Parsha Pizzazz – VaYakhel
In last week’s parsha, the Jews got impatient waiting for Moshe to come down from Mount Sinai, and they made a huge mistake: they made a golden calf and worshipped it! Moshe was so angry when he saw this that he smashed the first luchot (tablets with the Ten Commandments) on the ground. Eventually, HaShem forgave the Jews and gave Moshe a new set of luchot. In this week’s parsha, Moshe tells the Jewish people about HaShem’s instructions for building the Mishkan – the last step in achieving complete forgiveness from HaShem for the sin of the golden calf.
A Time to Build, and a Time to Rest
It was Yom Kippur when HaShem forgave the Jews for making the eigel hazahav, the golden calf. The next day, Moshe gathered all of the people together and said:
“HaShem is ready to forgive you for making the eigel! There’s only one thing left to do before you are completely forgiven – build a beautiful Mishkan, a holy place where we will serve HaShem. When it’s complete, the Shechina – HaShem’s holy presence – will rest there. HaShem has given me instructions for this very special building. We’ll need help collecting all kinds of materials...”
“Sure! We’ll be glad to help!” the people said. Everyone was in a good mood and anxious to make up for what they had done. They were eager to mend their relationship with HaShem, and they were ready and willing to do whatever Moshe asked of them.
“Great!” Moshe said. “I’ll tell you all about what we need, in just a minute. But first, I need to give you a very important message from HaShem about Shabbat. It’s absolutely essential that you understand that even though building the Mishkan is very holy work, still, no work at all can be done on Shabbat. You can work for six days, but on Shabbat, everything must come to a complete stop.”
Work, Work, Work
“There are 39 kinds of melachot – all sorts of work that must be done to make all the special things for the Mishkan,“ explained Moshe. “Growing plants for making dye... sewing and weaving... cooking... preparing animal skins... and building with wood. These are exactly the same kinds of work that must not be done on Shabbat.”
