When looking at this week's portion, an interesting juxtaposition is presented. The construction of the Mishkan is placed right next to the concept of Shabbat in the beginning of the portion. Why?
 
During creation, God unleashed an unlimited power on the formation of the universe. However, God purposefully performed this task in an incomplete manner. The last word of the creation story is la'asot, "to do." (Genesis 2:3)  La'asot, which we mention in connection with Shabbat, asks that we complete creation in partnership with God and redeem the world.
 
Perhaps the greatest manifestation of human creativity and glorification of God in the Torah is the building of the Mishkan. It required human mastery over every realm of creation – the inanimate, the vegetative, the animal and the human.  For example, gold was required to construct the Ark; plants were used for the dye needed to color parts of the Mishkan; animal skin was used to cover the Mishkan-and, of course, human interaction was essential to coordinate a building venture of this magnitude.

Nehama Leibowitz points out that the same words describing God's completion of creation (va-yekhal, vayar, ve-hinei, va-yevarekh- Genesis 1:31, 2:2-3) are also used to describe the completion of the Mishkan (va-yekhal, vayar, ve-hinei, va-yevarekh-Exodus 39:43, 40:33).
 
Yet, even in this most amazing endeavor, which was, for that time, the peak of human creativity, there is a danger. Humans can forget that it is God who is the sole source of our creativity. Therefore, the laws of Shabbat which force us to refrain from activities that indicate our mastery over the world are mentioned after the section on the Mishkan. By following these laws, we assert the centrality of God.
 
There are 39 categories of work prohibited on Shabbat. Interestingly, they also deal with every aspect of the material world, vegetation (prohibitions of planting, for example), animal life (prohibitions of trapping, for example), inanimate objects (prohibitions of building, for example). The final category, the prohibition against carrying, leads to the understanding that even in the social sphere (carrying is a symbol of human interaction), God is in ultimate control. (See Mishnah Shabbat 7:2)
 
In a world where we depend so much on the tools which God gives us to create for ourselves, the juxtaposition of Shabbat to the Mishkan teaches us that even a creative initiative dedicated to God is prohibited on Shabbat.  This teaches us that it is God alone who is at the core of all existence.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Avi Weiss