Parashat HaShavua - Vayakhel-Pekudei | Shabbat Ha-Chodesh

This Shabbat is referred to as Shabbat Ha-Chodesh because it precedes Rosh Hodesh Nisan (the first of the month of Nisan) and is one of five special Shabbatot leading up to Pesach. The special maftir Torah reading for this Shabbat consists of the instruction to mark “this month” as the first month of the calendar year. In other words, throughout the Humash, the month of Nisan is referred to as the first month, the month of Sivan (when we celebrate Shavuot) as the third month, and the month of Tishrei (when we celebrate Rosh Hashanah) as the seventh month.

There is frequent confusion as to whether that means that the year begins with Nisan which according to our Torah reading is the first month or with Tishrei which according to the Mishnah marks the beginning of the new year (hence why we celebrate Rosh Hashanah).  This confusion lies in the complicated question as to whether we are a tradition that is based in the sanctity of time or the sanctity of space. But even that dichotomy is not so clear.

The commandment to celebrate Nisan as the first month and to create a Jewish calendar based on the lunar cycle is embedded within the telling of the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt). It seems quite clear that the idea of having a calendar is necessary in order to a) become a people, and b) be able to mark rituals of memory for years to come. We became a People (an עם) through our foundational transition from bondage to freedom and that transition began with the establishment of a calendar. In other words, our tradition is one that is grounded in time. 

And yet – in this week's Torah portion, Vayakhel-Pekudei, we read all about the creation of a physical dwelling place for God – the Mishkan (the Tabernacle).  Rashi teaches us that God instructed Moshe to tell the people to build the Mishkan in the seventh month when we celebrate Yom Kippur. According to the rabbis, one of the main reasons we celebrate Rosh Hashanah on the first of the seventh month, is because היום הרת עולם – it is the birth-day of the world, it marks the anniversary of creation. Rashi explains that God instructed us to build the Mishkan on Yom Kippur because that is when God completed the creation of the second set of tablets and forgave Bnei Yisrael for the sin of the Golden Calf. The Mishkan is completed in this week's Torah reading – on the first day of the first month, almost one year after Yetziat Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt). 

In his commentary, Rashi suggests that the Mishkan was not an intended instruction at the time of Revelation at Sinai or before Moshe destroyed the first set of Tablets upon seeing the Golden Calf. Rather, Rashi explains that the Mishkan was God's way of demonstrating to the people that God forgave them. Perhaps God now understands that the people need a physical presence, connection, reminder (in order not to repeat the sin of the Golden Calf) and the Mishkan is intended to serve that purpose. 

In this way the Mishkan serves as a link between the month that marks our tradition being one focused on space to the one focused on time. The instruction to build the Mishkan was given in the seventh month, most associated with celebration of our tradition as one focused on space. The building was completed in the first month, most focused on time.

Rabbi Heschel wrote the following words about Shabbat: 

“The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world. (Taken from the prologue to The Sabbath).”

Shabbat Shalom, Chodesh Tov, and enjoy the countdown Pesach - our holiday of freedom. 

Rabbi Dahlia Kronish
High School Associate Head