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Shabbat starts on Friday at 7:24pm and ends on Saturday at 8:20pm. The weekly Torah portion is Vayakhel-Pekudei and Parshat HaChodesh and Shabbat Mevarchim Nissan. Rosh Chodesh is on Thursday.
Mincha is now in summer recess until the end of DST in early April. See the WhatsApp group for further info.
Weekly sushi & shiur is in recess for next week, and will resume the following on Wed at 1.30pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: dividing common property. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.
Thought of the Week with thanks to Jeremy Herz.
The end of book of Shemot can be read not merely as the completion of a building project, but as the moment when the story of the Exodus is able to get back on track. The sin of the Golden Calf had shattered the relationship between G-d and the Jews. Yet, as Rav Menachem Leibtag explains, the completion of the Mishkan marks a return to G-d’s original plan after the Exodus: first, the giving of the Torah; and second, the journey to Israel.
That helps explain the slightly peculiar framing of the final verses of Shemot. They describe the glory of G-d filling the Mishkan and the Cloud of Glory covering it, as well as the function of the Cloud to guide Jews on their journey.
It’s clear that with G-d’s presence returning to dwell among the people, there is a reformation of the covenant. But the closing verses point in two directions at once. They point to the Book of Vayikra, which begins with G-d calling to Moshe from the Mishkan. Now that G-d’s presence fills the Mishkan, He can continue giving the laws to Moshe after the post-Golden Calf hiatus. And they also point forward to the Book of Bamidbar, because the same Cloud resting on the Mishkan will now lift to signal when the Jews must travel through the wilderness toward Israel.
The end of Shemot is therefore a pivot. The covenant is restored, and the two tracks of the Exodus story can resume – revelation of the Torah and the journey to the Land of Israel.