This week begins the season of double parshas (weekly Torah portions).  For those of you asking yourselves what I am talking about, let me explain.

The calender of the family of Yisrael is lunar based meaning that each month begins with the sighting of the new moon.  Ordinarily, the year has twelve of these months.  However, haShem (god) mentions that the month that includes the holiday of Pesach (Passover) is the month of spring.  So, to keep the month of Pesach in the spring, an extra month is added every few years.  When the sages decided to create the parshas of the Torah that are to be read every shabbat, they needed to take into account the four shabbats found in the extra month.  The problem was what to do in a year without an extra month because they now had four parshas and no shabbats to read them on.  The result was to join certain parshas together, the first of which we read this shabbat and is called:  Vayakhail-P’kudi which are the two names of the two parshas.  For those who are accounting (pun intended) vayakahail means, a”Ad he assembled,” and p’kudi refers to the accounting of the materials of the mishcan (tabernacle).

So, now that we have the preliminaries taken care of, lets get into the summary.  The first parsha begins with Moshe (Moses) gathering together all the people to tell them everything that haShem had told him.  The first thing he tells them is that they can work for six days, but the seventh day is kodesh (holy/sacred/separate) for them and a day of rest for haShem and anyone doing work on that day will be put to death.

Now, that Moshe has gotten that out of the way, he tells the people that anyone who feels the urge in their hearts to donate something to god, here are the things he wants, and we get a list.  He continues by saying that those who are wise of heart will come and take these materials and make the things that will make up the mishcan, things like curtains and planks and the ark, etc.  When Moshe finished the people left and those whose hearts were lifted and felt a generous spirit donated the raw materials Moshe requested.  Moshe told the people that god had specifically named Betzalel, son of Uri, son of Chu, from the tribe of Yehuda (Judah) as the main craftsman, along with Ahaliav, son of Achisamach of the tribe of Dan and that both would teach the people what they needed to know in order to be able to build the mishcan.  Moshe called Betzalel and Ahaliav and all the people whose hearts were wise in the ways of craftsmanship to come forward and do the work.  So, these people came and took the donations and started to build the parts of the mishcan.  After a while, the artisans told Moshe that they had enough materials and Moshe told the people to stop bringing donations and the people were stopped from bringing.  The Torah then goes into the details of all the parts of the mishcan that were made, including dimensions.  As I am sure you will read this over shabbat, I don’t think I need to repeat it here.  Besides, I would just be giving over the Torah word-for-word if I did that, and you could look it up if you wanted to.  And since that is what the rest of this first parsha is about, why don’t we go right into the second of our two parshas, p’kudi.

P’kudi begins with an accounting of how much gold, silver and copper were used in the making of the mishcan.  We are again told the work was done by Betzalel and Ahaliav, and we are told how these metals were used.  While we are not told the amounts of wool and linen, and other materials, we are told how they were used in the making of the clothing for those working in the mishcan along with the details of how the parts of the costume of the cohen gadol (high priest) were made.  As we finish reading about the clothes of the cohen gadol, we also discover that all the work of the parts of the mishcan were completed, and we now get a listing of the finished parts of the mishcan (in summary form thank god 🙂 and Moshe then blessed the people as everything was done according to god’s specifications.

God now tells Moshe to build the mishcan on the first day of the first month of the second year of the leaving of Egypt (which is the first of the month of Nissan which happens to be this Tuesday for those who want to know).  God doesn’t just say build the mishcan; rather he tells Moshe how to build it, and the order that things need to be done.  After the mishcan is build and sanctified, Moshe is told to wash and dress and sanctify Aharon and his sons so they can be priests to haShem.  Then we read that Moshe did exactly as haShem told him, and we read how Moshe put the mishcan together, and the cloud of haShem’s glory then came and covered the tent of meeting and filled the mishcan, and that Moshe could not go in because haShem’s glory filled it.  The parsha ends with us being told that when the cloud rose up, the children of Yisrael would travel and when it stayed on the mishcan, they would not travel. And with that, we end the second of the five books of Moshe.

Now, the question is, what are we to make of all this?  I think the best way to answer this is to take first things first.  The majority of these two parshas is about the building of the mishcan.  One of the things I found interesting is the order of things.  First Moshe, asks the people to bring things; then he asks for people to build the pieces.  Only after the parts are made can we know how they were made and how much raw material was used.  Once all of the pieces had been correctly made, haShem tells Moshe how to put it all together, and only then does Moshe actually assemble the mishcan, and only after that does haShem come down onto/into it.

