Vayakhel-Pekudei: In-Depth Summary

Vayakhel: Moses Assembled the People

This Shabbat’s Torah reading includes both the Parshah of Vayakhel (Exodus 35:1–38:20) and the Parshah of Pekudei (38:21–40:38).

The Parshah of Vayakhel records the actual implementation of G‑d’s instructions on how to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle), recounted earlier in the Parshah of Terumah. Indeed, much of Vayakhel is almost an exact repeat of Terumah, the only apparent difference being that the details which in Terumah are prefaced with the words “They shall make . . .” are here presented following the preface “They made . . .”

But first,

Moses assembled the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them: These are the words which G‑d has commanded, that you should do them:

Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of sabbaths to G‑d; whoever does work on it shall be put to death.

You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.

The Donation

Moses then tells the people:

Take from among you an offering to G‑d: whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it . . .

Gold, silver and copper;

Blue-, purple- and scarlet- [dyed wool], fine linen and goats’ hair;

Rams’ skins dyed red, tachash skins and shittim wood;

Oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense;

Shoham stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate.

Every wise-hearted man among you shall come and make all that G‑d has commanded . . .

The response was overwhelming:

They came, everyone whose heart stirred them and everyone whose spirit made them willing, and they brought the offering to G‑d for the work of the Tent of Meeting, for all its service and for the holy garments.

They came, the men along with the women . . . and they brought bracelets, earrings, rings and girdles, all golden ornaments . . .

The women brought spun thread of multicolored wool, linen and goat hair for the roof coverings and the priestly garments; the tribal heads brought the precious stones for the high priest’s ephod (apron) and breastplate, and the herbs for the anointing oil and the incense.

All the wise men who carried out all the work of the Sanctuary came, every man from his work which they did, and they spoke to Moses, saying: “The people are bringing much more than enough for the service of the work which G‑d commanded to do.”

Moses commanded that they proclaim throughout the camp, saying: “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the Sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing.

The material was sufficient for all the work to do it, and too much.

Making of the Sanctuary

The team of “wise-hearted” artisans, headed by Betzalel ben Uri of the tribe of Judah and Aholiav ben Achisamach of the tribe of Dan, set about the task of fashioning these 15 materials into a dwelling for the Divine Presence.

They made the ten tapestries of the Mishkan[’s roof] of finely spun linen and [wool dyed] blue, purple and scarlet; with cherubim of artistic work did [Betzalel] make them . . .

He made sheets of goat hair as an ohel (tent covering) over the Mishkan—eleven sheets he made them . . .

He made the boards for the Mishkan[’s walls] of shittim wood, to be stood upright. . . . Twenty boards for the south walls; and he made forty silver foundation sockets under the twenty boards: two sockets under each board, for its two pegs. . . . And for the other side of the Mishkan—for the north side—he made twenty boards and forty silver sockets. . . . And for the rear of the Mishkan, to the west, he made six boards, and two boards for the rear corners . . .

He made the parochet (the “veil” that separated between the Sanctuary’s two chambers) of [wool dyed] blue, purple and scarlet, and fine-spun linen; with artistically woven cherubim he made it . . .

He made a screen for the doorway of the tent, of blue-, purple- and scarlet- [dyed wool], and fine-spun linen, with embroidered work . . .

The Sanctuary's Vessels

Betzalel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth and a cubit and a half its height. He overlaid it with pure gold inside and out, and made a rim of gold for it all around . . .

He made the kaporet (the ark’s cover) of pure gold. . . . He made two cherubim of gold; he made them beaten out of one piece, on the two ends of the covering. . . . And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, shielding the kaporet with their wings, with their faces one to another . . .

He made the table of shittim wood . . . and covered it with pure gold...

He made the menorah of pure gold; of beaten work he made the menorah. Its foot, its shaft, its branches, its goblets, its bulbs and its flowers were of the same piece . . .

He made the incense altar of shittim wood . . . and covered it with pure gold . . .

He made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of spices . . .

The Outdoor Furnishings

He made the altar of burnt offering . . . five cubits was its length and five cubits its breadth—it was square—and three cubits its height . . .

He made the basin of copper, and its pedestal of copper, out of the mirrors of the assembled women, who assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting . . .

He made the courtyard: on the south side, he hangings of the court were of fine-spun linen, a hundred cubits in length. Their pillars were twenty, their copper sockets twenty, and the hooks of the pillars and their trimmings were of silver. And for the north side, the hangings were a hundred cubits. . . . And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits. . . . The [width of] the east side was fifty cubits, [with] hangings of fifteen cubits on each side [of the entrance] . . .

