Vayakhel/P'Kudei - [This is a shorter version, with different facets, from 2001. Sometimes there are just keywords to cue more detail from memory. R.]
Sefer Shemot overview:
Tetzaveh (29:46), is an important summary pasuk - all it lacks is mention of
Jaacov's descent into Egypt:
"And you shall know that I am the Lord your G-d who took you out of the Land of Egypt - L'SHOCHNI B'TOCHAM - in order to dwell (rest) among you, I am the Lord your G-d."
begins AND ends listing the tribes - showing their achdut (unity), non-disintegration and non-assimilation. (the second listing is in the stones on the Ephod they are 'set in stone')
Ramban (introduction to Sefer Shmot) says the theme is redemption. The redemption point is at 32:32-33 when Moshe pleads (teshuvah) for B'nei Yisroel and the Book of Life is mentioned. "And now if You would but forgive their sin! - but if not erase me now from your book that you have written. Hashem said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I shall erase him from My Book." This is the first Yom Kippur. This passage is exactly midway between the first mention of the Mishkan (26:1) and the last pasuk of Pikudei.
Hearing blends with seeing when kol am SAW thunder and flames, constant shofar blasts. (20:15) "The entire people saw the thunder and the flames, the sound of the shofar and the smoking mountain." Rabbi Shira Smiles talks about blending the intentional nature of seeing with the ambient nature of hearing, learning to hear with intention
Vayakel-Pikudei:
Va'Yakhel is also how the Chet ha'Egel narrative begins:
"Va'Yakhel ha'am al Aharon - and the nation GATHERED against Aharon saying..."
(32:1).
"The second gathering of the people may serve as a tikkun for that original gathering to build the egel. As opposed to the events of the Golden Calf, now Bnei Yisroel gathers to build the PROPER symbol of G-d's presence."
Rabbi Menachem Leibtag
Moshe "yakhel" (assembles, like Kohalet) b'nei Yisroel, to restore shalom/achdut after Yom Kippur and the chet egel. This shows the need for peace before construction of the Mishkan; peace on Shabbat. (Or HaChaim)
This is why the Amidah has only 7 blessings on Shabbat, to avoid focus on needs and sufferings and why in the Sabbath grace after meals there is the request "there be no sadness or trouble in the day of our rest." Shabbat is giving up utilitarian motivations and personal agendas.
Shabbat is a sacred space, like the Mishkan.
The construction of the Miskhan entails 39 melachas (kinds of work), which are the basis for the 39 kinds of work not done on Shabbat. (Mishnah Shabbat, 7:2)
Keruvim: When Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, G-d placed KERUVIM to guard the PATH OF RETURN to the Tree of Life (see Breishit 3:24). The Mishkan is the only other time in Chumash where the concept of KERUVIM is found! This parallel suggests a thematic connection between Gan Eden and the Mishkan. First, it suggests an aspect of "tikkun" for Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden. The location of KERUVIM as guardians in the Kodesh K'doshim may symbolize the Mishkan's function as an environment, similar to Gan Eden, where people can strive to come closer to Hashem.
In the Mishkan, the KERUVIM are:
1) located on the KAPORET as protectors of the ARON containing the LUCHOT (25:22),
and
2) woven on the PAROCHET, the curtain which guards the entry to the Kodesh ha'Kodashim
- the Holy of Holies (where the ARON and KAPORET are located).
Rabbi Menachem Leibtag ********
Today our mishkan is not a tabernacle of space but rather of time; a holy "space" that we craft over again each week. We build a holy space where Hashem can dwell each week, when we prepare for Shabbat. Each of the efforts in preparation for Shabbat is part of the building of our own personal tabernacle. Thus, take your preparations up another level; do all these things WITH INTENT. Think, "I am constructing my own tabernacle, where I pray that Hashem will delight to dwell."
Rabbi Diane Cohen, Temple Ohev Shalom, Colonia New Jersey.