The people of Israel are told the following in the Parsha of vayakhel:
Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon [on this day] shall be put to death. You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”(Exodus 35:2-3)
Vayak’hel ( Exodus 35:1-38:20)
Moshe has returned from his last visit to the top of Mount Sinai with new tablets.The people are now assured that G-d has forgiven them and this event occurred on the tenth day of Tishrei, which will be declared as Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement.
How do we know this is the right date?
Moshe assembles the people of Israel and reiterates to them the commandments regarding the Shabbat followed by a repetition of the commandments regarding the building of the tabernacle.
Aaron took an active role in the making of the Golden Calf. Was that done out of weakness? Was it done out of fear? What motivated the man that was clearly Moshe’s partner in leadership?
When Moshe descends from Mount Sinai after G-d tells him; “Go, descend, for your people that you have brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly . . . they have made themselves a molten calf!”( Exodus ,32:7–8). Moshe then asks Aaron the following question (ibid 32:21), “What did this people do to you that you brought a grave sin upon them?”
Overview of Parsha Tetzaveh (Exodus 27:20-30:10)
The Name of Moshe ( Moses) is mysteriously missing from this portion. What lesson are we to glean from that obvious disappearance?
We read in the Parsha (Torah portion) the following:
They shall make an ark of acacia wood ( Atzei Shittim), two and a half cubits its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.. And you shall overlay it with pure gold; from inside and from outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make upon it a golden crown all around.( Exodus 25:10-11)
The people were being commanded to place the most precious item in the world into this vessel they were to create. The very words of G-d carved into stone were to be placed into an ark made of acacia wood lined with gold. On the one hand the menorah representing G-d’s light was to be made of pure gold (ibid 25:31) and on the other these precious tablets were to be placed in an ark made of wood that was simply lined with gold.
In the Torah portion of Mishpatim we read of an astounding account:
And Moses and Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ascended, and they perceived the G-d of Israel, and beneath His feet was like the forming of a sapphire brick and like the appearance of the heavens for clarity.. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand, and they perceived God, and they ate and drank. ( Exodus 24:9-11)
In the midst of this incredible vision, they “ate and drank” !?!
We read that how Yitro, Moshe’s father in law, the chieftain of Midyan, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, His people that HaShem had taken Israel out of Egypt.( Exodus 18:1)
What exactly did he hear that prompted his joining Moshe and the people of Israel?
Beshalach (Exodus 13:17-17:16)
Pharaoh has a change of heart very soon after the Children of Israel leave Egypt. He gathers his forces and chases them into the desert. We are told that HaShem “led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, because it was near; for G-d said: Lest the people change their mind when they see war, and they return to Egypt .” Yet it was not their closeness to Egypt that was their problem since G-d led them around and closer to Egypt . A great lesson is being taught about solutions and destinations being too close and not allowing for the growth of the journey to impact their lives. It would be an eternal lesson. The Children of Israel now find themselves in a situation wherein the Egyptians are closing in from the back , the desert is closing in on the sides and the sea stands before them.
It is then that they turn to G-d for the first time.
