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Why does the Torah (תורה) repeat the erection of the Mishkan in Parshas Pekudei when it already appears in Vayakhel and later in Shemini? Rabbi Zweig develops a fundamental yesod: hakamas hamishkan is not merely technical assembly but an act of yetzirah—creation itself. Just as the six days of creation weren't only about making things but establishing their interrelationships, so too Moshe's hakamah creates the Mishkan's functional reality, while Betzalel's asiyas hakeilim was the physical construction.
Rabbi Zweig addresses a series of profound questions in Parshas Pekudei regarding the erection of the Mishkan. The Torah (תורה) describes in detail both the making of the Mishkan (Parshas Vayakhel) and its erection (Parshas Pekudei), and then repeats the eighth day of inauguration in Parshas Shemini in Sefer Vayikra, and mentions it again in Parshas Naso. This apparent redundancy requires explanation. Additionally, numerous technical problems arise: the Torah describes Moshe placing the vessels and performing avodah (lighting the menorah, placing the lechem hapanim, bringing ketores and korbanos) immediately upon erecting the Mishkan, yet according to the Ramban (רמב"ן) these actions couldn't have occurred until the eighth day after the shemen hamishcha (anointing oil) was applied. Why does the Torah place these descriptions here if they didn't happen at this time? Furthermore, why isn't the shemen hamishcha mentioned in Parshas Pekudei at all? The shiur develops a fundamental yesod that transforms our understanding of hakamas hamishkan. Hakamas hamishkan is not merely the technical act of assembling pre-made components—it is itself an act of yetzirah, of creation. Rabbi Zweig draws a parallel to the six days of creation. According to Rashi (רש"י), all materials were created on the first day, and each subsequent day involved arranging and placing things in their proper relationships. Yet we count six days of creation, not one. This teaches that the act of creating interrelationships—establishing how things function together in harmony—is itself an act of creation, not merely arrangement. The sun and earth as separate entities in storage is not a world; when they are placed in orbital relationship, with gravitational forces creating stable motion, that arrangement creates a new reality—a functioning world.
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Parshas Pekudei, Shemos 40:1-38
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