This week's parsha begins with Moshe bringing all of Am Yisrael together to tell them that "these are the things that Hashem commanded to do them." Interestingly enough, the first thing they are told to do is Shabbat. The Or Hachaim asks, "How does one 'do' Shabbat?" He brings various texts (which I will not go into detail about now) to show that the act of keeping Shabbat and all of its 39 forbidden acts is how one 'does' Shabbat. To 'do' Shabbat is to not do, to rest.
Our Sages teach that we learn out the 39 forms of work from the work of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), which follows directly after the commandment of Shabbat in this week's parsha. What is the significance of the connection between the 'doing' of Shabbat and the building of the Mishkan? B'zrat Hashem, let's see.
The Or Hachaim says that idol worship nullifies the entire Torah. The Jewish people have just fallen into idol worship by creating and praying to the golden calf. Now that they have destroyed the whole Torah, they are now responsible for fixing it. Says the Or Hachaim, this is done through Shabbat and the keeping of Shabbat. Now, why did Moshe have to bring everyone together to tell them this? This was to show that the main way of doing Shabbat is to be together and the only way Shabbat can really atone for the sin of the golden calf is when it is done together.
Although it may not seem clear yet, we can now see the connection between Shabbat and the Mishkan. Hopefully I will explain.
As was mentioned in parshat Tetzaveh, we were commanded to make the Mishkan so that Hashem could rest among us. This is further emphasized in this week's parsha in Midrash Rabba, which states that even if all the idolaters were to assemble together they could still not quench the love between Hashem and His people Yisrael… for My people built Me a mishkan in which to rest amongst them. As I stated earlier, we learn the laws of Shabbat from the work of the Mishkan. It is through the building of a place for the divine presence to rest amongst us that we learn about the way in which Hashem commands us to rest, which is how we ultimately fix the great sin of idolatry that Am Yisrael just performed.
The Shem Mishmuel makes an interesting point in connection to this idea. He states that in both Psalms and Proverbs we are told that wisdom comes from the fear or awe of Hashem, but that after the sin of the golden calf, we can no longer attain the appropriate level of awe of Hashem because we do not have the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, the divine resting place. He continues to say that for us, "Love of G-d will enable us to achieve fear of G-d." He then asks an interesting question; "Is Shabbat the end of the previous week or the beginning of the week to come?" He states that Shabbat is preceding the week, because the love of Shabbat is essential to enable successful work throughout the coming week, thus starting our week with the love of Hashem.
In Toldot Adam, it is brought that the Hebrew numerical value of the first word in this week's parsha, vayakahel (to bring together), is equivalent to mikva, the ritual purification bath. This is to say that coming together can purify us. When we really come together as one, as one home, one family, one community, one people we can perform the proper rest, the proper resting-place for Hashem's Divine Presence to rest among us. It says that we are to build a Mishkan so that He can rest among US, in plural. Each and every one of us must open up the love for G-d inside of us and bring that to the community, to the world so we really can reach Shabbat, together as one and show Hashem how much we really want him to dwell amongst us again in the Beit Hamikdash, in Jerusalem, and once again witness a place of Yira-Shlayma, complete awe of the majesty of the Divine presence in the world. Good Shabbas!