Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Vayakhel 2

in verse 6 mosha commanded that they Proclaim throughout the camp saying men and women shall not do more work toward the gift of the sanctuary not allowed to donate anymore it's not necessary thank you we don't need any more donations and the people were restrained from bringing he had to actually put guards and say no more donations and the work had been enough meaning the donations were enough for all the work to do it and there was extra work begins all the verse eight all the wise-hearted among those doing the work made the Tabernacle 10 curtains of linen Twisted with turquoise purple and Scarlet wool they made them with a woven design of cherubs and then it goes into more details of how they were attached together we turn to page 523 verse 14 we read about the second roof of goat hair he made curtains of goat hair for a tent over the Tabernacle he made them 11 curtains and again more details are given verse 19 the third and the fourth roofs are described he made a cover for the tent of red dyed Ram hides and a cover of Tash hides on top in verse 20 and on we speak about the planks the wooden planks he made the planks for the Tabernacle of acacia wood standing erect they were standing upright instead of being uh horizontal one on top of each other 10 cubits was the height of the plank 10 cubits is 15 ft the the height height of the mishan was 15 ft and a cubit and a half was the width of each Plank and the width of the plank was about 2T it was a very wide uh plank I even more than the screen allows 2 feet wide beams very large beams and 15 ft very heavy that is why we will learn that when time came to stand them up no one could pick them up they were so heavy and Moshe told Hashem how should we build it and Hashem said never be afraid just try and Moshe went and he just put his hands and the beam went up by itself now verse um 24 he made 40 Silver sockets under the 20 planks as we explained that each uh beam was standing on Silver bases two bases under each uh beam verse 31 he made bars of acacia wood the Bars were going across each wall two two bars uh were visible one on top of the of the the the height of the wall towards the top and one towards the bottom going across all the planks connecting all the planks together and there was a a middle bar going through the planks in the middle that was invisible they would bore a hole through the planks which was miraculous in itself imagine you have a a twoot wide beam and you have to drill a hole through it so that you can insert a wooden pole uh a wide hole you have to drill a smooth hole and the the hole has to be same height on all 20 beams a very difficult job and similarly it was on the the Southern Wall on the Northern wall and Western Wall whereas the eastern wall did not have um um the the solid wall rather it had a curtain okay now we are in verse 35 the partition the curtain separating the holy from the holy of holies he made the comption of turquoise purple and Scarlet wool and linen they were Twisted together he made it with a woven design of cherubs he made for it four pillars of acacia wood and plated them with gold their hooks were gold and he cast for them four sockets of silver so there were four um pillars in front of the doorway and upon them was hung the curtain now verse 37 on the bottom of the page we learn about the screen this is the outer um partition that separates the holy from the courtyard the for the entrance of the tent he made a screen of turquoise purple and Scarlet wool and linen Twisted work of an embroider it's pillers were five with their Hooks and he plated their tops and their bands with gold and their sockets were five of copper now we're on page 525 chapter 37 we now speak about the utensils that were manufactured betal made the ark the holy Ark of aesa wood it gives the dimensions verse two he covered it with pure gold on the inside on the on on the outside and he made for it a gold crown all around he made four gold rings into which he would he will insert the staves the poles of ACAA wood and he covered the poles with gold as well now verse six we speak about the cover for the ark he made a cover of pure gold verse 7even he made two cherubs of gold the two childlike statues of angels facing each other Standing On Top of the Ark hammered out did he make them from the two ends of the cover and uh what did these cherubs represent the one on the right represented God and the one on the left represented the Jewish people and they were facing each other and their wings were spread towards each other and they were touching each other over the ark that represented the love and connection between God and the Jewish people and the talut says that in times of good they were facing each other however when the Jewish people would sin these cherubs would miraculously turn away from each other and therefore the Jewish people knew exactly what Hashem thinks about them if the cherubs faced each other they knew that God um approves of their actions and if they faced away from each other they knew that God is upset at them now on um verse 10 we speak about the the table the shul he made the table of acacia wood its dimensions are are given he covered it with pure gold and made for it a gold crown all around um the table had Rings into which the poles were inserted as well verse 16 he made the utensils that were on the table its dishes its spoons its pillars and its shelving tubes with which it was covered of pure gold now in verse 17 the Min is constructed he made the Min of pure gold hammered out did he make the Min the Min was not melt made from melted gold and poured into a mold which would be easy instead it was hammered um very tedious very hard work and I'll say just say that betal didn't know what how to do it and Hashem said don't worry just start and he picked up his little hammer and started banging and miraculously the minur started taking shape and the minura had a base and a shaft and cups and knobs and flowers and six branches there were there were seven lamps one on a central shaft and three on each side there were almond designs now we turn to page page 527 verse 23 he made its lamps seven and its tongues to remove the burnt out uh Wick and spoons of pure gold of a talent of pure gold did he make it and all its utensils a talent is approximately 150 PBS so the minur and the utensils were made from 150 pounds of gold um now verse 25 we learn about the incense altar the golden altar he made the incense altar of acacia wood verse 26 he covered it with pure gold and he made for it a gold crown all around um it also had golden rings for the poles verse 28 he made the staves