(link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday You shall not kindle a fire  in all your dwelling places  on the Sabbath day (Shemot 35:3)   You shall not kindle fire – Said the Holy One, blessed be He: My fire, meaning the fire of Hell, rests for you; let your fire also rest. Hashabbat, Vayomer – The first and last letters of Hashabbat, Vayomer form the word Torah, hinting that the main time for Torah is on the Sabbath, when man is free...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary was 29 talents and 730 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. (Shemot 38,24)     "The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary" There were five ornaments made from gold: brooches, earrings, rings and pendants and gold utensils (Shemot 35,22) representing the five types of suffering endured by...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday Then all the wise hearted people of the performers of the work made the Tabernacle out of ten curtains of twisted fine linen, and blue, purple, and crimson wool. A cherubim design, the work of a master weaver he made them. (Shemot 36:8)   Wise-hearted The appellation wise-hearted refers to wisdom that belongs to a person as his second nature and whose forms govern his heart at all times, of which it was written when...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday Moses called the whole community of the children of Israel to assemble, and he said to them: "These are the things that the Lord commanded to make. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon shall be put to death. You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday AND THE CLOUD COVERED THE TENT OF MEETING, AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TABERNACLE. MOSES COULD NOT ENTER THE TENT OF MEETING BECAUSE THE CLOUD RESTED UPON IT AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TABERNACLE. WHEN THE CLOUD ROSE UP FROM OVER THE TABERNACLE, THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SET OUT IN ALL THEIR JOURNEYS. BUT IF THE CLOUD DID NOT RISE UP, THEY DID NOT SET OUT UNTIL THE...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vayechi THEN JOSEPH ORDERED THE PHYSICIANS IN HIS SERVICE TO EMBALM HIS FATHER, AND THE PHYSICIANS EMBALMED ISRAEL. (Bereishit 50:2)   "Literal" Truth and the Truth of "Drash" Rav Nahman and Rabbi Yitzhak sat to eat. R. Nahman said to R. Yitzhak: "Sir, relate some words of Torah." …He told him, "This is what Rabbi Yohanan said: ‘Our father Jacob did not die.'" He said to him: "Could it be that they eulogized him, embalmed...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Vayakhel-Pekuday LET, THEN, BEZALEL AND OHALIAV, ALL THE SKILLED PERSONS WHOM THE LORD HAD ENDOWED WITH SKILL AND ABILITY TO PERFORM EXPERTLY ALL THE TASKS CONNECED WITH THE SERVICE OF THE SANCTUARY, CARRY OUT ALL THAT THE LORD HAS COMMANDED. (Shemot 36:1)   In the "Tabernacle of Love" All Are Equal Before God Bezalel was the name given him by his nation. The Holy One Blessed be He called him by five names that were...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Vayakhel-Pekuday MOSHE THEN CONVOKED THE WHOLE ISRAELITE COMMUNITY AND SAID TO THEM:  (Shemot 35:1)   Right, Justice, and Peace Are Essential for the Dwelling of the Shekhina "Moshe then convoked the whole Israelite community" – Rashi explains: On the morrow of the Day of Atonement. And in Parashat Yitro it is written: "And on the morrow, Moshe sat to judge the people" and there Rashi explained that it was on the morrow of the Day of Atonement. It seems to me that it was known that...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday (link to original page) Parshat Vayakhel-Pekuday "Thus was completed all the service (of construction) for the Dwelling, the Tent of Appointment. The Children of Israel made according to all the God had commanded Moshe, thus they made." (Shemot 39:32) "Thus was completed all the service for the Dwelling" – In Gematriya (mathematical equivalent of) "On the twenty-fifth of Kislev was it finished" . . . "Thus was completed" – it can be said that now was completed the construction of the entire world. (Baal Haturim, ibid., ibid.) Regarding Devotion and...