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Why did the laws of Shabbos (שבת) need to be retaught after the Golden Calf? The shiur develops the yesod that Shabbos transformed from kedusha of time alone (kedushas zman) to also kedusha of place (kedushas makom). After the chet ha'egel, Shabbos became a communal experience that creates a tangible environment of holiness, which itself serves as the atonement for idolatry.
The shiur begins with a fundamental question: Why does Parshas Vayakhel repeat the prohibition of performing the melachos of the Mishkan on Shabbos (שבת) when this was already taught in Parshas Ki Sisa? The Ramban (רמב"ן) brings from Rav Nasan that until this point, a Jew was permitted to light a fire on Shabbos if the entire body would benefit from it (kol haguf neheneh), similar to the leniency of ochel nefesh on Yom Tov. This seems astounding—for six months from Matan Torah (תורה) until this parsha, the Jewish people apparently did not know this prohibition. What changed? Rabbi Zweig develops a fundamental distinction between two types of holiness: kedushas zman (holiness of time) and kedushas makom (holiness of place). Before the chet ha'egel, Shabbos was purely kedushas zman—a day set apart in time when certain melachos were prohibited. The focus was on the individual's observance within the framework of time. After the Golden Calf, however, Hashem (ה׳) introduced a new dimension to Shabbos: it must also become kedushas makom, a holiness that pervades the entire environment and community.
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Parshas Vayakhel
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