Rabbi Eliyahu W. Ferrell
L'ilui Nishmas HaRav Moshe Aryeh ben Reb Yaakov Lehon zt"l
#1] Parshas Vayakhel opens (Shemos 35:1), "These are the things that G-d has commanded be done." Moshe Rabbeinu then lists two things: Shabbos shall be Kodesh to the Jews and no flame shall be kindled on Shabbos. This is puzzling: Moshe Rabbenu said that he would tell us the "things" that we should do, yet we are only told one thing, viz., that Shabbos should be Kodesh; refraining from kindling (Hav'ara) isn't "a thing to do."
The Gemara in Shabbos 70a deals with why the prohibition of kindling is mentioned explicitly when we have just been told not to do any of the 39 melachos. One opinion is that we are being taught that Hav'ara is not a Chiyuv Misas Beis Din; it is rather a mere Lahv, punishable by Malkus. The other opinion is that we are being taught Chiluk Melachos: each Melachah generates its own Chiyuv Chatas. Since there are verses telling us not to do Melachah (e.g., Shemos 20:10), we might otherwise have thought that there is only one Chiyuv Chatas for general Chillul Shabbos (when one is aware that Shabbos exists and knows which day is Shabbos).
I would like to suggest that these two explanations for Hav'ara being singled out may answer our original question. According to the first opinion, Moshe Rabbenu is saying, "These are the things--38 Chiyuvei Misas Beis Din and 1 Chiyuv Malkus--that G-d has commanded." According to the second opinion, the things being commanded are the 39 Melachos: each one is commanded independently, and each one generates an independent Chiyuv Chatas.
[The Jews were told that Shabbos should be Kodesh to them, and then they were told that doing Melachah on Shabbos is a Chiyuv Misah. It's worth noting that Kedushah and a Melachah-prohibition go hand-in-hand, as seen at the beginning of Arachin 10b.]
#2] In a previous article [Parshas Tetzaveh 5756], this author discussed the relationship among Bigdei Shabbos, the Bigdei Kehunah, and clothes set aside for Tefillah. [Vide Chinuch, Mitzvah #99; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 98:4 & 262:2 and Mishnah Berurah 262:5]. The question becomes, what do these three experiences--Shabbos, Tefillah, and Avodah--share in common that they all involve, on some level, designated clothing?
Our yeshiva's Rav Yonason Saks, shlit"a, once said in the name of the Rav that in the Rambam one finds an obligation to attend to one's clothing in only two places: Tefillah and Shabbos. The Rav was said to have attributed this to the fact that these are both experiences of greeting the Shechinah.
Certainly the Beis HaMikdash is connected to experience of the Shechinah! It would appear then that as a function of K'vod HaShechinah, it is appropriate (and sometimes mandatory) to wear specially-designated clothes at these junctures. [Sources related to demonstrating Kavod for the Shechinah were discussed by this author in an article in Parshas Yisro 5754] The Torah Temimah on Shemos 28:43 [#37] explains that Bigdei Kehunah were required only when there was Hashra'as HaShechinah at the place of Avodah, which would seem to be consistent with this thesis.
#3] In all of parshiyos Vayakhel and Pekudei, we never find the phrase, "Ka'asher tziva Hashem es Moshe - as G-d commanded Moshe" used in reference to the construction of the Mishkan and its Keilim. The closest we find are three general references. One is in 35:29: "...for all of the work that Hashem commanded through ("b'yad") Moshe to be done..." Another is in 38:23: "And Betzalel…did everything that G-d commanded Moshe." The third is in 39:32: "The work of the Mishkan Ohel Moed was completed, and the Jews did according to everything that G-d commanded Moshe..." The only time we find the phrase, "as G-d commanded Moshe," in reference to production is in the making of the Bigdei Kehunah...and there we find it seven times, each time at the end of either a parshah sesumah or a parshah pesuchah! [Vide 39:1-31]
[To be sure, that phrase is found several times in the set-up and use of the Mishkan and the Keilim, AFTER everything is made!]
Perhaps, on at least a homiletical level, one can say that this is to compensate for the fact that in all of Parshas Teztaveh, where Hashem commands the manufacture of the Bigdei Kehunah, there is not one mention of the name of Moshe Rabbeinu. Perhaps it is mentioned here to make absolutely clear that this was not an invention, G-d forbid, of Moshe Rabbeinu, but the revealed Divine Will.
