By Rabbi Aaron Cohen, provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox Congregations for MyJewishLearning.com
The Tabernacle and Shabbat’s Shared Message
Holiness is not limited to one sphere.
Our sages note the juxtaposition of Shabbat and the Mishkan (Tabernacle) at the beginning of Parshat Vayakhel.
The Mishkan, the “resting place” of the Shechinah (divine presence), was built to serve as the focal point of religious life for the Jewish nation. But therein lay a latent danger — the possibility that the Jewish people would contrast the pristine spiritual world of the Mishkan with the mundane society at large and mistakenly perceive that any significant kedushah (sanctity), any closeness to God, could be achieved only within the confines of the Mishkan.
Such a perspective, however, undermines the very essence of the Mishkan’s message: “veshachanti betocham — and I [God] will dwell among them.” Ultimately, God desires not an oasis of kedushah (holiness), but a spiritual wellspring that quenches the thirst of a Jew for closeness to God, influencing, inspiring, and elevating all those encamped around it — not just inside it. God wishes to dwell among us.
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