Three Degrees of Sanctity

Moses assembled the entire Israelite community and said to them, “These are the words that God has commanded for (you) to do: You may do work during the six weekdays, but Saturday must be kept holy as a Sabbath of Sabbaths to God. Whoever does any work on (that day) shall be put to death.”             Exodus 35:1-2

Moses prefaced his appeal for building the Tabernacle by introducing the law of Shabbat. Rashi, quoting our Sages, comments that the intention is to teach that Shabbat takes precedence over the construction of the Tabernacle.

My father noted that the first of two great lessons Moses presented here is that no matter how important the goal may be, the means to achieve that goal must be just and right. One cannot build a sanctuary though desecration.

The second lesson, which pertains to sanctity, may be even more important. There are three realms of sanctity: that of place which the building the Tabernacle established; that of time which Shabbat represents; and that of man. The Torah teaches that there are degrees of sanctity, and Moses taught us that in their hierarchy, sanctity of time is greater than the sanctity of place, but the greatest sanctity is that of man. Since time has a higher level of sanctity than place, the Tabernacle may not be built on Shabbat; but if a person’s life is in danger, then Shabbat is disregarded because life supersedes even the sanctity of time.