Sharing Shabbat With God

Weekly D'rash on Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei

This week our Torah portion is the narrative about the building of the Tabernacle, which brings us to the conclusion of Exodus. As we know, Exodus 25–40 is intentionally structured to bring out certain truths about the nature of God and His desire to dwell with His people. Chapters 25–31 describe the instructions for the Tabernacle that Moses receives on the mountain. That section is followed by the story of the Golden Calf in chapters 32–24. Then we read about the actual building of the Tabernacle in chapters 35–40, which is our Torah portion for today.

Why does the text describe the Tabernacle before and after the Golden Calf? Why is the story of the Golden Calf sandwiched between the description and the building of the Tabernacle? The whole story would be more succinct and chronologically correct if chapter 25 began with the Golden Calf and then followed with the building of the Tabernacle. It is interesting that the section of instructions for the Tabernacle ends with the command to keep Shabbat (Exo. 31:13–17), and the section that describes the building of the Tabernacle begins with the command to keep Shabbat (Exo. 35:2–3). Thus, by this observation we see that the story of the Golden Calf is sandwiched between the command to keep Shabbat. Clearly, Shabbat is important to the story of the Tabernacle and the Golden Calf! If all of this sounds confusing, hang in there—what we want to focus on in our d’rash is Shabbat.

Nahum Sarna in his commentary on Exodus said this: “The Tabernacle enshrines the concept of the holiness of space; the Sabbath embodies the concept of the holiness of time” (Sarna, 201). Both the Tabernacle and Shabbat have the purpose of providing entrance to the presence of God. Abraham Joshua Heschel called Shabbat a “palace in time” (Heschel, 12). Today there is no Tabernacle or Temple, but there is Shabbat. On Shabbat we are invited into the resting place of God.

There are very few Biblical regulations concerning Shabbat. We miss the point of Shabbat if we strangle it with many legal regulations. Shabbat is a time each week when our lives interact with God in a physical way in this world via the seventh day. In this way it is a foretaste of the Olam HaBa (World to Come).

Shabbat is sometimes called a "bride" and a "delight". These terms and the liturgy that accompanies them help us to understand that Shabbat is about relationship and activity in this world. To sanctify Shabbat, we enjoy it by sharing meals with others, gathering for worship and fellowship, and enjoying the presence of God and resting. It can mean spending time with family and friends, or doing something enriching with others. If we are alone, it means recognizing that the day is different from others and communing with God wherever we are. No matter where we are on Shabbat, it is still Shabbat. If we have obligations that are necessary for health and wellbeing, we still can commune with God as it is the time which is holy and not a certain place.

In Genesis 2:2, we read that God completed His work. If He completed it on the seventh day, how could it be a day of rest? Rabbinic literature suggests that on the seventh day, God created His resting place which is a place of peace and tranquility. When we experience Shabbat, we share His resting and dwelling place for a day and experience His peace and tranquility. We also read in Exo. 31:17 that God was refreshed on the seventh day. The word “refreshed” is the verbal form of "nephesh" which refers to our "soul" or "being." According to Nahum Sarna, it means a fresh infusion of spiritual and physical vigor, the reinvigoration of the totality of one's being (Sarna, 202).

One reason that the story of the Golden Calf is situated in between the command for Shabbat is that just as the Tabernacle is a physical representation of Shabbat, the Golden Calf represented complete absence of Shabbat. Substituting anything for relationship with God produces dissatisfaction, disillusionment, unrest, anxiety, and physical activity that produces ungodly behavior.

In the Book of Hebrews, the writer equates faithfulness to Yeshua with dwelling in Shabbat rest. In Messiah, we live in Shabbat every moment of every day. We live in the dwelling place of God and share His tranquility and peace. Therefore, each week, Shabbat is a physical manifestation of our present relationship with Yeshua. Just as we live in a perpetual state of shalom with God, our physical being needs a day of an “infusion of vigor”. May we enjoy the gift of Shabbat!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Howard

Heschel, Abraham Joshua. 1951. The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.

Sarna, Nahum M. 1991. Exodus: JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.