PEKUDEI_EXODUS XXXVIII:21-XL:38

With these chapters we conclude Shemot, the Second Book of the Torah, which can be divided into three parts.  The first section recounts the details of Egyptian serfdom and highlights the leadership of Moses, who manages to convince Pharaoh to allow the Hebrew people to leave Egypt. Pharaoh finally agreed to Moses’ request, because God sent 10 plagues that caused great suffering to the Egyptians. Only when a plague affected the house of Pharaoh, as was the case with the last one – the death of all the Egyptian firstborn – was the will of the monarch subdued. A decision that was later altered, because he sent his soldiers and chariots to chase the Hebrews through the desert, but these hordes were defeated because they drowned in the Red Sea.

The second part of Shemot refers to the Divine revelation at Mount Sinai and the third describes the construction of the Mishkan, with detailed information about the elements that made up this enclosure. Although the importance of biblical accounts and instructions should not be hierarchized, at first glance, in the event of Sinai, the revelation of the Will of God looks like a central episode. 

However, it can be argued that the revelation was not circumscribed to Sinai: even in Egypt, the Hebrews received basic instruction about the importance of time, in the chapter that commands HaChodesh hazeh lachem Rosh Chodashim, “this month will be for you the first of the months”, a reference to Nisan, the month of the exodus. At the same time, the people were instructed to choose the sheep that would be sacrificed as the Korban Pesach, and its meat was to be consummated on the 14th of that month. Therefore, the Torah designates that day as Pesach (Passover), while the holiday we usually designate as Passover is refered to as Chag HaMatsot in the Torah.

It should be noted that the Korban Pesach had to be offered on the evening of the 14th of Nisan and, since at present we lack the Beit HaMikdash and no offerings are made, some Chassidim insist on baking the Matsa for the Seder in the afternoon of that same day. Considering the Matsah should also represent the Korban as a Mitsvah in the absence of the Beit HaMikdash. The Torah also regulates the collection of manna in the wilderness and commands observance of Shabbat, all before the Revelation at Sinai. 

So the expression Zachor et Yom HaShabat, the fourth of the Ten Commandments that ordains weekly rest during the seventh day properly uses the word Zachor, remember, because the Shabbat Laws had already been promulgated beforehand. 

After the event at Sinai, the Mishkan served as the venue for the enactment of additional laws, which were not revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai. Why is revelation at Sinai celebrated especially when other places also served that purpose? 

Menachem Ben-Yashar suggests that the public nature of this Revelation sets it apart from the others. While in the Mishkan Moses directly and personally received divine instruction, at Sinai all the people witnessed it, a fact that gave it additional validity, allowing all to have a prophetic experience. In addition, the bulk of the Laws were revealed at Sinai. 

The Mishkan was not only the “residence” of God during the journey through the desert and in the following centuries until the construction of the Beit HaMikdash, it was also Ohel Mo’ed, the place of the encounter between Moses and God, site in which he was instructed about a large number of Mitsvot. According to Benno Jacob, the Mishkan was basically a portable Mount Sinai that accompanied the people during the years in the desert. 

The parallelism between the two is also evident because the Mishkan contained the Two Tablets of the Law that Moses had received at Mount Sinai. Just as Mount Sinai was covered by a “cloud of glory,” in a similar manner Moses had to penetrate the “cloud of glory” that enveloped the Mishkan. Before entering the Mishkan, Moses had to go through a 6-day purification period and only on the seventh day could he enter the sacred precinct, while it’s inauguration was held on the eighth day.

The exodus from Egypt was intended to ensure God’s accompaniment through His Presence within the camp of the Hebrews in the Mishkan. The book of Shemot begins with slavery and its redemption, which marks the end of Galut Mitsrayim, and concludes with another Ge’ulah: redemption, represented by the presence of God in the Mishkan, in the bosom of the Hebrew people.