Parashat Vayakheil – Moshe Kaplan

Posted on February 20, 2014

vayakheil

If you look into this week’s parsha, Parshat Vayakheil, the majority of the parsha is discussing the Mishkan: who was building it, the materials that were needed, who gave the materials that were needed, etc. It is extremely detailed in its instruction; if you were to copy and paste the parsha and give it to an architect, he would be able to build an exact replica of the building. Why was there such a detailed account? This is trying to teach us that the words of the Torah can be used by everyone; each person has the ability to build their own Mishkan, their own sanctuary for G-d, to serve G-d spiritually and metaphysically. The Torah offers a guideline for us to create a relationship with our Creator, like the blueprints offer an architect the guidelines to create a structure. Additionally, we see that Betzalel, the builder of the Mishkan, needed Ruach HaKodesh to understand how to go about with the construction; he needed G-d’s input. This teaches us that if we can look inside of ourselves, and find what G-d wants from us, both literally and figuratively, then we can achieve spiritual enlightenment.