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£Making a Hole Making a Hole to greater tests and challenges as a result of their higher spiritual
££Making a Hole
elevation. Ultimately, the sign of true tzaddikim is their ability to
in the F raise themselves up no matter what the circumstances; they refuse to
in the F
in the Fabric of Shabbatabric of Shabbatabric of Shabbat
remain down and certainly never count themselves out.
The process by which the Tabernacle was erected and then
Ki Tisa contains one of the Torah’s lengthiest discussions of Shabbat, dismantled again and again for seven consecutive days conveys the
a section that subsequently provides textual material for the Shabbat same message as the verse from Proverbs. The Tabernacle is not
prayers and Kiddush. In this section, the people of Israel are warned only a paradigm for creation it also symbolizes the human psyche.
not to desecrate the Shabbat, for anyone who does so is liable to The Tabernacle was erected in a manner that reflects the constant
receive the death penalty and have his or her soul “cut off” from ups and downs humans undergo as they face life’s ongoing tests and
among the people. This in fact is one of many infractions in the challenges.
Torah that incurs the death penalty and being “cut off.” However, It follows then that the Tabernacle’s inauguration on the eighth
due to strict laws regarding valid evidence, even when the Sanhedrin day holds great significance. The number seven always connotes
(High Court of Law or Supreme Court) ruled the land, the death a complete cycle, inherent to the natural world, while the number
penalty was rarely carried out. If so, what meaning can these extreme eight represents transcendence of this cycle and the mundane world.
punishments have? During the period of the Sanhedrin, they had Creation occurring over the course of a seven day cycle was reflected
a deterrent effect, and at other times – when no Jewish court was by the seven days Moses spent constructing and dismantling the
authorized to mete out such punishments – they served to underline Tabernacle. The inauguration on the eighth day symbolized the
the seriousness of these infractions. However, these punishments essence of the Tabernacle: an additional transcendent level where
also convey a deeper message. the human soul rises above the limited boundaries of the finite world
Rashi explains that the words “desecrate” and “mundane” share to relate directly to an infinite God.
the same Hebrew root. Thus one who abuses the holiness of the day Initially one might have thought that it would have been more
by continuing to perform mundane activities desecrates the Shabbat. appropriate in terms of the cyclical paradigm of creation if the
The Slonimer Rebbe explains that the root word for desecrate also Tabernacle was put up and taken down for six days – to correspond
denotes creating a vacuum or empty space. It follows, he says, that to the six days of creation – and erected permanently on the seventh
one who ignores the Shabbat’s holiness, treating it as just another day – to correspond to Shabbat, the culmination and completion of
day, creates a hole, as it were, in the very fabric of the Shabbat. This creation. This would certainly have been logical. By not adopting
empty space becomes “dead space,” for which the death penalty this obvious correspondence, God teaches us that the Tabernacle has
is symbolically inflicted. Not only is the punishment “measure for more in common with the transcendence “eight” symbolizes than
measure,” it is self-inflicted.
the natural cycles “seven” signifies.
In the portion of Noah, we discussed how our thoughts, speech,
and actions affect our experience of Shabbat. Shabbat’s quality is
lessened when people, who refrain from all the forbidden labors on
Shabbat, still allow their speech and thoughts to remain on a mundane
level. The Slonimer Rebbe explains that each thought, speech, or
act not in keeping with the day’s holy spirit creates a spiritual hole

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