Observing the Sabbath involves rules about a long list of actions, from cleaning to writing to making things with our hands, and more! Right before the start of construction on the mishkan, the Tabernacle, Parshat Vayakhel reminds us to observe Shabbat. Building the mishkan was a huge project, one that required all kinds of creative activities. So keeping Shabbat must require us to refrain from those activities. That’s a logical explanation, but it also sounds pretty technical. Are the blueprints for the mishkan really a spiritually satisfying reason for having so many laws? We’re talking about Shabbat, one of the most central, most precious parts of Judaism! Shouldn’t these rules lead us straight to some deep knowledge of God?

This week’s episode is something special, a two-part format that we haven’t tried before. First, Rabbi Fohrman shows why Shabbat laws are linked to the mishkan, what that connection teaches us about God’s creating the world, and how we fulfill our human destiny as “little creators.” In the second half, Ari Levisohn and Beth Lesch dig deeper into Rabbi Fohrman’s ideas. They consider what Shabbat teaches us about God’s plan for humanity, and what we can learn from that about being parents… one way in which we emulate God’s role as Creator.

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