One Step At A Time
Perseverance during our long and arduous journey in Exile requires patience and endurance.
Every letter in the Torah is precious and significant. Many major Jewish laws and ideas hinge on a single letter. However, the Torah's account of the instruction and building of the Mishkan is unusually wordy. The parshiot of Terumah and Tetzaveh have already provided painstaking detail about God's commandment to build the Mishkan, offering a blueprint for the Mishkan's structure, as well as specifications for all the furnishings and ritual objects. Therefore, the question arises: why does the Torah in Vayakhel-Pekudei, which tells how the Israelites implemented God's instructions to build the Mishkan, repeat all these details for a second time? Why can't we simply read the pasuk that attests to how they built it exactly as God commanded Moshe, and leave it at that?
וַיַּ֨רְא מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶת־כָּל־הַמְּלָאכָ֗ה וְהִנֵּה֙ עָשׂ֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה כֵּ֣ן עָשׂ֑וּ
And when Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks—as God had commanded, so they had done
If we could simply read this verse instead of the entire double Parsha, it would achieve a similar purpose, and kiddush would be very early on this Shabbat (which should make some congregants very happy)! What is the purpose of repeating every single detail, taking up two full Parshiot?
To answer this question, we can consider the significance of reading Parshat Hachodesh during this time of year. One common explanation is that it is appropriate to read this Parsha right before Rosh Chodesh Nisan because the topics discussed in Parshat Hachodesh serve as a reminder that Pesach is approaching. Parshat Hachodesh provides specific details about the Korban Pesach and the mitzvah of Matza, both of which are commandments that commemorate the Exodus and that we perform on Pesach.
However, Parshat Hachodesh offers more than just a reminder that Pesach is approaching. The reading declares Nisan as the first month of the Jewish calendar, emphasizing the significance of Rosh Chodesh Nisan in the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Unlike most holidays, which commence on the actual date of the event being commemorated, Pesach seems to have a soft start that begins with Rosh Chodesh Nisan. The Haggadah highlights the importance of Rosh Chodesh Nisan to Pesach when we say "Yachol Meirosh Chodesh," meaning that we could have celebrated a Passover seder with the Korban Pesach on Rosh Chodesh.
This raises the question: why do we have this soft start? Why would we initiate the seder two weeks prior to the anniversary date of the Exodus?
It is evident that Rosh Chodesh Nisan and the Exodus have a strong connection. We can discern this connection from Mesechet Rosh Hashana 10b-11a, which states that Rosh Chodesh Nisan is a date that has great significance. The Gemara there explains that there are two opinions about when God created the world.
רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אוֹמֵר: בְּנִיסָן נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם… תַּנְיָא, רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר: בְּתִשְׁרִי נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם
Rabbi Yehoshua asserts that the world was created in Nissan, but according to Rabbi Eliezer, the world was created in Tishrei.
Tosefot famously concludes that both opinions about the creation of the world presented are correct: The creation of the world in thought took place on Rosh Hashana, in Tishrei, while the creation of the world in action occurred in Nisan.
These two types of creation represent different perspectives on life that correspond to the two halves of the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashana initiates the Ten Days of Teshuva, during which we use thought to focus on our overall path in life. This is why the period of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is a time of contemplation, which can give us the opportunity to make life-altering choices and essentially do Teshuvah in an instant.
In contrast, during Pesach, our emphasis is on action. The entire holiday is filled with action: spring cleaning, baking matzah, eating and drinking special foods at the seder, such as matzah, maror, karpas, and four cups of wine, and the use of physical objects on the table, such as the seder plate, the afikoman, and the cup of Elijah. This focus on action represents a time of renewal, growth, and change, reflecting the theme of the Exodus and the start of spring.
However, physical actions, by their very nature, must be taken one step at a time. The process of completing all of these actions is often painstaking and requires considerable patience and persistence.
This may be why the Parsha that recounts our departure from Egypt is called Parshat Bo, which can be translated as the Parsha of "occurring," "coming," or "emerging." This name reflects the idea that the Exodus was a process that had been in motion for a long time, and was the culmination of all the physical actions taken by the Israelites up to the actual moment of their departure from Egypt. As we learn in Mesechet Rosh Hashana 11b:
״לֵיל שִׁמּוּרִים״ — לַיִל הַמְשׁוּמָּר וּבָא מִשֵּׁשֶׁת יְמֵי בְּרֵאשִׁית.
This teaches that the night of Passover is a night that has been continuously watched, i.e., set aside for the purpose of redemption, from the six days of Creation,
Our Exodus from Egypt was foretold, and we had to be patient and wait for it to come to fruition. The word "bo," meaning occurring or approaching, is a term we repeatedly use when speaking about Mashiach, which, like Yetziat Mitzrayim, is another form of redemption. The Rambam, for example, references this term in his 13 principles:
אֲנִי מַאֲמִין בֶּאֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵמָה בְּבִיאַת הַמָּשִֽׁיחַ וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁיִּתְמַהְמֵֽהַּ עִם כָּל זֶה אֲחַכֶּה לּוֹ בְּכָל יוֹם שֶׁיָּבוֹא
I completely believe in the approaching of the Mashiach - be’viat haMashiach (from the Hebrew word “ba”), and even though he tarries we wait for him every day that he will approach - sheyavo (again from the word “ba”.)
This teaches us that the process of Mashiach, our redemption, is constantly in motion, approaching, occurring, and emerging in a lengthy and gradual process. Although the Midrash teaches that God's redemption occurs "keheref ayin," in the blink of an eye, very suddenly and almost unexpectedly, we still must wait for that moment to come. Like any significant undertaking, the process of redemption requires patience.
This brings us back to our question about why this week's Parsha repeats every detail about the mishkan. Just like the Mashiach's arrival, Vayakhel-Pekudei involves a gradual process that requires patience at every step of the way. Similar to our redemptive process, the action of building the Mishkan teaches us that bringing God into our midst takes time, effort, and most importantly, patience.
This is also why God made us wait for two more weeks to celebrate Pesach. Even though we theoretically could have celebrated the holiday starting from Rosh Chodesh, by reading Parshat Hachodesh, we are reminded that we had to wait for the Exodus to happen because redemption takes time. It is a process that we need to experience and endure, and we must have the patience to see it through to the end.
Perseverance during our long and arduous journey in Exile requires patience and endurance, just as we demonstrated during Yetziat Mitzrayim. However, if we pay heed to the name of our first Parsha, Vayakhel, which means "and they gathered together," and we stick together and rely on the strength of our community, we will persevere and bring that day of redemption closer.