The construction of the Tabernacle stopped for Shabbat and that is where we learn the details of what manual labor was forbidden on Shabbat. Anything that was stopped on that day relating to the construction, however minor or remote. Most of the time when the Torah talks about Shabbat it is regarding a cessation of work. That is how it…
Parsha Vayakhel
Repeating the Tabernacle
One is bound to wonder why the Torah spends so many chapters describing the Tabernacle, its design, the instructions to the craftsmen how to build the parts. And then how fit the parts together and the way it was executed. Finally how it was dedicated. What lessons can one possibly learn from what looks like a combination of an architect’s…
Mirrors
One of the reasons why we much such a point of reading the Torah in public each week is that if you really do go through it word for word, you come across little gems that might go unnoticed in the body of the text, that teach us important moral lessons. This week repeats the detailed lists of the how…
Community
The word for community we use nowadays is the Kahal. It is used as general word in the Torah to gather people together. It can apply to individuals, families, elders, tribes and peoples. Sometimes it is for a specific event, like providing water miraculously. Sometimes it is to gather everyone to stand firm for a cause. Here in the context…