MARCH 16 • 2023 | 45

W

ith this week’s double par-
shah, with its long account 
of the construction of the 
sanctuary — one of the longest narra-
tives in the Torah, taking a full 13 chap-
ters — comes to a magnificent climax:
“Then the cloud covered the tent of 
meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled 
the Sanctuary. Moses 
could not enter the Tent of 
Meeting because the cloud 
had settled on it, and the 
Glory of the Lord filled 
the Sanctuary.
” Exodus 
40:34-35
That is what the build-
ing of the sanctuary was 
about: how to bring God, as it were, 
from heaven to earth, or at least from 
the top of the mountain to down in the 
valley, from the remote God of awe-in-
spiring power to the Shechinah, the 
indwelling Presence, God as shakhen, 
a neighbor, intimate, close, within the 
camp, in the midst of the people.
Yet for all this, we wonder why the 
Torah has to go on at such length in its 
details of the Mishkan, taking up the 
whole of Terumah and Tetzaveh, half 

of Ki Tissa, and then again Vayakhel 
and Pekudei. After all, the Mishkan was 
at best a temporary dwelling for the 
Shechinah, suited to the years of wan-
dering and wilderness. In Israel, it was 
superseded by the Temple. For 2,000 
years, in the absence of a Temple, its 
place was taken by the synagogue. Why, 
if the Torah is timeless, does it devote 
such space to what was essentially a 
time-bound structure?
The answer is deep and life-trans-
forming, but to reach it we have to note 
some salient facts. First, the language the 
Torah uses in Pekudei is highly reminis-
cent of the language used in the narra-
tive of the creation of the universe:

Making 
 Space

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

“WE ENGAGE IN SELF-
LIMITATION EVERY 
TIME WE SET ASIDE 
OUR DEVICES AND 
DESIRES IN ORDER 
TO ACT ON THE 
BASIS OF GOD’S WILL, 
NOT OUR OWN.”

continued on page 46

Genesis 1-2

And God saw all that He had made 
and behold it was very good. (1:31)

The heavens and earth and all their 
array were completed. (2:1)

And God completed all the work 
that He had done. (2:2)

And God blessed… (2:3)

And sanctified it. (2:3)

Exodus 39-40

Moses saw all the skilled work and behold they had done 
it; as God had commanded it they had done it. (39:43)

All the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting 
was completed. (39:32)

And Moses completed the work. (40:33)

And Moses blessed… (39:43)

And you shall sanctify it and all its vessels. (40:9)