What we see here is a logical order to doing things, whether it is building a car, or baking a cake or cleaning a house.  Now, this might seem obvious, but it is amazing how often we forget this simple process.  Our parsha is teaching us that when you start a project, get the materials you will need to do the job.  It can be very frustrating to be halfway through a project only to discover you are missing something.  Imagine you are going to paint your living room.  You move all the furniture into the middle of the room and cover them with drop cloths.  You have finally found the time in your busy schedule.  You start to paint and you run out of paint, or that you don’t have a ladder so you can’t do the top of the walls.  Talk about frustration.  Now, perhaps the stores are closed so you can’t get more paint or a ladder and you are stuck with a half painted living room.  What to do?

Ok, so now you have all the things you need.  The next thing is to get all the people you need who can help you get the job done.  Maybe you can build a car yourself, but what if you don’t have all the expertize?  You might know all about motors, but suddenly you are confronted with the electrical system.  Now what?  You are stuck.  It is always good to line up experts before starting a project.

Are you ready to assemble everything?  The parsha says no.  Everything has to be ready to be assembled.  This is a little hard to grasp.  If any of you have made model boats or airplanes then you might recall that it is a lot easier to paint the parts before you put the model together.  Why?  Because the way the parts fit make it hard to get a paint brush to the correct piece without touching another piece.  That is why a model’s instructions say to paint the parts first, because that is what they need to be ready to be assembled.  I am sure people who bake or prepare big meals can find examples as well.

And finally we are ready to complete the project we are working on.  What is interesting is that god doesn’t tell Moshe how to assemble the mishcan until this point.  What I think god is trying to tell Moshe, and us, is that it is ok not to know how to complete the job when you start it.  Sometimes you can’t picture how the pieces will fit, because you don’t have a real clear picture of all the pieces.  This doesn’t mean to never start the project.  It just means that you have to trust that when the time comes, you will find a way to complete the job.  After all, even the best laid plans sometimes need to be changed.  Just ask anyone who has played sports how often a team will change its strategy because they realize their plan is not going to work.

When all is said and done, haShem comes down on the mishcan, which is the parsha’s way of saying that by following this order things will work out to perfection.  Now, it is time to sit back and rejoice!

Before I let you go, there are a few things that I would like to touch on.  The first is the very first thing in the first parsha.  I haven’t talked about it and I feel that I should given that I am talking about first things first.  🙂

First things first also means that the first thing is the most important thing.  I talked about this last year in parsha Yitro.  Now the first thing our parsha talks about is how Moshe collected the people together and told them about not working on shabbat.  Why is this the first thing Moshe says when he comes down the mountain?  I think because of its importance.  Sure, building a place for god in this world is important, but don’t break shabbat to make it happen.

Why is it so important?  Because shabbat is a day of rest for haShem and how can haShem be at home in a place where his rest day is not respected?  HaShem can wait a few more days for her house to be ready in order to have a shabbat every seven days.  It might not seem like a big deal, but after living in Jerusalem and experiencing shabbats where everybody around me is keeping it, and then going to places where nobody is keeping it, I know how difficult it is to find that shabbat space.  So, by saying first that shabbat must be kept, Moshe is saying that the house of god is not as important as resting on shabbat because god won’t come into a house that is not surrounded and built with shabbat taken into account.  And if something as important as the building of a house for god cannot be done on shabbat, what makes us think that any of the things we do is more important than shabbat?  Is anything we do today as important as creating a place for god?

I actually just had one more thought here.  When a person starts a project, it is so easy to forget to take a break from it.  Eventually that person will get sick or burnt out, or might even hurt themselves due to fatigue.  The thought that just came is that the Torah is waving a big flag telling us, before we even start a project, to make sure we plan to take regular time out to rejuvenate ourselves so we can complete our projects.

I also find it interesting that we always read these parshas just before Nissan, the month of spring, because springtime is the time to really start getting active in this world and making things happen.  So, the timing of these parshas at the beginning of spring, just like the reminder about shabbat are not co-incidental.  It is a reminder before we begin anything in this world, to include periodic rest periods, shabbats if you will, and that they are necessary to successfully completing whatever projects you start, and for creating a space for haShem in this world and within you.

I have a few more things I wish to share, but I don’t want you to read a novel, so I will end it here.  Call it my way of giving a taste of shabbat, of stopping and resting. 🙂  I wish all of you success in your endeavors for the coming year (Nissan is the first month of the year – one of four new years according to our family tradition) and don’t forget to take time to rest as your work!

Chodesh tov/Have a good month everyone,

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.