Tapestries’ clasps unite Mishkan and define lives

We typically imagine that the Mishkan is defined by the beams that stood together to become its walls. After all, without walls, there is no building.

While a simple view of the Torah’s depiction of the Mishkan certainly refers to the overall structure — walls, contents, etc. — as “The Mishkan” many times, there are times when the Mishkan itself is specifically described as being either the tapestries that covered the building or the result of the linking of the blue loops and the golden clasps. In 26:1, “make the Mishkan out of ten tapestries.”

Several verses later, “And you’ll make 50 golden clasps, and you will combine the tapestries, one side to the other, at the clasps, and then the Mishkan will be one” (26:6).

A building has walls and partitions and rooms, without which the structure’s value may be questioned. But does the roof really hold so much sway that it can be “the” definition of the Mishkan, especially in a wilderness which is protected from the elements by the Pillars of Cloud and Fire?

These instructions are incredible because they essentially tell us that it is not walls but tapestries which unite the Mishkan. For the Mishkan to be considered complete, 50 barely visible clasps need to hold together two large pieces of cloth.

Why could they not just sew everything together (after all, each tapestry was made of five pieces that were sewn together)?

Perhaps the clasps are symbolic. It can’t just be invisible thread which unites the two sides of the Mishkan, there needs to be something of value – even if it is small and hardly visible – which unites the two sides, creating a whole.

It is amazing what the unity of 50 clasps can accomplish; their union defines a structure that is so much bigger than the sum of its parts. Which leads us to wonder, as we read this highly symbolic parsha, what elements of our lives share this quality.

For some people it is a profound respect they have for one another, as learning partners, business partners, teammates. For others it might be their marriage commitment, or their dedication to family members even through all kinds of adversity.