Parshas Vayakhel

This week’s Parsha is called, Parsha Vayakhel. Moshe teaches the B’nai Yisroel about Shabbos. It says regarding Shabbos, ”Shashes Yamim Taseh M’lachah U’Vayom HaSh’vei Y’heyea Kodesh ….” On six days work may be done but the seventh day shall be holy for you. Shabbos begins sundown Friday night and ends after sundown Saturday night. The importance of observing the Shabbos cannot be over stated. The Torah teaches us that Hashem created everything and He did so on the first six days of the week but on the seventh day He rested from his work. When we say that He rested from His “work” we are not necessarily talking about work as we typically think of work. Instead, we are talking about the “thirty nine avos m’lachah” or categories of work prohibited on Shabbos.

The Thirty Nine Avos M’lachah are:

1. Sowing (seeding) 2. Plowing 3. Reaping (cutting) 4. Gathering (bundling sheaves) 5.Threshing 6. Winnowing 7. Sorting (selecting, separating) 8. Grinding 9. Sifting 10. Kneading 11. Baking/cooking 12. Shearing 13. Whitening (bleaching) 14. Disentangling, Combing 15. Dyeing 16. Spinning 17. Mounting the warp (stretching threads onto loom) 18. Setting two heddles (preparing to weave) 19. Weaving 20. Separating (removing) threads (Unweaving) 21. Tying a knot 22. Untying a knot 23. Sewing 24. Tearing (unsewing - ripping) 25. Trapping 26. Slaughtering (Killing) 27. Skinning 28. Salting/tanning process 29. Tracing (scratching) lines 30. Smoothing / scraping 31. Cutting (to shape) 32. Writing two or more letters 33. Erasing two or more letters 34. Building 35. Demolishing 36. Extinguishing (putting out a flame) 37. Kindling (making a fire) 38. Striking the final blow (Finishing an object) 39. Transferring/carrying/transporting from domain to domain.

(These are all forms of work needed to build the Mishkan.)

The reason Hashem has us building a Mishkan is so he has a place to dwell among us to help us develop and maintain a strong relationship with Him. However, we get the mitzvah to keep and honor the Shabbos before the instructions on building the Mishkan (tabernacle).

We learn from this that Shabbos is so critical to the Jew that it takes priority over the building of the dwelling place of the Creator of the world.

May we all learn form this week’s Parsha to take the time to learn all the laws of Shabbos so we can understand the importance of keeping the Shabbos holy! -Amen!

HAVE A GREAT SHABBOS AND WEEKEND!

Stay tuned for next week’s Parsha called, Parshas Pekudei (PEH-KU-DAY)!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE THIRTY NINE AVOS M'LACHAH! 
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~SHABBOS THOUGHTS~