Building the Mishkan The Day After Yom Kippur

By Moshe Morris

Note - this is the first part of the Dvar Torah that appears on our blog

This weeks parsha begins with Moshe Rabbeinu gathering together the Jewish people. Rashi wants us to understand that this gathering happened on the day after Yom Kippur when Moshe Rabbeinu came down from Har Sinai. But this is curious – why does Rashi want us to know this? Would we have thought that Moshe Rabbeinu gathered the Jewish people together on a different day and, if so, so what? Would it really be so terrible if we didn’t know the exact date of this gathering?

Seemingly, there is some message or lesson that we need to derive from the fact that this gathering happened specifically on the day after Yom Kippur when Moshe came down from Har Sinai? But what that is we do not know. Furthermore, how does Rashi know that this happened on the day after Yom Kippur – what is his source and/or proof for this?

To understand this Rashi we need to remind ourselves of why Bnei Yisrael are being gathered together at this time. It is to command them in the Mitvah of building the Mishkan (included in this Mitvah is donating the materials necessary to build it). It is also worth noting at this moment Rashi’s position on when Bnei Yisrael finished the Mishkan. In parhsat Ki Tisa (Shemot 31: 18) Rashi makes the following comment:

…on Yom Kippur G-d was reconciled to the Israelites. On the following day they began contributing towards the mishkon which was erected on the first of Nissan (translation from Tachash.org).

The Gur Arieh points out that it wasn’t happenstance that the Mishkan was erected on the first of Nisan, but rather HaKadosh Baruch Hu always intended for the Mishkan to be erected on that day. Thus we find later on in Sefer Shemot (40: 2) that HaKadosh Baruch Hu specifically instructs Moshe to erect the Mishkan on that day. Furthermore, points out the Gur Arie, the Midrash (Pasikta Rabati – which is mentioned in the Tur Orach Chaim 684: 1) states that the work of the Mishkan was finished on the 25th of Kislev (the first day of Chanukah) – and this also seems to have been HaKadush Baruch’s plan – particularly since a number of months passed between the completion of the work on the Mishkan and erecting the Mishkan.

What comes out of this is that the Mishkan and time are intricately connected – the Mishkan needs to be finished at a certain time and erected at a certain time (for reasons that we will not go into here).

With this said we can now wondering about the starting time for building the Mishkan – was the day after Yom Kippur specifically chosen by G-d as the day to begin building the Mishkan?

It’s hard not to notice that Moshe Rabbeinu’s 3rd and final trip up to Har Sinai ends on Yom Kippur. It seems that HaKadush Baruch Hu wanted Bnei Yisrael to begin the process of building the Mishkan specifically the day after Yom Kippur. That Yom Kippur, more than any other, represents the repairing of a fractured relationship – of the notion that one can regain favor in G-d’s eyes.

It’s important to remember that Teshuva is a Chidush – an almost revolutionary idea. It is not at all obvious that one can repair a relationship with G-d after they have sinned – particularly when the sin is the sin of the golden calf. That G-d still loves us and still wants and allows for a relationship with us even after such a grievous act is a lesson that had to be taught – and it is a lesson which changes our basic understanding of G-d and who He “is” (so to speak).

It is this lesson (among others) that G-d taught Moshe when He revealed to him the 13 Midos of Rachamim (G-d’s 13 character traits of mercy). As Rashi notes at Shemot 34: 6 “HaShem HaShem” represents G-d’s character-trait of mercy and compassion: “the first mentioning of the name of HaShem represents G-d’s compassion before we sin and the second mentioning of His name represents His compassion after we sin and do teshuva.

Bnei Yisrael, however, learned this lesson on Yom Kippur – when they did Teshuva and received the second set of Tablets. That was the day that the Jewish people found favor in G-d’s eyes again. And it was this lesson that Bnei Yisrael had to take with them into the building of the Mishkan.

After all, the heart of the Mishkan is the relationship that it creates between G-d and the Jewish people. G-d continues to speak to Moshe Rabbeinu from the Mishkan and G-d dwells in our midst because of the Mishkan. It was crucial that the Jewish people build into the very fabric of the Mishkan the notion that this relationship is absolute and eternal and that nothing can rupture it – not even our sins. G-d will always be there for us once we do Teshuva.

That is way on the day after Yom Kippur – the day we learned the true nature of our relationship with HaKadush Baruch Hu – Moshe Rabbienu gathered all the Jewish people together to begin the process of donating the materials needed to build the Mishkan. These donations clearly indicated our love for G-d and our desire to build a place wherein we could meet and interact with him (that’s why the materials were donated). And what better to display this love then the day after G-d demonstrated to us His love for us.