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The Torah commands us not to undertake melakha on Shabbat. However, non-creative activities are permitted. How do we determine what the Torah considers creative? We look at which activities were necessary for the construction and operation of the Tabernacle, the predecessor to the Temple (19:1 above). These are considered creative and may not be done on Shabbat, while everything else may be done.
Linking melakha to the Tabernacle conveys a profound idea. The purpose of humanity, created in the image of God, is to improve and transform the world into a tabernacle to house the Divine Presence. Accomplishing this will require building a physical structure in which the Divine Presence can manifest itself. Faith, Torah, and blessing will spread from there to the whole world, until it is a tabernacle of divine values. All work – whether in the fields or the factories, whether business, scientific research, or the arts – will be undertaken to benefit the world and to bring it closer to kindness, truth, justice, and compassion (19:17 above). This vision can be summarized by saying the melakhot needed for the Tabernacle are the very same ones needed to improve the world. Yet, despite their great value, we are commanded to desist from them on Shabbat, in order to appreciate their inner meaning. God created the world in six days and ceased on the seventh, and His rest infused the six weekdays with inner meaning. So too, the Jews are commanded to cease all melakha on Shabbat, so they will be able to understand and find meaning in every melakha they engage in during the week.