of AAA wood and covered them with gold he made the anoint ointment oil to anoint all the utensils and the garments and kohanim and the incense spices the Kor pure a perfumer handiwork chapter 38 we learn about the elevation offering altar he made the elevation offering altar of acacia wood verse three um it was made of wood and covered with copper he made all the utensils of the altar the pots the shovels the basins the forks and the fire pans he made all its utensils of copper more details are given and now in uh verse 8 we speak about the LA the wash basin he made the laor of copper and its base of copper from the mirrors of the legions Who Am amess themselves at the entrance of the tent of meeting what is this all about you make a wash basin from mirrors how is that possible so in olden times mirrors were made from uh metal either gold for the King's Daughter or from from Silver for um a Prince's uh daughter a Leader's daughter or from copper for regular people and uh every woman had a copper mirror which was polished so much that you could see your own reflection in it and when the women said when women women heard that copper is needed for the beta mikdash they said I will give to Hashem the most precious copper utensil that I have it's not a cup and it's not a bowl it it is my precious mirror that I beautify myself for my husband and Hashem said I want to use them for purification of kohanim take the these mirrors and melt them down and don't use them not for the cover of the altar not for the utensils make the wash basin make the labor that purifies kohanim that allows them to become fit for service at the beginning mosha didn't want to accept it he said what kind of thoughts they had when they were beautifying themselves maybe they wanted to beautify themselves for other men God forbid and Hashem said I can testify that these Jewish women are righteous and they only had pure thoughts for their husbands and therefore the these mirrors are holy now in verse 9 we learn about the construction of the courtyard walls from um lace hangings he made the courtyard on the south side The Lace hangings of the courtyard of Twisted linen 100 cubits their pillars were 20 and their sockets 20 of copper as well as Hooks and their bands of silver and similarly on the North side 100 cubit uh about 150 ft long now we turn to page 529 on the west side as well there were lace hangings of 50 cubits about 75 ft the pillars 10 and their sockets 10 and their Hooks and bands of silver and on the Eastern side there were some uh lace hanging uh curtains for walls as well as there was the the Central Area um without those hangings and there there was um a screen for the doorway on the Eastern side 50 cubits out of which 15 cubits were lace hangings at one shoulder and 15 Cubit lace hangings on the other shoulder with the middle so 15 + 15 that's 30 and the entire length was 50 so the middle area for the doorway was 20 and that is described in verse 18 the screen of the Gate of the courtyard was embroider work of turquoise purple and Scarlet wool and twisted linen 20 cubits in length and the height in the width was 5 cubits corresponding to the lace hangings of the courtyard so the the height of that screen was 5 cubits which is about 7 and 1/2 8 ft and the the length was uh 20 cubits about 35 ft verse 19 their pillars four and their sockets four of copper that that's for the uh the the screen of the doorway their hooks of silver and the plating of their tops and their bands silver all the pegs of the Tabernacle and the courtyard all around were copper um this concludes parat P next week we I'm sorry concludes parat next week we will learn about the the the the f final um making of of um garments of kohanim and the accounting of all the material to show that the Jewish people were honest and they used all the materials um um that were donated now uh this week we have a special Shabbat it is called parim so in addition of the in addition to reading regular we also are going to read a special section for ma which is called parim and that is actually we're going back one week and we're going to read the first section of parat which speaks about the the three donations that the Jewish people gave and the reason for this is uh double number one is when roses comes and this this coming week is going to bees second Adar which is the month before Nissan one month before Nissan announcements went out throughout uh Israel to make donations their yearly donations to be used uh for next year for all all the offerings so that every Jew participates in every offering throughout the year and the the Jewish people were given one month to voluntarily bring the donations to yushan and they had special collection chests in every town so that if you don't want to travel toam you can bring it to your local collection site and then uh officials a delegation would be sent to to bring all the collected shalim every person had to give half a shekel coin a coin one coin worth half a shekel for every member of his family uh as reason number two why we read before is because we want to um make an make make a donation in atonement for our soul for our life before because we know that ham gave a a large sum of silver of money to receive the right the exclusive right to kill the Jews and we say to Hashem Hashem we are going to give money to cancel out the money of ham and we're going to give this money before ham we're going to give it before pu and that is another reason why we read to remind the Jewish people to protect yourself make this donation for the Corban next week we we're going to have par p and it will also be UMES and then the the following week we will have um the Shabbat before puim and also it will it will be a special Shabbat it will be called parat Z we will read about the the Commandment to destroy Amal and always remember about what they did uh so this week is the beginning of what we call the four special weeks Z then uh we will skip one week after that we'll celebrate puim and then after that we we have another special week it's going it's going to be called parat and then again uh the following week ises the the the Shabbat before is called uh where we read a special portion about sanctification of the new moon and this all starts this coming week uh um men should make an effort to attend synagogue even if they usually don't specifically this week because we read a special Torah portion women are not obligated however um the week before puim when we read par Z it is actually a Torah commandment an obligation for all men to attend the reading and many women try it's good for women to go as well but not this week uh thank you for listening shabbat shalom