The screen for the gate of the court was embroidered work, of blue, purple and scarlet, and fine-spun linen; and twenty cubits was the length . . .

All the pegs of the Tabernacle, and of the courtyard around it, were of copper.

(For more on the Mishkan, see summary and commentary for Terumah.)

Pekudei: The Audit

“These are the accounts of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony, as they were counted by Moses’ command . . .”

Pekudei (“Accounts”) is the last in a series of five Parshiot (Torah sections) describing the Mishkan. The Parshah contains: a) an audit of the gold, silver and copper used in the Mishkan’s construction; b) the making of the priestly garments; c) the erection and consecration of the Mishkan

Gold, Silver and Copper

The menorah and the kapporet (ark cover) were of solid gold; the ark, table, golden altar, and the Mishkan’s wall panels and posts were gold-plated; gold thread was added to the fibers in the roof coverings, the veil (parochet), the screens and the high priest’s garments. Altogether,

The gold of the offering was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

The silver for the Mishkan was supplied by the half-shekels contributed by each of those who “went to be numbered”: 603,550 men of draftable age, each giving half a shekel, made 100 talents plus 1775 shekels of silver (a “talent” is approximately 150 lb.). The 100 talents were used to make the 100 foundation sockets that held up the Mishkan’s wall panels and posts; the 1775 shekels were used for the hooks and trimmings on the 60 posts that held up the wall-hangings which enclosed the courtyard.

The copper totaled 70 talents and 2400 shekels, and was used to make “the foundation sockets to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; the copper altar, its copper grate, and all the vessels of the altar; the foundation sockets of the courtyard surrounding it, and the sockets of the courtyard entrance; and all the pegs of the Tabernacle and all the pegs of the courtyard surrounding it.”

The Priestly Garments

Although the priestly garments have already been described in detail in G‑d’s instruction to Moses related in the Parshah of Tetzaveh, the Torah now devotes 30 verses (39:2–31) to repeat these details in describing the actual making of the garments:

He made the ephod of gold; blue-, purple- and scarlet- [dyed wool], and fine twined linen . . .

He made the breastplate. . . . They set in it four rows of stones . . . enclosed in fixtures of gold in their settings. The stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names.

He made the cloak of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. . . . They made upon the hems of the cloak pomegranates of blue-, purple- and scarlet- [dyed wool], twined together. They made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the cloak . . .

They made tunics of fine linen of woven work for Aaron and for his sons; and the turban of fine linen . . . and linen breeches of fine twined linen; and a sash of fine twined linen, and blue-, purple- and scarlet- [dyed wool], the work of an embroiderer, as G‑d commanded Moses.

They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like the engravings of a signet, “Holy to G‑d.” They tied to it laces of blue, to fasten it on the turban above, as G‑d commanded Moses.

(For more on the priestly garments, see summary and commentary for Tetzaveh.)

“Thus was all the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting finished. The children of Israel did [it]; according to all that G‑d commanded Moses, thus they did.”

The Dwelling Assembled

They brought the Tabernacle to Moses. . . . Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as G‑d had commanded, thus had they done it. And Moses blessed them.

It came to pass in the first month (Nissan), in the second year (from the Exodus), on the first day of the month, that the Tabernacle was erected.

Moses erected the Tabernacle, fastened its sockets, set up its wall panels, put in its bars, and raised up its pillars.

He spread the tent over the Mishkan, and put the covering of the tent above upon it, as G‑d commanded Moses.

He took and placed the [tablets of] testimony into the ark, and set the carrying poles on the ark, and put the kapporet above, upon the ark. He brought the ark into the Tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen and screened the ark of the testimony, as G‑d commanded Moses.

He put the table in the Tent of Meeting, upon the northward side of the Tabernacle, outside the veil. He set the bread in order upon it before G‑d, as G‑d commanded Moses.

He put the menorah in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the southward side of the Tabernacle. He lit the lamps before G‑d, as G‑d commanded Moses.

He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the veil. He burnt sweet incense upon it, as G‑d commanded Moses.

He set up the screen at the door of the Tabernacle. And the altar of burnt offering he placed before the door of the Tabernacle . . . and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as G‑d commanded Moses.

He set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water there for washing . . .

He erected the courtyard surrounding the Tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the courtyard entrance. Thus Moses finished the work.

(For more on the Mishkan, see summary and commentary for Terumah.

The Dwelling Inhabited

The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of G‑d filled the Tabernacle . . .

When the cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up.

For the cloud of G‑d was upon the Tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.