Prohibition of Melakha on Shabbat

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1. A Quick Look at Vayakhel - Pekudei

   Rabbi Ezra Bick | 11 minutes

   Most of the parsha is about the Mishkan, describing what is actually done to build the Mishkan, after the previous parshiyyot listed the detailed instructions. In the beginning of our parsha is a section with a few pesukim that repeat the prohibition to do melakha on Shabbat -also paralleling the previous parsha. We take a closer look at this section.

2. Kiyor, Shabbat, and Betzalel - Creativity and the Mishkan

   Rabbi Moshe Taragin | 33 minutes

   Vayakhel and Pekudei details the materials and the rituals of the Mishkan. One of the most fascinating vessels described in at the end of Vayakhel is the kiyyor (the washbasin) at the intersection of the sacred and the mundane. The washbasin was constructed from copper from the “mar’ot ha-tzov’ot”- assumed to refer to an ancient form of mirrors. Where did these mirrors come from? Who donated them? We see conflicting opinions among the commentators. We also look at the Divine inspiration of Betzalel, and the section about prohibiting melakha on Shabbat. All of these topics come together to send a message about the value of creativity and how it contributes to, and fits in with the Mishkan.

3. The End of Nehemya

   Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky

   Chapter 11 reports that a tenth of the Jewish population of Judea was selected by lottery to live in Jerusalem, with an eye toward ensuring the city’s ongoing security. The Jerusalem lottery was a random, rather than Divine, mechanism for determining who was to live in the holy city, consistent with the tenor of desacralization running throughout the period of Shivat Tzion.

   The celebratory dedication of Jerusalem’s walls closely resembles the celebration in the third chapter of Ezra. Buried among the many similarities, however, is a basic difference. In Nehemya, the joy is unmitigated. In Ezra it is muted by the sobbing of those who had witnessed the First Temple’s grandeur. Thus, Nehemya is to be viewed as having brought Ezra’s work to a point of greater completion.

   Nehemya’s final chapter neatly summarizes many of his major concerns throughout his tenure in Judea, and it brings his story full circle. The differences between the events of Nehemya chapter 1 and chapter 13 neatly capture the enormity of the governor’s achievements. At the book’s opening, there is an existential crisis. The walls of Jerusalem are burnt to the ground, and the community’s survival is far from assured. By the end, the wall has been completed and the community’s safety secured. Nehemya has turned his attention to matters of ethics, the Temple, and religious practice. However, for all his accomplishments and efforts, Nehemya concludes his sefer with his work incomplete. The battle for the hearts and minds of the people was destined to continue in Sefer Malakhi, a work written some years following Ezra and Nehemya’s careers.

4. The Labor of Thinking

   Rabbi Ben-Tzion Spitz