EXODUS XXXV:1-XXXVIII:20

THE MISHKAN AND MOUNT SINAI

When did the Hebrew people receive the order to build the Mishkan, the Tabernacle that would accompany them during the journey through the desert? According to Rashi and most commentators, the Mishkan was a response to the worship of Eguel Hazahav, the “Golden Calf” that the Hebrews made as a substitute for Moshe (Moses), who took longer than anticipated to return from Mount Sinai. According to Ramban, the construction of the Mishkan is related to the revelation on Mount Sinai, with the Kodesh HaKodashim being the holiest place in this enclosure, because it contained the Ark that kept the two Tablets of the Law where the Ten Commandments were engraved.

In assuming Rashi’s idea, one must think that the Mizbeach, the altar on which offerings were made, was the central place of the Mishkan, because its function was to obtain Divine forgiveness for transgressions. This idea stems from the fact that sin related to the “Golden Calf” was the motive for the building of this House of God. 

Ramban notes that the Torah repeats the order for the construction of the Mishkan. The first time, as we mentioned, preceded the episode of the “Golden Calf” and its purpose was connected with the Law that the Hebrews received at Sinai. This instruction is repeated again in the Torah, to point out that God had forgiven the transgression of the Hebrew people after the sin of Egel Hazahav. Moreover, the Mishkan will serve for the obtaining of forgiveness in the future as well.

For Ramban, however, the Mishkan was not just an answer to the problem of sin. The Mishkan allowed us to relive the moment of revelation at Sinai, when the Hebrew people contracted a Brit, made a covenant with God. On the other hand, the Torah precedes Sinai, because in Egypt the Hebrews had already received certain instructions regarding the counting of the months, that is, about how to value the time that will be consecrated especially with the weekly celebration of Shabbat, the day of rest, which also precedes the revelation at Sinai. Otherwise, the formulation Zachor et Yom HaShabbat lekadsho, “Remember that you must keep the Sabbath day holy,” would not be correct. 

In Marah, the Hebrews had been instructed with reference to Shabbat and several additional laws. In other words, the legal content of the Torah was progressively revealed during the journey through the desert. The Mishkan was the place chosen for this continuing teaching of the Law contained in the Torah. Following Ramban’s thought, the Mishkan was a continuation of Sinai, because God communicated there with Moshe, who in turn transmitted His Will to the Hebrew people. Just as the synagogue became a Mikdash Me’at, a “little House of God” that accompanied the Jewish people in the Diaspora after the destruction of Yerushalayim’s Beit HaMikdash (Temple of Jerusalem), similarly, the Mishkan represented Mount Sinai.

According to Benno Jacob, the Divine revelation at Mount Sinai was a preparation for God’s “continuing presence” at the Mishkan, situated in the middle of the Hebrew camp in the wilderness. The Mishkan was a kind of itinerant Mount Sinai. This idea is accentuated by the fact that the Kodesh HaKodashim, the holiest place in this precinct, contained the Two Tablets of the Law that had been received at Mount Sinai.

The book of Shemot can be divided into three parts. The first section recounts the events in Egypt, the period of slavery that culminated in the Exodus. The second part chronicles the events leading up to Mount Sinai and the bestowal of the Torah. The third section concerns the building of the Mishkan and the consecration of the Kohanim (Priests) with their special vestments, the subject of our chapters.

MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 1 PROHIBITION

114​ Exodus 35:3 A court shall not execute capital punishment in Shabbat