ב"ה
THEMES of Featured Ascent Lights
The 39 acts of labor performed on weekdays rectify the physical world.
Adam, Eve and the snake received 39 curses after the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge, causing the land not to produce man's desired results except through labor. Just as all 39 different labors are required to transform the world and draw down blessings,
so too were all 39 different types of labor necessary to make the house where G-d was served.
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Beginner
For the Tabernacle, we were encouraged contribute to our heart's desire.
Whereas Vayakhel primarily focuses on the service of the Jewish people in this world below through their donations and efforts to serve G-d Above, Pekudei emphasizes the opposite, the service from Above to below. This year we read the two portions together, teaching us that we have to combine the two activities in order to best hasten the revelation of the future redemption.
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A blessing only dwells on something hidden.
The Talmud dictates that a blessing only dwells on something hidden; the Lubavitcher Rebbe says that although counting something interferes with its blessing, when the counting is done "according to
Moses", the blessing is limitless.
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Unity with Torah, Shabbat and our fellow Jews hastens the Redemption.
The word "vayakhel", meaning "to gather" in Hebrew; the Lubavitcher Rebbe emphasized the effort required of us to reveal every creation's true essence and purpose, "gathering" all of reality to be united in serving the Creator.
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