When we read this pasuk we are struck with an anomaly in its interpretation. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh asks: Are these two expressions – dayom, “just enough;” and v’hoseir, “left over” – actually exclusive of one another? If there was “just enough,” then there could not have been anything “left over”; and if there is something “left over,” then clearly there was more than “just enough.” The Sfas Emes approaches this from a number of perspectives. We will select one which teaches a valuable lesson in avodas Hashem, service to the Almighty.
In the Midrash Tanchuma, Chazal state that the building of the Mishkan paralleled Brias Ha’Olam, the Creation of the world. Vayar Moshe es kol ha’melachah, “And Moshe saw all of the work.” The pasuk does not say that Moshe saw, “all of the meleches ha’Mishkan, all of the work (associated with the building) of the Mishkan,” but rather, “all of the work.” (Apparently, this is a reference to another “work” that was completed.) For everything was (exactly) like the work of creation. In short, Chazal teach that the creation of the Mishkan corresponded with the creation of the world.
The Sfas Emes notes that when Klal Yisrael sinned with the Golden Calf, their infraction impacted not only themselves and their relationship with Hashem. They also damaged the spiritual structure of the entire world. Hence, the Mishkan, which served as a kaparah, atonement, for their sin was meant to repair the spiritual breach which they engendered. Thus, every step of the Mishkan’s construction had to parallel the original creation of the world.
Let us compare the “endings” of these two “constructions.” At the culmination of Maaseh Bereishis, the Act of Creating the World, the Torah writes, Vayar Elokim es kol asher asah v’hinei tov me’od, “And G-d saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good…”; V’yechal Elokim…melachto asher asah, “And G-d completed His work which He had done”; Vayivarech Elokim, “And Hashem blessed.” (1:31, 2:1, 6) Concerning the completion of the Mishkan, the Torah writes, Vayar Moshe es kol ha’melachah… va’yevarech osam Moshe, “And Moshe saw all the work…and Moshe blessed them” (Shemos 39:43).
Hashem created the world with the power of Torah. The tzaddikim, righteous, of every ensuing generation maintain the world via the Torah, which they so diligently study. Moshe sensed this awesome reality. He understood that the Mishkan was much more than a temporal structure, an edifice made for the Jews traveling in the wilderness. He understood that, with the creation of the Mishkan, Maasei Bereishis had reached its completion as well.
There is yet another similarity between the creation of the world and the construction of the Mishkan. The Sfas Emes quotes the Talmud Chagigah 12a, where Chazal state that, at the beginning of Creation, the Heavens and the earth expanded and continued to burgeon until Hashem said, Dai! “Enough!” The Midrash states that by dusk at the end of the sixth day (in other words, Erev Shabbos), the physical forms for certain spirits had not yet been created; thus, they have remained spiritual entities without corporeal bodies. Certainly, Hashem knew that Shabbos was coming; yet, even so, He did not complete all of His work. This was on purpose. There was “left over.” As the Maharal m’Prague writes, “This world was made with a lack of perfection.” The only way to achieve perfection, the Sfas Emes explains, is by drawing Hashem into this world by means of our Torah study and mitzvah observance.
Let us return to the original question presented by the Ohr HaChaim. Klal Yisrael wanted to give more and more for the construction of the Mishkan, but were forcibly stopped. Hashem said “no more”. The imperfection of the Mishkan and this world itself, tells us that, despite our efforts and with all our work, we still depend on Hashem to achieve final completion. Man’s contribution is dai, his input “just enough.” The hoseir, “extra flow” of blessing that completes the Mishkan, is derived from a supernatural source. Indeed, the Sfas Emes adds that this is quite like the neshamah yeseirah, extra soul, that enters the world on Shabbos and elevates the entire creation.
