Parashat Ki Tisa
It’s hard to build a meaningful life if you don’t know what you’re building toward.
In this week’s parsha, there’s a small shift that carries a big idea.
When God first gives the instructions for building the Mishkan, Shabbat appears at the end, after all the details of the work.
But when Moses relays those same instructions to the people, he begins with Shabbat before speaking about the construction at all.
Why the change?
From God’s perspective, Shabbat comes last — just as it did in creation, after six days of building the world.
But from the human perspective, Shabbat must come first.
Before we begin the work — the effort, the decisions, the countless actions that fill our days — we need to know what it is all meant to lead toward.
Shabbat offers that glimpse.
For one day each week, the constant striving pauses. Life is experienced not through productivity, but through presence — time with people we care about, space to breathe, reflect, reconnect, and remember what truly matters.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Victor Frankel
‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ (quoting Friedrich Nietzsche)
It’s more than a day of rest.
It’s a vision of the kind of life we are trying to build.
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, expressed this idea simply:
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
When we are clear about our values and direction, our choices begin to align with them. The things we invest our time and energy into stop being random reactions to life and become intentional steps toward the kind of life we want to create.
Shabbat quietly teaches us that lesson every week. It reveals the destination first, so that our actions throughout the week can move in that direction.
As Shabbat comes in, may we pause long enough to remember what truly guides our lives — and carry that clarity with us into the choices we make in the days ahead.
