Parshat Pekudeil Rabbi Chaim Brovender

Let us learn a posuk with Rashi

In this parasha the mishkan is actually built. However, after all of the sections and different parts are constructed we learn something unexpected:

"And they brought the mishkan to Moshe, the tent and all its parts, its hooks, its beams, its bars and its pillars, its sockets..." (39: 33).

This matter of bringing the mishkan to Moshe is discussed by Rashi who adds the following: "They were unable to erect it. Moshe did no actual work on the construction of the mishkan, but Hashem left its erection to him. No one was able to lift it because of the weight of the beams; no man had the strength to lift them. But Moshe was able to accomplish this. Moshe asked Hashem: 'how will man be able to lift this structure?' Hashem said to him: 'Try to lift the structure by yourself so that it appears that you alone are lifting it. And it will rise up on its own.' "

This is the meaning of the verse (40:17): "The mishkan was set up (Hebrew hukam passive). This implies that it was set up on its own.

It has been pointed out that the verse referred to (40:17), takes place on the last of the eight days of the miluim. This means that Moshe was able to lift the mishkan for the first seven days but on the eighth day saw that there was a problem. Further, we know that during the thirty-eight years in the desert the mishkan was lifted each time the people of Yisrael moved to a new camp. There is no indication that only Moshe was able to accomplish this feat.

Perhaps Rashi is trying to teach us a lesson about the nature of the mishkan. In essence, the building was permanent and had to be built in Yerushalayim. As such, it could not simply be built and taken apart at will. That portability would run contrary to the essence of the project. The mishkan was permanent and was attached to a particular piece of earth and was never to be moved from that place. The portable mishkan was also permanent in a way and couldn't be moved except by Hashem. This was indicated to the people by the fact that they couldn't move it into place and that even Moshe was limited in this matter.

The mishkan was intended as a temporary institution: it would be replaced by the permanent building that we call the mikdash. However, even its temporary structure was permanent in that it could not be moved except for the will of G-d. This will was expressed by enabling Moshe to set up the mishkan on the eighth day by receiving Divine support.

During the years in the desert the Levites were able to dismantle the mishkan and to set it up because of the one time that Moshe was able to do it with Divine support. The connection between Moshe and the mishkan is such that after Moshe's death the mishkan seems to disappear.

Gut shabbos,

Chaim Brovender

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