Vayakhel, Wayyaqhel, VaYakhel, Va-Yakhel, Vayak'hel, Vayak'heil, or Vayaqhel (—Hebrew for "and he assembled," the first word in the parashah) is the 22nd weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the weekly Torah portion and the 10th of the Book of Exodus. The parashah tells of the making of the Tabernacle and its sacred vessels. It constitutes Exodus 35:1–38:20. The parashah is made up of 6181 Hebrew letters, 1,558 Hebrew words, 122 verses, and 211 lines in a Torah scroll (, Sefer Torah)."Torah Stats for Shemoth," Akhlah Inc.
Rabbinic Jews read it on the 22nd Shabbat after Simchat Torah, generally in March or rarely in late February. The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In leap years (for example, 2024 and 2027), Parashat Vayakhel is read separately. In common years (for example, 2023 and 2026), Parashat Vayakhel is usually combined with the next parashah, Pekudei, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed (although in some non-leap years, such as 2025, they are not combined).
Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot.See, e.g., The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Shemos/Exodus. Edited by Menachem Davis, pages 263–80. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2008.
First reading—Exodus 35:1–20 In the first reading (, aliyah), Moses convoked the Israelites to build the Tabernacle. Moses started by reminding them of God's commandment to keep the Sabbath of complete rest.. Then Moses told them to collect gifts of materials from those whose heart so moved them—gifts of gold, silver, copper, colored yarns, fine linen, goats hair, tanned ram skins, acacia wood, olive oil, spices, lapis lazuli, and other stones.. Moses invited all who were skilled to make the Tabernacle, its furnishings, and the priests' vestments..
Second reading—Exodus 35:21–29 In the second reading (, aliyah), the Israelites brought the gifts that Moses requested..
Third reading—Exodus 35:30–36:7 In the third reading (, aliyah), Moses announced that God had singled out Bezalel and Oholiab to endow them with the skills needed to construct the Tabernacle.. And Moses called on them and all skilled persons to undertake the task.. The Israelites brought more than was needed, so Moses proclaimed an end to the collection..
Fourth reading—Exodus 36:8–19 In the fourth reading (, aliyah), the skilled workers fashioned the Tabernacle's curtains, loop, clasps, and coverings..
Fifth reading—Exodus 36:20–37:16 In the long fifth reading (, aliyah), they made the Tabernacle's standing, gold clad, polished boards each with 2 tenons, and their 2 silver sockets, bars of acacia-wood overlaid with gold, rings of gold, veil of the covering, 4 pillars of acacia-wood overlaid with gold, screen for the door held by 5 gold clad pillars, and sockets of brass.. Bezalel made the ark, cover, and 7 golden oil lamps pushed over against the golden lampstand which partially covers the table..
Sixth reading—Exodus 37:17–29 In the sixth reading (, aliyah), Bezalel made the temple menorah and incense altar..
Seventh reading—Exodus 38:1–20 In the seventh reading (, aliyah), Bezalel made the altar for sacrifices, laver, and enclosure for the Tabernacle..
Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading may read the parashah according to a different schedule.See, e.g., Richard Eisenberg, "A Complete Triennial Cycle for Reading the Torah," in Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement: 1986–1990 (New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2001), pages 383–418.
In ancient parallels The parashah has parallels in these ancient sources:
Exodus chapter 35 Noting that Sargon of Akkad was the first to use a seven-day week, Professor Gregory S. Aldrete of the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay speculated that the Israelites may have adopted the idea from the Akkadian Empire.Gregory S. Aldrete, "From Out of the Mesopotamian Mud," in "History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective" (Chantilly, Virginia: The Great Courses, 2011), lecture 2.
Inner-biblical interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:For more on inner-Biblical interpretation, see, e.g., Benjamin D. Sommer. "Inner-biblical Interpretation." In The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition. Edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, pages 1835–41. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Exodus chapters 25–39 This is the pattern of instruction and construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings:
ItemInstructionConstructionOrderVersesOrderVersesThe Sabbath16Exodus 31:12–171Exodus 35:1–3Contributions1Exodus 25:1–92Exodus 35:4–29Craftspeople15Exodus 31:1–113Exodus 35:30–36:7Tabernacle5Exodus 26:1–374Exodus 36:8–38Ark2Exodus 25:10–225Exodus 37:1–9Table3Exodus 25:23–306Exodus 37:10–16Menorah4Exodus 25:31–407Exodus 37:17–24Altar of Insense11Exodus 30:1–108Exodus 37:25–28Anointing Oil13Exodus 30:22–339Exodus 37:29Incense14Exodus 30:34–3810Exodus 37:29Altar of Sacrifice6Exodus 27:1–811Exodus 38:1–7Laver12Exodus 30:17–2112Exodus 38:8Tabernacle Court7Exodus 27:9–1913Exodus 38:9–20Priestly Garments9Exodus 28:1–4314Exodus 39:1–31Ordination Ritual10Exodus 29:1–4615Leviticus 8:1–9:24Lamp8Exodus 27:20–2116Numbers 8:1–4
Exodus chapter 35 Exodus 35:1 opens, "And Moses assembled" (, wayyaqhēl Moše), in an echo of Exodus 32:1, which says, "the people assembled" (, vayyiqāhēl hāʿām).
