We now know, thanks to recent discoveries in cosmology, that the universe was only able to come into existence through the most extraordinary precision of the mathematical constants that govern the forces unleashed in the Big Bang - constants like the strength of the electrical forces holding atoms together, or the ratio of gravity to the amount of energy necessary to overcome it on a galactic scale. Had they been even slightly different, the universe would simply not have coalesced into stars, planets, and on earth, into life. The precision of the Tabernacle in some unmistakable way evokes a sense of the exactitude of the cosmic order which, in miniature, it symbolized.
-Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "The Home We Make For God"; Covenant and Conversation
(ז) וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִיעַ֒...
(7) God made the expanse...
(ח) וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ...
(8) And let them make Me a sanctuary...
(טז) וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִ֔ים אֶת־שְׁנֵ֥י הַמְּאֹרֹ֖ת הַגְּדֹלִ֑ים...
(16) God made the two great lights...
(י) וְעָשׂ֥וּ אֲר֖וֹן...
(10) They shall make an ark...
(כה) וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֩ אֶת־חַיַּ֨ת הָאָ֜רֶץ לְמִינָ֗הּ וְאֶת־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ וְאֵ֛ת כָּל־רֶ֥מֶשׂ הָֽאֲדָמָ֖ה
(25) God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth...
(כג) וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ שֻׁלְחָ֖ן...
(23) You shall make a table...
(לא) וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד...
(31) And God saw all that He had made, and found it very good....
(מג) וַיַּ֨רְא מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶת־כָּל־הַמְּלָאכָ֗ה וְהִנֵּה֙ עָשׂ֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה כֵּ֣ן עָשׂ֑וּ וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֹתָ֖ם מֹשֶֽׁה׃ (פ)
(43) And when Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks—as the LORD had commanded, so they had done—Moses blessed them.
(א) וַיְכֻלּ֛וּ הַשָּׁמַ֥יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ וְכָל־צְבָאָֽם׃
(לב) וַתֵּ֕כֶל כָּל־עֲבֹדַ֕ת מִשְׁכַּ֖ן אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד...
(32) Thus was completed all the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting...
(ב) וַיְכַ֤ל אֱלֹהִים֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מְלַאכְתּ֖וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה...
(2) ... God finished the work that God had been doing...
(לג) ... וַיְכַ֥ל מֹשֶׁ֖ה אֶת־הַמְּלָאכָֽה׃ (פ)
(33) ...Moses had finished the work,
(ג) וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ אֱלֹהִים֙...
(3) And God blessed...
(מג) ... וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֹתָ֖ם מֹשֶֽׁה׃ (פ)
(43) ...Moses blessed them.
(ג) ...וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֹת֑וֹ...
(3) ... and declared it holy...
(ט) ... וְקִדַּשְׁתָּ֥ אֹת֛וֹ וְאֶת־כָּל־כֵּלָ֖יו וְהָ֥יָה קֹֽדֶשׁ׃
(9) ... consecrate it and all its furnishings, so that it shall be holy.
But isn’t it written: “And it came to pass [vayhi] on the eighth day” (Leviticus 9:1), which was the day of the dedication of the Tabernacle? And it is taught in a baraita with regard to that day: On that day there was joy before the Holy One, Blessed be He, similar to the joy that existed on the day on which the heavens and earth were created. The Gemara cites a verbal analogy in support of this statement. It is written here, with regard to the dedication of the Tabernacle: “And it came to pass [vayhi] on the eighth day,” and it is written there, in the Creation story: “And it was [vayhi] evening, and it was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:5). This indicates that there was joy on the eighth day, when the Tabernacle was dedicated, similar to the joy that existed on the day the world was created. Apparently, the term vayhi is not necessarily a portent of grief.
Rabbi Yehoshua says: From where is it derived that the world was created in the month of Nisan? As it is stated: “And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree yielding fruit” (Genesis 1:12). Which is the month in which the earth is full of grass and the trees begin to bring forth fruit? You must say that this is Nisan.
(2) This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.
Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: Bezalel was called by that name on account of his wisdom. When the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Go say to Bezalel, “Make a tabernacle, an ark, and vessels”... Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Bezalel knew how to join the letters with which heaven and earth were created. From where do we derive this? It is written here in praise of Bezalel: “And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship” (Exodus 31:3); and it is written there with regard to creation of heaven and earth: “The Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens” (Proverbs 3:19), and it is written: “By His knowledge the depths were broken up and the skies drop down the dew” (Proverbs 3:20).
Tanhuma, Naso 2:4 (S. Buber)
Then came Moses and brought the Divine Presence down to earth. When? When the Tabernacle was erected. THen the Holy One, Blessed be God, said: "I have come into My garden, My sister, My bride" - I have come to that which I desired [from the outset]. This is the meaning of "It came to pass on the day that Moses finished erecting the Tabernacle" - the source of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai's statement that "Wherever it says 'and it came to pass' it refers to something that existed in the past, and was then interrupted, and then returned to its original situation."
Rava said, and some say it was Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi who said: Even an individual who prays on Shabbat evening must recite the passage: “And the heavens and the earth were finished [vaykhullu]” (Genesis 2:1–3), as Rav Hamnuna said: Anyone who prays on Shabbat evening and recites the passage of vaykhullu, the verse ascribed him credit as if he became a partner with the Holy One, Blessed be He, in the act of Creation.