Dear Friends,
As one might expect, I find myself thinking a great deal about beginnings and endings these days. Strikingly, this week’s Torah portion speaks to that very moment in the life of our people.
This week we come to the end of the book of Exodus and prepare to begin Leviticus. After chapter upon chapter describing the planning and construction of the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary our ancestors carried in the desert, it is finally complete.
When the work is finished, Moses pauses to inspect it. The Torah emphasizes that everything had been done “as God had commanded Moses.” The people had carried out the vision with care and devotion.
Then comes a small but remarkable moment:
“Moses saw all the work… and Moses blessed them.” (Exodus 39:43)
It is the first time Moses offers a collective blessing to the people for something they themselves created. And immediately afterward, the cloud of God’s presence descends and fills the Mishkan.
After slavery, after the Exodus, after uncertainty in the wilderness, the people have built something sacred together. They have built a place where holiness can dwell among them.
One might imagine that this is the end of the story. The people are free. The Torah has been given. The Mishkan is complete.
But that is not how the Torah understands sacred work.
Instead, the very next step is a new book, Leviticus, filled with new responsibilities and expectations for how the people are meant to live.
Building the Mishkan was holy work, but it was not the end of the journey. It was the beginning.
As Pirkei Avot reminds us:
“It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.” (Avot 2:16)
Jewish life has always worked this way. Each generation inherits sacred institutions built by those who came before and is asked to strengthen them for those who will come after.
Our ancestors built the Mishkan. Later generations built the Temple. In every era, our people built communities and institutions that allowed Jewish life not merely to survive, but to flourish.
And now it is our turn.
The Mishkan was completed.
But the journey of the people continued.
And so too does the sacred work of building Jewish life—in every generation, including our own.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Daniel Cohen