Everybody knows that God created the world with words. He
said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, and so it was with everything
else. According to Jewish tradition, God created the world with ten such statements
(Rosh Hashanah 32a), but the Talmud challenges this contention. In
Genesis we find nine statements of creation, not ten! The Talmud has an
intriguing answer. The very first verse, “In the beginning God created heaven
and earth,” also counts and that gives us a total of ten. Rashi explains the
Talmud’s meaning. In addition to all the recorded statements of creation, God
also said, “Let there be heaven.”
What is “heaven”? Heaven (shomayim) can refer to the
multitude of spiritual realms created by God, the abode of the angels and the
constructs of sefiros and mazalos. Heaven can also refer to the
cosmos, the space which holds the physical universe. Either way, heaven is
invisible, intangible, and difficult for the human mind to grasp. (Maybe this is
why the act of its creation is not explicitly stated by the Torah.) This much
is clear: Heaven is not nothingness. Like matter and light, it is an entity
created by God.
II
Six days you shall work and perform
all your melacha, but the seventh day is Shabbos for Hashem, you shall
not perform any kind of melacha… for in six days Hashem made the heavens
and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the
seventh day. (Shemos 20:9-11)
When it comes to mitzvos, the Torah does not usually give us
reasons, but Shabbos is an exception. The reason we rest on Shabbos was
engraved on the tablets: Hashem created the world in six days and rested on the
seventh and so we are commanded to do the same, to work for the six days of the
week and to rest on the seventh. But this is no ordinary imitatio dei.
The thirty-nine categories of work, the melachos of Shabbos, are very
same list of labors that went into constructing the Mishkan.
The forty minus one categories of
work taught by the Mishnah, what do they correspond with? Rabbi Chaninah Bar
Chama said, they correspond with the work of the Mishkan. (Shabbos 49b)
Rashi (ad loc.) explains that the Torah put Shabbos and the
Mishkan together to teach us to learn one from the other. We could add that the
Torah uses the word melacha for both. The Mishkan thus defines the term
for Shabbos.
What is the meaning of this association? Why is Shabbos defined
by the Mishkan? The answer is that the Mishkan symbolizes creation; it is an
abstract, miniature replica of the entire universe.[1]
The Mishkan’s project manager, Betzalel ben Chur, was a great mystic who knew the
divine wisdom of weaving Hebrew letters into creative words.[2]
The Mishkan’s construction thus not only parallels creation, it is a replay
of creation; a second universe, modeled on the first, but built this time by
man.[3]
This is why Hashem rejoiced on the day of the Mishkan’s inauguration like the
day He created heaven and earth (Megillah 10a).
Now we can appreciate Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch’s
explanation of the term melacha:
“You shall not perform any kind of melacha”
means “You shall not do not perform any creative work.” Do not carry out your
intention on any object; do not make any object the bearer of your idea and
purpose. In short: Do not produce or create anything. (The Hirsch Chumash to
Shemos ad loc.)
During the six days of the week, man engages in creative
work, the thirty-nine basic labors that build up our world. This parallels Gods
creation of the universe and it also parallels the construction of the Mishkan.
Done right and for the right reasons, our workweek creates a space where the
Shechina can enter and feel at home. And then, on Shabbos, we rest from
creation itself, just like God.
III
They told Moshe, “The nation is
bringing more than enough…” Moshe gave the command and the word was spread in
the camp: “Men and women should cease working for the sanctuary collection!”
The people stopped bringing [materials]. (Shemos 36:5-6)
The pronouncement to stop bringing materials was made on
Shabbos. From here we learn that one may not carry goods from one domain to
another on Shabbos (Shabbos 96b). The implication is that it was
previously permitted to carry on Shabbos (cf. Tosfos to Shabbos
87b, s.v. a’techumin). This comes as a surprise, especially in light of
the fact that the mitzvah of Shabbos was introduced before Sinai, in Marah (cf.
Rashi to Shemos 15:25). Why wasn’t carrying included together with all the
other laws of Shabbos observance? Why was it delayed until now? Rabbi Yaakov Kamanetzky
has a fascinating theory.
They came to Marah and they could
not drink the water from Marah for it was bitter… They complained to Moshe,
saying, “What shall we drink?” He cried out to Hashem and Hashem showed him a
tree. He threw it in the water and the water became sweet. (Shemos 15:24-25).
The miraculous transformation of water from bitter to sweet
demonstrated that the universe was created ex nihilo. God created matter and He
manipulates it as He wishes. This, explains Reb Yaakov, is why the nation was
given the mitzvah of Shabbos in Marah. For in Marah creation was revealed and on
Shabbos we acknowledge creation by abstaining from creative acts.
All the prohibited activities of Shabbos are united under
this basic principle, with the sole exception of carrying. There is nothing
creative about carrying. The other categories of work introduce change, but moving
an object from one domain to another does not affect the object, it merely
changes its location.[4]
This is why carrying was not prohibited in Marah.
However, when we received the command to build a Mishkan, carrying
became prohibited. Why? Because the Mishkan broadened our understanding of
creation.
