QUESTIONS FOR THE SHABBOS TABLE
PARSHAS VAYAKHEL-PEKUDEI, EXODUS 35:1–40:38
This week we have
a double Parsha: Vayakhel (Exodus 35:1-38:20) and Pekudei (Exodus 38:21-40:38).
Parsha Vayakhel begins:
וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶׁה, אֶת-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל
“And Moshe assembled all of the congregation,
the Children of Israel…”
You can see in the
word וַיַּקְהֵל the root of קהלה or assembly or community.
That is why Olim
in my home town of Nahariya are the קהילת עולים נהריה , the Nahariya Olim Community.
In this week’s
Parshat the Mishkan is finally constructed.
There are commentators who are of the opinion that the
construction of the Mishkan parallels the construction of the universe. And oddly enough there are commentators who find
parallels between the Mishkan and the Jewish home. What do you think and why?
In
Parsha Vayakhel at 35:1 :
אֵלֶּה, הַדְּבָרִים, אֲשֶׁר-צִוָּה יְהוָה,
לַעֲשֹׂת אֹתָם
"… These are
the things that the Lord commanded to make".
Moses assembles
the people of Israel and reiterates to them the commandment to observe the
Shabbat. He then conveys Hashem’s instructions regarding the making of the
Mishkan. The people donate the required materials in abundance, bringing gold,
silver and copper; blue-, purple- and red-dyed wool; goat hair, spun linen,
animal skins, wood, olive oil, herbs and precious stones.
Would you believe,
Moses has to tell us to stop giving!
---------------------------------------------------------
Because this Shabbat falls before the end of the month Adar and
before the beginning of the month of Nisan it is called Shabbat HaChodesh, the
Sabbath of the Month.
A special Maftir
portion is read from the Book of Exodus 12:1-20, which reminds us that the
Festival of Passover will shortly be upon us.
In that regard, I would like to present some of the many Laws of
Passover to help you get ready for the big event, the Festival of Our
Freedom. It is not meant to be an
exhaustive presentation or for that matter an authoritative presentation, but
something for you to talk about at your table and put you on the right track.
PROHIBITION OF CHOMETZ
On Passover, which begins on Wednesday evening the 8th of April to the
16th of April, not only are forbidden to eat Chometz, but we must
have removed any and all Chometz from our possession by the morning preceding
the Festival.
The prohibition of Chometz on Pesach is an absolute one. Not only are we forbidden from eating Chometz,
we are even forbidden to feed Chometz to our pets.
What is the basis for the prohibition? Because it says so (Exodus
12:15):
“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; moreover on the first
day you shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eats leavened
bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from
Israel”.
First things first: What is Chometz?
When either wheat, barley, rye, spelt or oats have come in contact
with or even slightly combines with water, you get Chometz. We are ordered to remove and/or destroy all
traces of Chometz from our possession.
How do we get rid of Chometz?
There is a three step procedure:
1. Sell your Chometz to a non-Jew.
2. Search and destroy: Search on the evening before and destroy by burning
on the following morning.
3. On the morning before Passover, declare any possible remaining
Chometz to be nullified.
All prohibitions regarding Chometz apply
to all the days of Pesach. The Torah prohibits any use of Chometz on Pesach,
whether it is eaten, sold or even given away. Chometz may only be destroyed.
After Passover You have to be
careful. It is forbidden to partake of or
purchase Chometz from a Jew who did not sell his Chometz before Passover. It is a fair question to ask someone if they
had sold their Chometz.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this Shabbat we
conclude the reading of Sefer Shmot with the concluding Parsha, Pekudei.
There is a 19th
century saying attributed to Lord Acton that goes as follows: “Power tends to corrupt,
and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad
men..."
It would seem what
is very much true now, was also true in the time of Moshe Rabeinu. Moshe, our greatest leader, gives an
accounting before the people of the gifts and donations brought by B’nei
Yisrael in conjunction with the construction of the Mishkan. For Moshe there is complete transparency.
Psalm 24:3-4: “Who
shall ascend into the mountain of the LORD? and who shall stand in His holy
place? He that hath clean hands, and a
pure heart; {N} who hath not taken
My name in vain, and hath not sworn deceitfully.”
This week’s double parsha concludes with the Mishkan being completed. All its
components are brought to Moses, who erects it
and anoints it with the holy anointing oil.
Moses initiates Aaron and his four sons into the priesthood. A cloud
appears over the Mishkan, signifying the Divine Presence, the Shekinah, has
come to dwell within it.
May it continue
to do.
We conclude our reading of the Book of Exodus with:חזק חזק ונתחזק.
We conclude our reading of the Book of Exodus with:חזק חזק ונתחזק.
No comments:
Post a Comment