A thought on Parshas Vayakhel Pikudei

"...b'yom ha'chodesh ha'rishon b'echad la'chodesh takim es mishkan..."
"...on the first day of the first month you shall erect the Shrine..." (40:2)

 

After much work and preparation, the mishkan was complete and ready to be constructed. The Torah announces this here, and in verse 17, we read about the fait accompli.

 

A difficult nuance of our verse, however, is its opening words. B'yom ha'chodesh ha'rishon means "on the day of the first month." The later clause, b'echad la'chodesh means "on the first of the month." Not only does this repetition seem superfluous; could not the Torah have merely written "b'chodesh ha'rishon b'echad la'chodesh" and we would know that this event occurred on the first day of the first month? What is this term "b'yom ha'chodesh"?

 

The Ralbag interprets: we know that the first month is Nissan, as we learned in parshas Bo(12:2). The significance of Nissan, however, is more than it being the first month. It is also a rosh ha'shanna, one of the "new-year landmarks" of the Jewish calendar. Part of its new-year status rests in its being the anniversary of this very event, the inauguration of the mishkan. 

 

Now, one might wonder, since there are a number of "new-year" landmarks during the Jewish year, with the most prominent one being the first of Tishre, which we all know as "Rosh HaShanna," wouldn't the auspicious time to inaugurate the mishkan be during that month, which heralds so many beginnings?

 

The Ralbag explains that the more appropriate month for the establishment of this Sacred Shrine can only be Nissan, for this is when the sun seems closest to the earth, this is when the plants and produce are reborn, and this is when life is joyful. In other words, this is the time when creation is rejuvenated, and the cycle of life is given a new start. This is what the mishkanrepresented: it symbolized man’s renewed effort to restore its closeness with the Above. It was very much a “Nissan” event. And, the Torah tells us, this month of renewal is what months (chodesh) are all about – renewal of our connection, a new day for humanity.

 

Thus, the first of Nissan, when the sun appears to draw closer, comprises “the day” of “the Month.” It is the dawning of a new mode of being, a way of establishing a link between ourselves and Shomayim by way of the mishkan. We might now read the verse as “on the “Day Month”, the first one, beginning with the first day…”

 

This year, as we greet the month of Nissan, we will also declare this shift in our attention and focus. This year, after twenty-eight years of waiting, we will recite the Birchas HaChamma, the blessing wherein we praise HaShem for His Creation, when once again the sun and the earth are aligned in the mode which was present during that first time of creation. The sun will be close, the plants will blossom, and the Jewish nation will prepare to rejoice with song and prayer.

 

Good Shabbos, D. Fox