#4] Being that Parshas Pikudei deals with the Bigdei Kehunah, this is a good opportunity to share a lesser-known teaching of the Rav about Da'as Torah. As Professor Lawrence Kaplan points out, the Rav spoke of "the need to unite in one person, as in the high priest of old, the tzitz, the symbol of halakhic scholarship and pesak, and the choshen, the symbol of policy decisions on critical communal matters." Professor Kaplan quotes the Rav as saying, "The very same priest, whose mind was suffused with the holiness of the Torah of R. Akiva and R. Eliezer, of Abbaye and Raba, of the Rambam and Rabad, of the Beth Yosef and the Rema, could also discern with…Ruach HaKodesh the solution to all current political questions, to all worldly matters, to all ongoing current demands." [Orthodox Forum, Rabbinic Authority and Personal Autonomy, pp.8-9, quoting Divrei Hagut ve-Haarakhah, 192]
Mixed Messages from the Mishkan
Assaf Bednarsh
What is the ideal avodas Hashem - fulfilling our obligations conscientiously and regularly, or being inspired to go beyond the call of duty and strive for additional levels of accomplishment in Torah and mitzvos? While this question is never dealt with explicitly in the Torah, the answer can be deduced from the ultimate task of avodas Hashem given to the Jewish people, the construction of the Mishkan. Parshas Terumah begins with (25:2) "from every man whose heart inspires him to give," Moshe is commanded to collect donations for the building of the Mishkan. Likewise, in Parshas VaYakhel (35:21-29; 36:2), we learn that those Jews who were inspired to volunteer provided all of the materials and skilled labor necessary for this momentous project. The Torah here emphasizes the importance of inspiration and volunteerism, exemplified by the nation’s overwhelming response to Moshe’s call. However, the opening passage of Parshas Ki Sisa (30:11-16) presents a different perspective: every Jew is commanded to contribute a half-shekel, no more and no less, to use for the Mishkan. While a system of standardized contributions was needed for the purposes of the census, the application of these donations to the construction of the Mishkan (38:25-28) indicates the Torah’s desire to stress the importance of mandated obligation, independent of the inspiration to volunteer, towards the spiritual accomplishment of a Jew trying to serve Hashem.
Perhaps these mixed messages are meant to express a tension between two necessary elements in spiritual growth. Without the inspiration and excitement of doing something special and new, we would not feel that we were making a unique contribution, that our individual talents and abilities were being utilized to make a difference. We would not have the excitement of continually reaching new heights and the resultant sense of accomplishment. However, with this model of avodas Hashem alone, we would do mitzvos only when we felt inspired and spiritual, and during those periods in which we remained uninspired we would feel useless and fall into despair. Even if we felt continuously inspired, we would run the risk of concentrating on one personally meaningful project, thus ignoring other critical areas of avodas Hashem. Therefore, the Torah advises us to maintain a balance between these two models, to recognize the sublime value of fulfilling the obligatory mitzvos while striving to make our own individual contribution in the direction that our heart directs us.
There is an additional element to this tension which emerges from the story of the Mishkan, and which relates to the avodah of the Jewish people as a whole. The voluntary model of participation, on a national level, becomes necessarily an elite model. Only those who have the monetary means - "And every man, with whom was found" (35:23) - could contribute the precious materials necessary for the Mishkan, and only those with intelligence and skill - "And every wise man" (36:1) could volunteer to help construct it. Without all of these special talents, the Mishkan could not have been built, yet built only with these efforts it would have become a project of the few, serving to divide the Jewish people into those whose contribution was important and those who were superfluous. So the parshah of shekalim warns us, "The rich should not give more, and the poor shall not give less" (30:15), that all Jews are equal in the obligation of the half-shekel, and one who does not recognize his inability to complete this obligation without the contribution of his fellow is sorely mistaken. The tension between these two models is never resolved, but we are reminded that the opportunity for every Jew to fulfill his potential must coexist with the appreciation of that which we all have in common and which unifies us in one spiritual mission.
While it is clear, then, that we must keep a constant balance between steady observance and inspired achievement, between our fundamental equality and unique contributions, the Torah gives us a clue as to the relationship between them. The silver of the half-shekels was cast for the sockets of the sanctuary (38:27), as the bases for the pillars which supported the Mishkan. Perhaps all building must begin with the constant dedication and routine, and with the equal importance of the mitzvos of every Jew, and on that basis we can then fortify the structure with beauty and grandeur to the extent that we have been blessed with the wisdom, talent, and inspiration to do so.
