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Vayakhel-Pekudei 10 March 2018 23 Adar 5778 Shabbat ends London 6.43pm Jerusalem 6.20pm Volume 30 No. 25 Vayakhel-Pekudei Artscroll p.484 | Maftir p.838 | Haftarah p.1216 Hertz p.352 | Maftir p.652 | Haftarah p.999 Soncino p.540 | Maftir p.898 | Haftarah p.1194 Parashat Parah. Shabbat Mevarechim. Rosh Chodesh Nissan is next Shabbat. In loving memory of Chaim ben Moshe Bentzion "They made the Robe of the Ephod of a weaver's craft, entirely of turquoise wool" (Shemot 39:22). 1 Sidrah Summary: Vayekhel-Pekudei 1st Aliya (Kohen) – Shemot 35:1-29 Point to Consider: Who contributed the mirrors for Moshe gathers the nation. He instructs them to keep the base of the washstand? (see Rashi to 38:8) Shabbat and asks them to volunteer the materials 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 39:2-22 needed for the construction of the Mishkan The priestly garments are made, starting with the (Tabernacle) and the priestly garments. Ephod, worn over Aharon’s tunic and robe. It has Question: Which particular forbidden action, two shoulder straps (Ketefot) and a belt (Cheshev) forbidden on Shabbat, is mentioned in the third attached. A precious Shoham stone is placed on verse? (35:3) Answer on bottom of page 6. each shoulder strap. The next item made is the 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 35:30-37:17 breastplate (Choshen), containing 12 different types Moshe announces the appointment of the wise- of precious stone (Avnei Miluim). hearted Betzalel and Aholiav to oversee the 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 39:22-43 construction, assisted by able craftsmen. When they The turquoise robe (Me’il) is made. Golden bells collect the materials volunteered, they find there is a (Pa’amonim) are placed between multi-coloured surplus. Moshe tells the Israelites not to bring any woollen ‘pomegranates’ (Rimonim) shapes hanging more materials. from the bottom hem. The work starts with the ten Yeriyot (curtains) and the A knitted tunic (Ketonet) with a grid-like pattern, a golden hooks joining them together. This is followed linen turban (Mitznefet), linen trousers (Michnasayim) by the Ohel (tent), draped over the Mishkan, with a and an embroidered sash (Avnet) are made, for every further double Michse (cover) on top. Next they Kohen to wear. The pure gold band (Tzitz) is made, make the parochet (partition) to cordon off the Holy to be placed on Aharon’s forehead. of Holies area. After the work is finished, Moshe inspects it and Betzalel makes the Aron (ark) from acacia wood, blesses the workers. plated with gold and with a gold crown (Zer). The 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 40:1-38 Kaporet (cover) of the aron is made from pure gold, God tells Moshe to erect the Mishkan on Rosh with two cherubs moulded on top. Chodesh Nisan and to anoint its vessels with oil The Shulchan (table) is made from gold-plated acacia and to inaugurate Aharon and his sons. A heavenly wood, with a gold crown (Zer) on its rim (Misgeret). cloud covers the Mishkan. When it lifts, the people 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 37:17-29 are allowed to journey on. The Menorah is hammered from one piece of pure Maftir (Shemot 30:11-16) gold, with seven lamps. The special reading for parashat Parah is taken The gold-plated small wooden Mizbeach (altar) is from the beginning of parashat Chukat (Bemidbar constructed for the twice-daily incense offering. 19:1-22), in which God instructed Moshe and Aharon The special anointing oil and the incense spices are how to purify someone who had come into prepared. contact with a human corpse. This involved 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 38:1-39:1 slaughtering an unblemished red heifer (Parah The workers then construct a copper washstand Adumah) and mixing its ashes with water. (Kiyor) for the Kohanim, followed by the Chatzer Haftarah (courtyard) which surrounds the Mishkan, The prophet Yechezkel (Ezekiel) admonishes making its outer ‘fence’ of linen Yeriyot (curtains), the nation for worshipping idols and desecrating attached to wooden pillars. The Torah lists the His Name. However, God will purify us, giving us overall weight of gold, silver and copper used in a ‘new heart’ and returning us to the Land. building the Mishkan. United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue Editor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial Team: Ilana Epstein, Michael Laitner, Sharon Radley Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Loraine Young on 020 8343 5653, or [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected] 2 Battling with Envy by Rabbi Elchonon Feldman, Bushey & District United Synagogue “You [Moshe] shall anoint This, he writes, was understandable. When it them [Aharon’s sons], as you came to Aharon himself, Moshe was grateful to anointed their father [Aharon], Aharon for not protesting that his younger brother and they shall minister to Me. (Moshe) had been chosen to be the Jewish leader And so it shall be that their instead of himself. The Torah in fact relates that anointment shall be for them Aharon was joyful at his brother’s appointment, an eternal priesthood for their which inspired Moshe to rejoice when he was told generations” (Shemot 40:15). that Aharon would also have his own significant role as the High Priest. “It turned Brer Merlin green with envy and spite, which was a great satisfaction to me”, writes However, when it came to anointing Aharon’s Mark Twain in his book, A Connecticut Yankee, sons, things were very different. By anointing the associating feelings of jealousy with the colour next generation, Moshe knew that the priesthood green. This was not the first literary source to would continue in perpetuity through the connect the colour green with envy. In a few generations of Aharon’s offspring and not his places, Shakespeare refers to the “green-eyed own. At the same time, Moshe was given no monster” stirred by sensations of jealousy. assurance that his mantle of leadership would be Chaucer and Ovid also use the phrase “green passed on to his sons; indeed ultimately it was with envy”. not. On a subtle level, Moshe was envious that Aharon’s descendants would have a privilege not Besides the literary origins of envy manifesting given to his own. Therefore, God had to give itself in colour, the emotion of envy is generally Moshe an extra instruction, that he should not seen as a deficiency in moral character. Our Torah hesitate; rather he should tap into the love and joy sources relate this message too, as the sage which he felt when he had anointed his brother as Rabbi Elazar Hakapar states in Pirkei Avot: “Envy, the Kohen Gadol. lust and honour drive a person from the world” (Ethics of our Fathers 4:28, p. 550 in the green From here we see that the challenges of envy can siddur). be ever present. Even Moshe, our greatest teacher and prophet, faced this test of character. However, in the second of this week’s two Moshe, in his greatness, overcame the challenge. parashiyot, Pekudei, Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (known as the Meshech Chochma, d. 1926) offers a warning that it is not just wicked people who struggle with envy. In fact, no one is immune from the temptations of jealousy. He derives this teaching from God’s commandment to Moshe (quoted above) to anoint the sons of Aharon “as you anointed their father”. The Meshech Chochma writes that although Moshe only had joy and love in his heart when he had originally anointed his brother Aharon to become the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), when it now came time for Moshe to anoint Aharon’s two sons, he hesitated. In memory of Malka bat Peretz 3 Bein Adam Lechaveiro Part 29: The Ramban’s Letter (Igeret HaRamban) III by Rabbi Daniel Fine, Community Rabbi, Stanmore & Canons Park United Synagogue Over the last two weeks, we can grow and succeed, taking into account both have been studying the first this (temporary) world and the eternal world to paragraph of the Letter of the come. This obviates the isolation factor too; yes, Ramban (Igeret HaRamban), this difficult experience is happening to you and which was sent by the nobody else, but it is a carefully Divinely Ramban (Nachmanides d. constructed challenge, fit for purpose, calling 1270) to his son in Catalonia upon you to rise above and succeed. in the 13th century, which focuses on the topic of humility. This means that an antidote to feelings that lead to anger is internalising our belief in God and We are up to the Ramban’s quotation from the understanding that He is part of our everyday Talmud about the dangers of anger: “Whoever lives. This is of course easier said than done, but flares up in anger is subject to the to the as Rabbi Avraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (d. 1167) strictures of Gehinom – [a place where souls writes, emotions can only go where we allow suffer in the afterlife for their misdemeanours on them to. For example, our emotions feel sorry for earth]” (Nedarim 22a). victims and loathe perpetrators, but our intellect first frames the situation, telling us who is the Why is anger so negative? victim and who is the perpetrator. Developing a philosophically sound understanding of God can Anger is often rooted in two feelings that can therefore go a long way towards removing anger. come about as a response to an occurrence. The first is a feeling of unfairness; “what have On a more profound level, the Talmud (Shabbat I done to deserve this?”.
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