Vayakhel
In order to build a House that will represent unity, it is essential to assemble the people in unity.
Moses gathers the people close, assembling them as one and stresses the importance of Shabbat. After downloading the Tabernacle plans upon Mount Sinai, Moses now diagrams it for the people. The people bring all of the materials needed for building, and than some. A team of expert craftsmen builds the Sanctuary and all its furnishings. The detail of the description is exquisite, enough so that we may emulate this template and build the spiritual equivalent into the many details of our lives.
Heaven and Earth
Don’t be discouraged by the gap between spiritual and material. G-d wants an earthly sanctuary constructed of the finite materials of physical life.
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A Marriage Made on Earth
When a man and woman marry, they unite two approaches of bringing the divine into the spiritual world.
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Vayakhel-Pekudei: And the Good News Is
In this year of hei’elef ushva hame’ot vachamishah veshiv’im – 5775 – may the Alter Rebbe’s pronunciation of the words resonate within us and motivate us to act.
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A Marriage Made on Earth
Man was created male and female initially—as a “single being with two faces.” In marriage, the divine analogue is made whole again. Essay by Rabbi Simon Jacobson based on a letter from the Rebbe.
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Vayakhel Pekudei: Service or Slavery?
We humans must shed the blinding force of self-interest and respond to the call for service; we must weaken the grip that keeps us trapped and enslaved to our own temptations, and allow ourselves to be mobilized to serve – not human structures, but to serve – our higher calling.
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Vayakhel-Pekudei: Faith at Harvard
The debate among academics about Harvard’s core curriculum sheds light on longstanding tensions between scientists and people of faith.
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Vayakhel-Pikudei: Intimate Light
Follow the Divine light from emerging during the Exodus to finding a home in the Temple. The Rebbe Rashab elaborates on the lessons hidden within it.
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Veyakhel: Jerusalem in White
A poem about a great snowfall in the Holy City of Jerusalem and the transformation that happened among its people and sites.
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