There is a fascinating commonality between the selections of the ancient near eastern texts that retell the Genesis story: several of these accounts end the process of creation with the construction of a temple. In one example, Enuma Elish, a Babylonian myth from the 12th century BCE, begins, “When in the height, heaven was not named, and the earth beneath did not yet bear a name…and [there reigned] chaos, Tiamut” and continues the daily account of the creation story over seven cuneiform tablets, closing with, “I will create man who shall inhabit the earth, that the service of the gods may be established and that their shrines may be built… They rejoiced...In Upsukkinnaku they set their dwelling…They seated themselves and in the assembly they named him...They all cried aloud, they exalted him...”. The final act of creation is the building of the temple where Marduk, the Babylonian god, is to dwell and where he is established as the supreme lord of the heaven and earth. The temple is to be a place of praise, exaltation, and recognition of Marduk and the establishment of the people’s covenant with him. The house of worship is a place of contact where the people dedicate their service to Marduk and renew their covenant with him via visitation and ritual.

And yet our Torah recounts for us the days of Creation, walking us through the seven days of Genesis, and ending, not with a construction of a temple, or even a command to do so, but rather with the creation of Shabbat. Although the Torah respects the sanctification of space (for central to our history and religiosity is the Mishkan we had in the desert, and the Beit Hamikdash in Israel) Judaism also values a sanctification of time as well. While the other ancient near east Genesis stories conclude with the construction of a temple, our Torah ends Creation with Shabbat: a temple in time. As Joshua Heschel notes in his eloquent and timeless work, The Sabbath, “Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year the Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn.”

Shabbat, like a house of worship, is intended as a time for a recognition and renewal of a covenant with G-d: on Shabbat we testify as witnesses to G-d’s creation of the world (Shmot 20:11), as well as His creation of the Jewish people as we are commanded to remember yetziat Mitzrayim (Devarim 5:14). The first time Shabbat is mentioned as an sign or covenant it is not in the Ten Commandments, but later in parshat Mishpatim where the Torah also discusses the Divine presence of the Mishkan. Appropriately, when the Torah discusses the Divine presence in the context of space, it also mentions a Divine presence in the context of time through Shabbat. Only when we view Shabbat as our Mishkan in time do we understand that it is truly a day meant for recognition and renewal of our covenant with Hashem.

It is quite fitting then that the time allocated for Shavuot in the Torah (Vayikra 23:15) is called “after the Shabbat,” since Shavuot is when we received our covenant as a nation with Hashem, and like Shabbat, it is our yearly celebration, recognition, and dedication to that covenant with our Creator. Shavuot is a time for us to recommit our loyalty and devotion to Hashem and sanctify our lives through temples in time.