When Hashem told Moshe, “Build Me a
Mishkan,” he was astonished. [Moshe] said, “Hashem’s glory fills the upper and
lower realms, and He says, build Me a sanctuary?! … Hashem responded, “The way
you think is not the way I think. [Put] twenty boards on the north side, twenty
on the south side and eight on the west side. Moreover, I will come down and
constrict my presence to one square cubit. (Shemos Rabba 34:1)
How an infinite God fits in a finite sanctuary is
unfathomable even to Moses, but at the very least we see that Creator is not bound by the constraints of space. The Mishkan thus demonstrated that God created not only the spiritual realms, but also "ordinary" physical space. If space is a “something,” it follows that moving an object
into a different space affects the object. This, explains Reb Yaakov, is why we
do not carry on Shabbos. It was thus a lesson we learned not at Marah, but from
the Mishkan.[5]
IV
The historic announcement of the measurement
of gravitational waves a few weeks ago raises the possibility of an alternative
explanation for the prohibition of carrying on Shabbos.
We know that the Mishkan was a
miniature universe, each component corresponding to a different part of
creation. The tapestry that served as the Mishkan’s ceiling represented the
heavens, as King David said, נוטה שמים כיריעה, “[God] spreads the heavens like a tapestry” (Tehillim 104:2;
Shemos Rabba 33:4). This symbolism was further
illustrated by the golden clasps that held the two tapestry panels together.
“The clasps in the [tapestries’] loops looked like stars in the sky” (Shabbos
99a). Furthermore, the tapestry had two images woven into it; a lion and an
eagle (Rashi to Shemos 26:1). The lion is one of the mazalos, a zodiacal
constellation through which divine blessings flow and the eagle is king of the
birds (Chagigah 13b). The two images thus depict the two meanings of shomayim;
the spiritual heaven and the physical sky.
Ever since Einstein expounded the theory of relativity, scientists have
compared the reality of space to a fabric, calling it the “fabric of
space-time.” (Space and time are united under relativity, time being the fourth
dimension.) Maybe not everyone always understood it as such, but the defining
principle of modern cosmology was built into the Jewish Tabernacle in the Sinai
Desert over three thousand years ago. Space is a tapestry.
The Torah tells us that the tapestries of the Tabernacle were handwoven by
women (Shemos 35:25). This is not a piece of random trivia. Women are different
from men; they are not obligated to perform time-bound mitzvos. This curious
Halachic exemption is an expression of a deeper reality. Although God and His Torah transcend time, God’s sanctity can enter time by the performance of [certain] mitzvos
here on earth (Sefas Emes, Bamidbar 631). However, this can only be achieved
by beings who live within time and are bound by it (cf. Nefesh HaChaim 1:12). The transcendent nature of women[6] thus weakens their ability to sanctify time and,
like the Creator Himself, it makes them uniquely qualified to weave the
Mishkan’s tapestries, the [wo]man-made fabric of space-time.
Before the command to
build a Mishkan, the Jews knew that that Hashem created the world, but they did
not know that He also created physical space, for the Torah is ambiguous on
that point. It was fair to assume that space does not need creating; it is just nothingness. However, when the people learned that the Mishkan, the microcosm of the
created universe, includes a tapestry representing space, that taught them that
space is not nothingness. Space is a fundamental component of creation, an
entity comparable to a tapestry. With
that insight came the prohibition of carrying on Shabbos, for now the Jews
understood that carrying is a profoundly creative act. Changing an object’s location
creates a disturbance in the cosmos, vibrating space-time and violating the day
of rest.[7]
Gravitational waves
oscillate through space in a particular pattern. When space expands
horizontally, it contracts vertically, and when it expands vertically, it contracts
horizontally. (The wave is unimaginably miniscule, but is nonetheless real and
measurable.) It is like a piece of fabric: when you stretch it in one direction,
it gets narrower in the other. Fabrics behave this way because they are woven
of weft and warp threads. We cannot say what space-time is made of, but
comparing it to a fabric turns out to be the perfect analogy.
One of the thirty-nine
prohibited activities on Shabbos is weaving. Which component of the Mishkan
required weaving? The tapestries, the symbol of space! “He spreads out the
heavens like a tapestry.” A tapestry, indeed! It is fascinating that according
to some Talmudic sages, a basic law of hotza’ah, the prohibition of
throwing objects in the public domain, is learned from the weaving of the
Mishkan’s tapestries (cf. Shabbos 96b).
Until recently, carrying
was thought to be the least creative of the prohibited activities of
Shabbos. Now we discover that moving an
object makes waves that race across the cosmos at the speed of light. Who knew?
V
Space has great symbolic significance in rabbinic thought. Although we find
multiple names for God in Scripture, the sages – amazingly – did not refrain
from coining new ones. One of the rabbinic divine names is HaMakom, “The
Place,” or “Space.” This is not to say, Heaven forfend, that the sages ascribed
divinity to space. Not at all. Just like everything else, space was created by
God. Rather, the sages use space to help educate us about the nature of Hashem’s
relationship with the universe.
