VOLUME 114 NUMBER 10
Adar 21, 5785
March 21, 2025
Parshas Vayakhel
Candlelighting Time 6:55
The Mishkan was the central point of Hashem’s ‘concentration’ in the desert. The professionalism that was present in its construction was nothing short of amazing. A nation of former slaves without any skilled training produced a beautiful edifice with remarkable talent. A detailed accounting of the components of the Mishkan was written in great specification beginning with the parsha of Terumah and repeated many times until the end of sefer Shemos. Truthfully, that is the question that needs to be addressed. Why indeed was it necessary to reiterate so many times the features of the Mishkan? Many very important laws are conveyed with an extra letter or word yet these facts are recapped numerous times.
Rabbeinu Bachya focuses on this and in a very comprehensive explanation points out that the repetition of the Mishkan’s features occurs five times. He proposes that the need was double. Firstly, to emphasize the endearment of the nation to Hashem. For the Divine Presence to reside in our midst was not only an honor that displayed our prestige to the entire world, but also Hashem’s ‘desire’ to do so demonstrated how cherished and beloved we are to Him. Certainly, that relationship is inimitable and serves to give us the extra push to value the Torah and mitzvos and to strive to achieve and accomplish our observance of the mitzvos and to excel in Torah study.
Additionally, we are invited to realize the significance of the Mishkan. Not only was it stunning and exquisite, the Midrashim are replete with the soul and theme of the different parts of the Mishkan and what they represented. Every detail was fashioned just so in order to convey to the people an enormous understanding of the entire universe and Hashem’s incredibly intricate and multifaceted creation that we are part of. The enormity of the cosmos escapes our feeble minds but even the complexity of the world around us is beyond man’s inadequate intelligence. With the Mishkan we had an ongoing glimpse of the extremely incredulous worlds by which we are surrounded. Our own planetary system is just a small yet incredibly intricate arrangement that continues to swirl and spin with such precision and exactness that to even have a second thought that the “Bing Bang” was responsible for all that we view is not only ridiculous but thoroughly inane. Viewing the Mishkan on a daily basis gave the nation in the desert a constant reminder of Hashem’s handicraft.
Another important facet of the Mishkan was that it served as an atonement for the catastrophic Golden Calf episode. The Midrash correlates the different verses referring to the Mishkan that were used to negate that which occurred and was said at that unfortunate time. Moshe gathered the people to expound upon the Torah refuted that Ahron gathered the people to construct the Golden Calf. The gold utilized in the Mishkan rescinded the gold that was used in that disastrous incident. The world is available for us to utilize in the appropriate fashion and when we abuse those opportunities the only avenue is to reverse our attitude and employ those very tools for serving Hashem and upgrading our lifestyle. It is never too late to overturn and dispel our errors of the past and set our sights on accomplishing and achieving our objectives and becoming successful.
A BYTE FOR SHABBOS
The Torah states that one whose heart inspired him and one who desired to donate gave for the construction of the Mishkan. The seemingly repetitive language conveys that even one who did not have the resources to donate if he had just the inclination to do so, Hashem orchestrated that he would have the means. MAHARAL DISKIN
GOOD SHABB0S
