When relating the story of Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, seeking a proper shidduch for Yitzchak, the Torah repeats the story four times: Eliezer tells us what he wants to happen, then the events unfold, then Eliezer tells Rivka's family what he wanted to happen, and then Eliezer tells Rivka's family what actually transpired (with some minor but quite significant modifications). On that, Rashi comments (B'reishis 24:42):
An example of one of those allusions is in this week's parasha, כי תשא. We have two full parashas and the beginning of a third that give all the details regarding construction of the mishkan, all its vessels, the vestments of the kohanim while working there, and the incense. After all that, we have a warning about Shabbos (Shmos 31:13): But don't violate the Shabbos to build the mishkan. From here we learn the 39 categories of creative labor that is forbidden on Shabbos; anything labor involved in the building/running of the mishkan is forbidden on Shabbos. Not just the labor itself, but also the manner in which it was done, with what intent, for what benefit, etc. All from an allusion based on being told not to violate Shabbos in order to build/run the mishkan.Rabbi Acha said: The ordinary conversation of the servants of the Patriarchs is more beloved before the Omnipresent than the Torah of their sons, for the section dealing with Eliezer is repeated in the Torah, whereas many fundamentals of the Torah were given only through allusions.
That is a lot to absorb. The fact that we can learn so much from a simple allusion. One is left with a feeling of awe about what must be hidden (in plain sight) in the repetition of events in Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, in his quest to find a proper shidduch for Yitzchak Avinu.
A lot to absorb. Maybe that's why it never occurred to me to wonder, "But why Shabbos?" This week, though, I saw the ספורנו (pronounce his name as you like; I am tired of arguing), who addresses that question with a direct and quite logical note on our verse: כִּי֩ א֨וֹת הִ֜וא בֵּינִ֤י וּבֵֽינֵיכֶם֙ לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם לָדַ֕עַת כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י ה' מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽם/For it is a אות/sign between Me and you for your generations to know that it is I, HaShem, Who make you holy. Says the ספורנו: if you ruin the אות/sign, then אין שום מקום/there is no place, no sense to purpose to having a mishkan.
The mishkan is nothing but an instrument to celebrate our relationship with the Creator and Author of reality. I can't really think of an apt analogy. It is certainly worse than a man melting down his wife's wedding band to pay for an anniversary dinner and chopping up her k'suva to make a paper mache centerpiece for the table. No... that's no good. How about using the k'suva to put under the car in the garage because it has an oil leak? No, it's worse than that. It's just bad; really, really bad.
Our celebration and guarding of Shabbos definitively demonstrates there is no reality separate from HaShem. (See Rashi to Sh'mos 33:21; again, in this parasha.)
Let's push this a bit. We have a relationship with HaShem, the sign of that relationship is Shabbos, the celebration of that relationship that is sealed with that sign is played out in the mishkan. Of course Shabbos overrides the mishkan. What overrides Shabbos? A Jewish life. The most basic requirement for our relationship with HaShem is not Shabbos; it is us, the Jewish people. If a Jewish life is at risk, then of course saving that life overrides Shabbos. It's the same principle: The relationship is paramount and overrides everything; the sign of that relationship comes next, and nothing else overrides it. Finally, we come to the vehicle for us to celebrate that relationship, which is so dear to us.
In fact, it is precisely the intensity of the love between the Creator and us, His Jewish people, that brought us to needing that warning about keeping the Shabbos, even when it means delaying the celebration of the mishkan.
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