Biblical Parallels Index – Shemot 25-27/0
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Biblical Parallels Index – Shemot 25-27
The Tabernacle and Creation
There are many parallels between the Torah’s descriptions of the construction of the Tabernacle and the creation of the world which have been noted by classical and modern commentators.
Primary Sources
Many sources connect the Tabernacle's construction with the creation of the world:
- See Tanchuma Pekudei 2 which notes many linguistic parallels between the two accounts.
- Bavli Shabbat 87b and Bereshit Rabbah 3:9 note that the Tabernacle was built on the first day of Creation, while Bavli Megillah 10b compared the joy of building the Tabernacle with the joy of Creation.
- See also Shabbat 49b, which implicitly associates creation and the Tabernacle by ruling that work done to build the Tabernacle is the kind that may not be done on Shabbat, when we commemorate Hashem’s cessation of the work of creation.
Articles
- See The Architecture of Holiness, by R. Jonathan Sacks, which suggests that the parallels impart the idea that precision and order are essential both in the natural world God created and the moral and spiritual lives human beings create.
- See Making Space, by R. Jonathan Sacks, which develops the idea that the creation of the world represents God’s creation of a home for mankind by making space for the mundane, while the construction of the Tabernacle represents man’s creation of a home for God by making space for holiness.
- Listen to: The Mishkan - A Reflection of Revelation, or of Creation?, by R. Menachem Leibtag, which develops connections between the Tabernacle and the uniqueness of man as conveyed by the narrative of the creation of the world.
- Listen to: What is the Goal of the Mishkan? Two Understandings of the Connection between the Mishkan and the World’s Creation, by R. Yehuda Turetsky, for an analysis of the many parallels between the two stories and the ways in which they are different and complementary, representing the distinction between God’s creation and man’s creation.
- Listen to: Creation and Mishkan: The Shabbos Aspiration, by R. Reuven Brand, for comparison and contrast of the two narratives with attention to its relevance to the laws and meaning of Shabbat.