The Sabbath Exodus 35:1–3 refers to the Sabbath. Exodus 35:3 prohibits kindling fire on Shabbat. Numbers 15:32–33 reports that when the Israelites came upon a man gathering wood on Shabbat, apparently with the intent to fuel a fire, they brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the community and placed him in custody, "because it had not been declared what should be done to him.". Clearing up any uncertainty about whether the man had violated the law and what punishment should be given, God told Moses that the whole community was to pelt him with stones outside the camp, which they did..
Commentators note that the Hebrew Bible repeats the commandment to observe the Sabbath 12 times.The Sabbath Anthology. Edited by Abraham E. Millgram, page 203. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1944; reprinted 2018.
Genesis 2:1–3 reports that on the seventh day of Creation, God finished God's work, rested, blessed, and hallowed the seventh day.
Observance of the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:8–11 commands that one remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy, and not do any manner of work or cause anyone under one's control to work, for in six days God made heaven and earth and rested on the seventh day, blessed the Sabbath, and hallowed it. Deuteronomy 5:12–15 commands that one observe the Sabbath day, keep it holy, and not do any manner of work or cause anyone under one's control to work — so that one's subordinates might also rest — and remember that the Israelites were servants in the land of Egypt, and God brought them out with a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm.
In the incident of the manna (, man) in Exodus 16:22–30, Moses told the Israelites that the Sabbath is a solemn rest day; prior to the Sabbath one should cook what one would cook, and lay up food for the Sabbath. And God told Moses to let no one go out of one's place on the seventh day.
In Exodus 31:12–17, just before giving Moses the second Tablets of Stone, God commanded that the Israelites keep and observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a sign between God and the children of Israel forever, for in six days God made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day God rested.
In Exodus 35:1–3, just before issuing the instructions for the Tabernacle, Moses again told the Israelites that no one should work on the Sabbath, specifying that one must not kindle fire on the Sabbath.
In Leviticus 23:1–3, God told Moses to repeat the Sabbath commandment to the people, calling the Sabbath a holy convocation.
The prophet Isaiah taught in Isaiah 1:12–13 that iniquity is inconsistent with the Sabbath. In Isaiah 58:13–14, the prophet taught that if people turn away from pursuing or speaking of business on the Sabbath and call the Sabbath a delight, then God will make them ride upon the high places of the earth and will feed them with the heritage of Jacob. And in Isaiah 66:23, the prophet taught that in times to come, from one Sabbath to another, all people will come to worship God.
The prophet Jeremiah taught in Jeremiah 17:19–27 that the fate of Jerusalem depended on whether the people abstained from work on the Sabbath, refraining from carrying burdens outside their houses and through the city gates.
The prophet Ezekiel told in Ezekiel 20:10–22 how God gave the Israelites God's Sabbaths, to be a sign between God and them, but the Israelites rebelled against God by profaning the Sabbaths, provoking God to pour out God's fury upon them, but God stayed God's hand.
In Nehemiah 13:15–22, Nehemiah told how he saw some treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and others bringing all manner of burdens into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, so when it began to be dark before the Sabbath, he commanded that the city gates be shut and not opened till after the Sabbath and directed the Levites to keep the gates to sanctify the Sabbath.
Exodus chapter 38 2 Chronicles 1:5–6 reports that the bronze altar, which Exodus 38:1–2 reports Bezalel made, still stood before the Tabernacle in Solomon's time, and Solomon sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings on it.
Exodus 38:8 reports that Bezalel made the bronze laver and its base from "the mirrors of the serving women who did service at the door of the tent of meeting." 1 Samuel 2:22 reports that the Shophet Eli's sons "lay with the women who did service at the door of the tent of meeting."
In early nonrabbinic interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources:For more on early nonrabbinic interpretation, see, e.g., Esther Eshel. "Early Nonrabbinic Interpretation." In The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition. Edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, pages 1841–59.
Exodus chapter 35 1 Maccabees tells a story related to the Sabbath. Verses 2:27–38 told how in the 2nd century BCE, many followers of the pious Jewish priest Mattathias rebelled against the Seleucid emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Antiochus; soldiers attacked a group of them on the Sabbath, and when the Pietists failed to defend themselves to honor the Sabbath (commanded in, among other places, Exodus 35:1–3), a thousand died. Veses 2:39–41 reported that when Mattathias and his friends heard, they reasoned that if they did not fight on the Sabbath, they would soon be destroyed. They decided that they would fight anyone who attacked them on the Sabbath.Jonathan A. Goldstein, translator, I Maccabees (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976), pages 5, 234–35.
Josephus wrote that when the Israelites brought together the materials with great diligence, Moses set architects over the works by the command of God. And these were the very same people that the people themselves would have chosen, had the election been allowed to them: Bezalel, the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, the grandson of Miriam, the sister of Moses; and Oholiab, file son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews book 3, chapter 6, paragraph 1, clause 104.
Classical rabbinic interpretation
The parashah is discussed in these rabbinic sources from the era of the Mishnah and the Talmud:For more on classical rabbinic interpretation, see, e.g., Yaakov Elman. "Classical Rabbinic Interpretation." In The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition. Edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, pages 1859–78.
Exodus chapter 35