Exodus 35:1-40:38

 

 

For the last three weeks, the Torah has given us all the details of the moveable desert sanctuary, the mishkan, that the Israelites were commanded to put together: the different wooden beams and boards, curtains, cloths, hooks, etc. etc. and how these were all to be assembled. But having mentioned all these things, the Torah in this week’s reading now goes on to repeat virtually, word by word, all of these same details for yet another round.

 

 What for? Couldn’t this whole matter have been ended last week with one simple sentence: “And the Israelites did exactly what God had commanded”? Why go over the whole thing yet again?

 

 

The answer given by one scholar – the rabbinic sage Hananya ben Aqashya, 4^th century CE—has become something of a hallmark of rabbinic Judaism. He interpreted a certain verse in the book of Isaiah (42:21), but with a slight change of meaning. “The Holy One sought to increase Israel’s merit,”  he said.  “That was why He gave them even more Torah and mitzvot.”

 

So too with the Torah’s detailed repetitions of the construction of the moveable sanctuary, the mishkan.  The more opportunities to carry out each and every mitzvah—the better.

 

Shabbat shalom!