…here. Rabbosai, Parshat Terumah begins a most extraordinary sequence. Hakamat haMishkan, the building of the first collective House of God, occupies Terumah, Tetzaveh, half of Ki Tissa, Vayakhel and Pekudei, an enormous length – the longest, as it were, single sequence in the Torah. And there is something very strange about it. As the late Nechama Leibowitz, of blessed memory,…
…of the Torah that cries out for explanation. The first thing that strikes us is the sheer length of the account: one third of the book of Shemot, five parshiyot – Terumah, Tetzaveh, half of Ki Tissa, Vayakhel and Pekudei, interrupted only by the story of the Golden Calf. This becomes even more perplexing when we compare it with another…
…תִשָּׂא Between Tetzaveh and Ki Tissa אֶסְתֵּר פּוּרִים מִשְׁתֶּה שִׂמְחָה Esther, Purim, feasting, joy מִי יַחֲנֶה וּמִי יִסַּע Who shall stay home, and who shall travel וּמִי יִשָּׂא בַּתּוֹצָאָה And who will bear the consequence בֵּין כִּי תִשָּׂא לְוַיַּקְהֵל Between Ki Tissa and Vayakhel עוֹלָם מַפְסִיק לְהִתְקַהֵל The world stops congregating לְהִשְׁתַּתֵּק לְהִסְתַּגֵּר Goes quiet, locks itself in…
…Sacks exploring the value of Community The Spirit of Community (Covenant & Conversation, Vayakhel) Three Types of Community (Covenant & Conversation, Vayakhel) Individual and Community (Covenant & Conversation, Masei) The Jewish community could not exist for a day without its volunteers (The Times, 29th October, 2012) A Community of Communities – BBC Reith Lecture 1990 (Lecture 6) on BBC Radio…
…such a moment as this? A live-streamed shiur delivered by Rabbi Sacks for Vayakhel-Pekudei (March 2020/5780) Around the Shabbat Table What can we learn from Fred Rogers and the way he utilised the power of speech? Do you think the technology and social media of our age is a positive addition to our lives or mainly destructive? Do you agree…
…לְוַיַּקְהֵל Between Ki Tissa and Vayakhel עוֹלָם מַפְסִיק לְהִתְקַהֵל The world stops congregating לְהִשְׁתַּתֵּק לְהִסְתַּגֵּר Goes quiet, locks itself in יִשְׁמָעֵאל אֱדוֹם וְיִשְׂרָאֵל Ishmael, Edom and Israel בֵּין וַיַּקְהֵל לִפְּקוּדֵי Between Vayakhel and Pekudei אֵין אִישׁ בָּעִיר וּבַשָּׂדֶה Not a person in the city or the country כְּבָר אֵין מוּל מִי לְהִתְנַהֵל Not a soul left to talk…
…book of Shemot and spans five parshiyot (Terumah, Tetzaveh, half of Ki Tissa, Vayakhel, and Pekudei). It is interrupted only by the story of the Golden Calf. Why is it so long, and so detailed? In Bereishit, God’s creation of the entire universe is described in just thirty-four verses. Why focus on the Mishkan, which was just a temporary structure…
Finally the long narrative of the construction of the Tabernacle – to which the Torah devotes more space than any other single subject – is at an end. The building, its frame, drapes and sacred furniture, were complete. Moses inspects the finished project. We then read: The Israelites had done all the work just as the Lord had commanded Moses….
…Ki Tissa, Vayakhel, Pekudei – I didn’t count them up: it’s somewhere between 500-600 verses. In other words, it takes almost twenty times as long to build a shul as to create the universe – the reason being fairly simple. Shuls tend to be put together by a committee! But it is a very striking thing. You will forgive me:…
…three verses of Bereishit ch. 2). The making of the Mishkan takes hundreds of verses (Terumah, Tetzaveh, part of Ki Tissa, Vayakhel and Pekudei) – considerably more than ten times as long. Why? The universe is vast. The sanctuary was small, a modest construction of poles and drapes that could be dismantled and carried from place to place as the…