Why did they invent a new name for God and call
him “Space”? Because He is the location of the universe. The universe is not
His location. (Bereishis Rabba 68)
Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner explains the space analogy.
Despite the fact that physical objects do have
their own independent reality, nonetheless, without a space to occupy they
simply could not exist. The same can be said about the entire universe.
Although [the universe] is perceptible and appears to have an independent reality,
God is its “space.” If God’s will did not maintain its existence, the universe would
most certainly cease to exist! (Nefesh HaChaim 3:2).
The idea sounds esoteric, however, according to the
Rambam, it is the foundational principle of Judaism.
The foundation of the foundations and the pillar
of the wisdoms is to know that there exists a first being. He brought all
things into existence… If one were to imagine that He does not exist, then
nothing else could exist either. (Yesodei HaTorah 1:1-2)
VI
This all takes us to a deeper idea, a basic principle of Kabbalistic
thought. (I am out of my depth here and sensitive theological concepts do not
belong on a blog. I beg the reader to infer nothing without a careful study of
the entire third section of Nefesh HaChaim.)
The idea, irresponsibly abbreviated and inaccurately translated, is that the
Infinite God is unaffected by creation. From His perspective, I reiterate, from
the perspective of the Infinite, creation is meaningless and the universe
simply does not exist. Ein Od Milvado. There isn’t anything else other
than Him (Nefesh HaChaim 3:3).
To be frank, this is none of our business. We are strictly and explicitly
prohibited from indulging in God’s perspective (see Nefesh HaChaim
3:3,6,8). Kabbalistic secrets may be out of bounds, but the study of
subatomic particles is permitted and it too challenges our perception of
reality. The deeper we go, the more we realize how tenuous matter is. Atoms
are 99.9999999999% empty space. Electrons have more in common with waves than particles,
and protons, when you break them down, are hardly more significant. The
solidity of matter is a mirage; everything can be reduced to waves and forces
governed by equations. In other words, it’s all words. Matter is nothing more
than the divine statement which created it, the weavings of Hebrew letters and
numbers into words and laws. Matter is no more solid than empty space, but even
this feeble reality evaporates into non-existence when gazed upon by the Eyes
of God.
There is a second perspective, also legitimate, and that is the perspective
of Man. The Torah and the view from earth both confirm that God did
create a universe. To our great relief, we do, in fact, exist. Moreover, Hashem
relates to us (Nefesh HaChaim 3:5).[8]
When our father Yaakov awoke after spending the night on Mount Moriah, he
declared, “this is nothing other than the House of God; this is Heaven’s Gate!”
(Bereishis 28:17). Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner takes Yaakov literally. At the border
between heaven and earth, site of the future Temple, there really is nothing
other than God. Here Yaakov was privy to the higher reality, God’s hidden
perspective (Nefesh HaChaim 3:7).
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that such spiritual vision is unique to Yaakov.
There is a place where the laws of nature go soft and the human perspective
turns transparent: The Holy of Holies.
In the Mishkan, the Holy of Holies measured ten cubits by ten cubits. The
Holy Ark sat in the center of the room and the Divine Presence, the Shechina,
spoke to Moshe from a point between the two Cherubim which stood on the Ark’s
lid. The Ark was two and half cubits wide and a cubit and a half deep, but if
you measured from any side of the Ark to the nearest wall, the distance was
always the same: five cubits (Yoma 21a). The Ark did not take up any
space, because the Ark was not in space. Built by Betzalel, it transcended
the universe. The Ark stood in a different dimension, the dimension where “there
is nothing other than Him.”
Space is both overrated and underrated. We overrate it when we think it is
inflexible and inviolable, and we underrate it when we forget that it was
created by God’s first act, depicted by the Mishkan’s curtains, legislated by the
laws of Shabbos, and utilized as a divine name. Maybe because space is so basic
to our existence we just don’t think about it much. Kind of like God.
[1]
Cf. Shemos Rabba 33:4. As such, the Mishkan communicated the notion that
God was motivated to create the universe because He “desired” to rest His Shechina
in a lower realm (Midrash Tanchuma, Naso 16). However, the Shechina’s
ultimate destination is not the Mishkan, but man: “Build Me a Mishkan and I will dwell within you”
(Shemos 25:8; Nefesh HaChaim 1:4, author’s note).
[2]
“Betzalel knew how to combine the letters
which created heaven and earth” (Berachos 55a).
[3] The
Mishkan thus parallels the Tablets which also came in two sets, the second of
which was fashioned by man (Shemos 34:1; compare 32:16).
[4]
Indeed, the rabbis consider carrying an “inferior” prohibition compared to the
other thirty-eight categories (Tosfos to Shabbos 2a, s.v. pashat).
[5] Of course, it is permitted to carry items within a
single domain. It is also permitted to move and to walk. Nonetheless, the idea
of space as a created entity is expressed by observing the legislated Halachos
of Hotza’ah.
[6] Adam was created from the earth, whereas Eve was created from Adam.
[7]
See note 5.
[8] As much as these two
perspectives appear mutually exclusive, they are ultimately united, see Nefesh
HaChaim 3:7.
