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Orchard of Delights Ki Tisa

renders judgment with or without the person being aware. Ultimately, that slowly eats away at the animating life force of Shabbat, leaving
as mentioned above, each person also gives a final accounting of an inner dead space. People who introduce the mundane into the
his or her actions to God upon leaving this world. These multiple Shabbat not only further cut their souls off from the rest of the nation
accountings are all alluded to by the plural form of “accountings” at celebrating the holiness of the day, but also, even more significantly,
the beginning of this portion. cut themselves off from their own spiritual roots. They reject,
consciously or unconsciously, the enormous opportunity inherent in
experiencing the bliss and inner peace of Shabbat.

££The Eighth Day
£The Eighth DayThe Eighth Day

£Shabbat: An Eternal Covenant£Shabbat: An Eternal CovenantShabbat: An Eternal Covenant
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“And God spoke to Moses saying: ‘On the day of the first new moon,
on the first day of the month you shall raise up the Tabernacle, the
tent of Meeting’” (Exodus 40:1-2). The Tabernacle was erected on “The children of Israel shall observe the Shabbat, to make the
the first day of the first month of Nisan (Rosh Chodesh Nisan), a Shabbat an eternal covenant for their generations” (Exodus 31:16).
very auspicious day, as will be explained more fully at the beginning Noting the declaration that Shabbat observance will transform
of the book of Leviticus. According to tradition, Moses erected and the Shabbat into “an eternal covenant for their generations,” the
dismantled the Tabernacle during the previous week. During those Chidushei HaRim, the first rebbe of the Ger Chassidic dynasty,
seven days Moses served as High Priest and wore but one simple makes two brief but profound observations.
white cloak, as discussed in “The Holy Garments: A Message of Firstly, he points out that the Hebrew word for “generations”
Oneness.” On the first day of Nisan, the eighth day of this process, (dorot) shares the same root with the Hebrew word for “dwell” (ladur).
the Tabernacle was inaugurated.
Shabbat, he comments, should be thought of as a dwelling place that
Given that the Tabernacle’s every component is invested with we are entirely inside of, surrounded by and eternally present within
deep spiritual meaning, especially in terms of its correspondence with its spiritually protective walls. Secondly he suggests that Shabbat is
creation, as mentioned repeatedly above, here too Moses’ construction not only an eternal covenant between God and Israel but provides
and dismantling of the Tabernacle has great significance. Proverbs the opportunity to experience eternity.
24:16 profoundly hints at the meaning of this process: “Seven times a For many modern Jews, who were raised with no knowledge of
tzaddik falls, but rises.” The verse seems to be conveying the message Torah observance, just experiencing the beauty of one Shabbat
that the ability to get up after falling even seven times is what defines is enough to inspire them to investigate their Jewish heritage. In
a successful individual, what distinguishes a winner from a loser.
other words, sometimes experiencing just one Shabbat can become a
However, on closer inspection we see that the verse is speaking seminal experience leading to the formation of an eternal covenant
explicitly about a tzaddik, a righteous person. We might have between a Jew and Shabbat and a Jew and God; furthermore, this
thought that a righteous person, due to his or her elevated spiritual one Shabbat can lead to future observance not only for the individual
level, would be immune to falling; however, the verse teaches us but for all his or her descendants, or as the Torah writes, “for their
that not only may tzaddikim fall, but they may even be subject [his or her] generations”.

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