The Holy Temple (the Mishkan or the Beis Hamikdash) plays a very significant role in Judaism. It is the holiest place in the world! Hashem told us to build the Temple and He would bring His presence to dwell within it. It was also the place where the Jewish people would come to pray,to bring their sacrifices, and to reconnect with Hashem.

There are chapters and chapter of the Torah that are dedicated to all of the laws about the building of the Temple and the service within the Temple. There are many responsibilities that the Torah commands us about that can only be done in the Temple. The importance of the Temple to us is something that we remind ourselves of throughout our days as we both mourning for its loss and we pray for it’s rebuilding.

In Parshas Ki Sisa (31,13), as the Torah is teaching us all of the laws of the Temple, the Torah tells us that despite the significant importance of the building of the Temple, we are not allowed to build it on Shabbos. The Torah is telling us that it is more important for us to follow the laws of Shabbos than it is to build the Beis Hamikdash on Shabbos.

The fact that the Torah gives precedence to following the laws of Shabbos over the mitzva of building the Temple, (that we push off the building of the Temple in order for us to not desecrate the laws of Shabbos) demonstrates how important that the mitzva of Shabbos is!

The importance of the mitzva of Shabbos can be seen from the fact that it is one of the 10 commandments! Rabbeinu Bachaya points out that we are taught that the mitzva of Shabbos is considered to be equal to all of the other mitzvos in the Torah, and we are also taught that despite all of the idol worship that was prevalent at the time, the first Beis Hamikdash was only destroyed because many people weren’t following the laws of Shabbos properly. The Torah also teaches us that when someone purposefully does not follow the laws of Shabbos they are at risk of losing much of their share in the world to come! In a situation where someone was warned properly beforehand not to violate the laws of Shabbos and they did so anyway, there are times that it is actually a capital offense!

It is clear that from the eyes of the Torah that the laws of Shabbos are founded on the essentials of Judaism and the essentials of our relationship with Hashem. Hashem tells us that the observance of Shabbos is our treaty with Hashem, it is the sign of love and dedication between the Jewish people and Hashem.



Rabbeinu Bachaya explains that the importance of Shabbos is because Shabbos is integral to our belief and trust in Hashem. It is the day that we think about the fact that the world didn’t create itself. Hashem created the entire universe as a means for Him to shower His kindness upon His creations. It is a day to focus on the fact that Hashem is in control over all of the events of the world from the beginning of time and that all of the goodness of our lives has come directly from Hashem.

As we spend our day removed from our focus on the details of our daily responsibilities and instead we spend the time focusing on Hashem’s role in our lives it establishes the core of our relationship with Hashem and it affects everything that we do in life.

The recognition that a)Hashem created everything, b)that Hashem controls everything, and c)that everything that Hashem does is coming from His middos of kindness and truth, we will love Hashem, trust Hashem, and be honored to dedicate our lives to following in Hashem’s ways and observing His laws. We will be humble, kind, and honest, and our pursuits in life will be focused on living a life that is based on the morality of the Torah.

Shabbos is the day to think about these matters, to strengthen our beliefs in these matters, and to demonstrate to ourselves and to the world the truth of these matters. When we follow all of the laws we are making the statement that it is true that Hashem created the world, runs the world, and does everything for the best, and He told me to express this on Shabbos through following these laws and therefore I am following them. This makes us closer to Him and it makes us a better person. It also brings honor and glory to Hashem. However, if we refuse to follow these laws we are making the opposite statement about our belief and value system. We are saying that I either don’t believe that Hashem created the world and runs the world and that He told me to follow in these laws, or we are saying that we don’t care.

It is important to consider the significance of the statement that we are making when we make Kiddush on Shabbos, when we light the candles, when we don’t cook (in a manner that is forbidden, and we don’t turn on a fire on Shabbos. We are telling Hashem “I believe in you, I trust you, I want to have a relationship with you, I know what you want from me, and I am ready to prioritize all of these matters more than anything that I am giving up by not fulfilling these laws”. With this statement we will merit to great rewards in this world and the next. Our relationship with Hashem will be extremely close and meaningful. It is especially helpful when we focus on this message when we are following the laws.

When we choose to not follow the laws we are sometimes making a different statement….

We should all merit to appreciate the benefits of Shabbos and we should merit to a close relationship with Hashem, highlighted by the celebration of the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash and seeing Hashem’s presence in a tangible manner!!