Gaining More Than You Lose
Daniel Reifman
Parts of this article are based on a shiur given by Rav Moshe Schulman at Yeshivat Sha’alvim, 5752
This week’s parshiyos begin with Moshe’s instructions to B'nei Yisrael regarding the building of the mishkan and then detail the actual construction itself. However, before he begins to discuss the mishkan itself, Moshe warns the people regarding the prohibition of doing work on Shabbos: "Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you… whoever does work on it shall be put to death." (Sh’mot 35:2) What prompts this somewhat curiously placed injunction? On a p’shat level, Moshe is simply fulfilling the command he received in last week’s parsha: "Speak unto the children of Israel saying, ‘But keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between you and me forever to know that I am God who sanctifies you…’ " (31:13) Rashi in both places offers a practical explanation for the juxtaposition of Shabbos and the mishkan: "[Moshe] placed the warning regarding Shabbos before the commandment regarding the mishkan to say that [the work for the mishkan] does not override Shabbos." (Rashi on 35:2)
If we examine the larger structure of the parshiyos which deal with the construction of the mishkan, we note that these two warnings regarding Shabbos - God’s to Moshe and Moshe’s to the people - come at the end of God’s description of the mishkan and at the beginning of the actual construction, respectively, separated only by the episode of the eigel hazahav - the golden calf. This creates a chiastic structure overall (mishkan - Shabbos - golden calf - Shabbod - mishkan) whose effect is to intertwine closely the theme of Shabbos with the mishkan and to suggest that the relationship between the two may be more than incidental. Indeed, R. Hanina bar Hama is quoted on Shabbos 49b saying that the 39 melakhos that are prohibited on Shabbos correspond specifically to the 39 types of work which were performed in constructing the mishkan.
We can now appreciate Rashi’s comment more fully in light of R. Hanina bar Hama’s statement. The prohibition of building the mishkan on Shabbos is not merely a technical law which applies when the two happen to coincide; rather the contrast between the two defines the very essence of the Torah’s commandment to rest on Shabbos. Shabbos is meant to commemorate God’s creation of the world, but we can fully appreciate the wonder of God’s creation only by contrasting it with the highest achievement of man’s creative ability - the construction of a dwelling place for the shechinah. By abstaining from even this highest form of creativity on Shabbos in order to appreciate God’s creation, we acknowledge that all that we are able to accomplish in defining the realm of the physical stems from God himself.
Similarly, the prohibition of building the mishkan on Shabbos also adds to our understanding of the nature of the mishkan. It would have been tempting - even logical - for B’nei Yisrael to assume that since they were building a structure whose entire purpose was to glorify God’s presence in this world that their work would override Shabbos. The fact that this was not the case shows us that in working toward a goal, good intentions are not enough; the process itself must be infused with an active recognition of the higher purpose of one’s actions. A mishkan which was built by violating Shabbos would have been an empty, hollow structure, for in building it B’nei Yisrael would have lost sight of the mishkan’s very purpose.
Indeed, many times when we abstain from a certain activity on Shabbos, Shabbos increases our appreciation of the purpose of the activity from which we are abstaining. For example, let us take the issur mid’rabanan of blowing shofar on Rosh Hashanah which falls out on Shabbos, which was instituted lest one come to carry the shofar in public in order to bring it to an expert to learn how to blow it (Rosh Hashanah 29b). One of the purposes of blowing shofar is to declare God’s malchus (sovereignty) over the world - a major theme of Rosh Hashanah - and one would think that in abstaining from blowing shofar - especially for such a picky reason - we would be missing out on that essential part of the Rosh Hashanah experience. However, Rav Moshe Ganz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim suggested that our understanding of the concept of malchus may in fact be enhanced by this issur mid’rabanan. Rav Ganz suggested the following analogy: a man hears that the king is coming to town and is so eager to greet him that he bolts out into the street without taking the time to wash himself or dress appropriately. By the time he reaches the king’s carriage, he is sweaty, dirty, ungroomed and sloppily dressed - hardly a greeting that befits a king. It would have shown far more honor to the king would the man have taken the time to make himself look presentable and then emerged slowly and respectfully to greet the king’s carriage, even if he had gotten there later. So, too, Rav Ganz suggests, that in greeting the King of kings on Rosh Hashanah we must make sure that our actions are in perfect order, such that we must make sure to avoid any situation where there is even a slight chance that we will come to sin.
