A unique partnership
The opening words of the sidra (Torah reading) describe the sanctuary as “the tabernacle of testimony – mishkan ha-edut” (Ex. 38:21).
Ibn Ezra and Sforno understand “testimony” as the two tablets of the Torah which were placed within the Ark of the tabernacle. In that sense the Hebrew phrase means “tabernacle containing the testimony”.
Rashi, however, has a quite different approach. He understands the tabernacle as not merely the repository of the tablets of testimony, but as testimony in itself.
Basing himself on midrashic sources, he explains that the tabernacle was evidence to Israel that God had shown Himself merciful in relation to the episode of the Golden Calf. By means of the tabernacle (mishkan, literally “dwelling place”) he allowed His Presence to dwell amongst them despite their sin. They had offended Him, but He found Himself able to pardon them for their lapse.
The sanctuary was called mishkan (“dwelling place”), but it was also called mikdash (“holy place”). Maybe the two names signify the partnership of God and Israel. It was God who made it a dwelling place for the Divine; it was the people who sanctified it and made it holy.
One for all, all for one
This slogan is the motto of the Three Musketeers. It could have originated in the Torah reading, “And they made the curtains (of the tabernacle)…he made them” (Ex. 36:8).
Who made the curtains? “They” or “he”? Was it a group or an individual activity?
As often happens when there are two options, the answer is “Both!” The work was done by the assembled community as a whole, but they all felt it was their personal achievement.
Each one had a part to play. Each one felt that he was the crucial contributor to the task. Without him the project would simply not have happened.
As an analogy, think of the screws which hold a chandelier in place. What supports the chandelier is all the screws, yet each individual screw could well be the crucial one without which the whole light fitting would come crashing down.
After the consecration
Chapter 39:32 reports the completion of building the tabernacle. Some rabbis say that whilst the people were busy with the tabernacle, they were exempt from other mitzvot. Now this priority was achieved, they could move on to the next task, all the other Divine behests.
A great educator was asked on his 70th birthday by a journalist, “What are you going to do with yourself now that are 70?”
He answered, “Climb mountains!”
“At your age?” asked the journalist.
“Of course,” came the answer. “Whenever I reach the summit of one task, I look for another. When I have climbed one mountain, I find another one ahead of me!”
Texts that borrow from one another
The final section of the Book of Sh’mot reminds us of the story of Creation. Parashat P’kudei says, “And all the work of the Tabernacle… was finished… and Moses finished the work”.
The Creation narrative concludes, “And the heavens and the earth were finished… and God finished all His work”. This is an example of a stylistic feature found quite often in the Bible, where texts borrow phraseology from one another.
A famous example is the Joseph stories in B’reshit. Their description of life in the Egyptian royal court is mirrored in the Book of Esther, which describes life in the palace of Persia. In the Book of Psalms there are also many places which echo the language of other books, especially the Torah itself; and a number of Psalms borrow words and phrases from each other.
One might see this phenomenon as evidence that the Scriptures are one integrated whole, contrary to the argument of some Bible critics that the Tanach is a patchwork of material that has been badly put together and needs to be separated out into constituent elements that reflect disparate places, times and cultures.