This week’s Parshah, Parshat Vayakhel, contains the final instructions and layout of the Mishkan\tabernacle, that would eventually serve as the prototype of the Beit Hamikdash. As an introduction to ...

“Vayakel Moshe — and Moses gathered the whole community of Israelites and said unto them, these are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do.” — Exodus 35:1 For centuries, Jews have gathered ...

Mori ve-rabi R. Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l, had an insight into Parshat VaYakhel which at its most basic level answers a technical question, why does the Torah record the detailed list of the items ...

Helen Keller famously said, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”. The biblical term for coming together as a community or nation derives from the root k-h-l (קהל), which is the root ...

Parashat “Vayakhel,” which we read this Shabbat, focuses on generosity of the heart. Moses gathers the entire congregation of Israel and commands them regarding the contributions for the Mishkan ...

Why was the kiyor – the basin used by the priest to wash his hands and feet before serving in the Temple – made from the mirrors used by women (Exodus 38:8)? Ibn Ezra notes that mirrors were used by ...

“These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do: On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on ...

As the Tabernacle is completed, Moses renders an accounting of monies donated to its construction (Exodus 38:21–31). One wonders why this accounting is necessary. After all, the Torah tells us that ...

We all have different communities, starting from the micro, in person ones, to the macro-ones, some of which are virtual. My micro-one is my immediate family, and sadly enough I lost two beloved ...

Something very unusual happens in the subtext of the last three parshiot of Shemot, and that is the identification of two individuals by their tribal affiliations. This happens nowhere else in the ...