kippur is considered to be the Holy of Holies of Time and therefore the confluence of the Cohein Gadol entering the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur.)
As Shabbat is the Mishkan of Time and no constructive work is allowed on Shabbat, one would not infringe upon the Mishkan of Time’s holiness even for the Mishkan of Space.
I had the privilege this shabbat to receive a flash of illumination regarding why we wouldn’t construct the mishkan on shabbat.
According to the opinion of many commentaries the Mishkan sprang from the aftermath of the Golden Calf.
In a similar vein to G-d’s injunction to cordon off Mt Sinai for the duration of the revelation of Matan Torah, the injunction to prohibit Mishkan construction on Shabbat served to set boundaries. It was a measure to ensure Ahm Yisroel would not idolize the Mishkan (and perhaps prevent an edifice complex).
It is a fascinating ‘what if’ scenario to contemplate whether Mishkan construction would have been permitted on shabbat if there had been no kheit ha’egel,sin of the Golden Calf. But then again, the question may be moot, as per those comentaries that there would have been no Mishkan required had there been no kheit ha’egel.