Friday, March 8, 2013

Daily Aliya for Vayakhel/Pekudei, Shishi (6th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: The rest of the priestly garments were completed: The High Priest's me'il (blue robe adorned with golden bells and cloth "pomegranates") and tzitz (a golden band worn on the forehead, which was engraved with the words "Holy to G‑d"); and the four garments worn by both the High Priest and the regular priests: tunics, turbans, sashes and pants. With this, the construction of the Tabernacle and all its vessels and accoutrement were finished. The craftspeople brought their finished products to Moshe. Moshe saw that all the work had been done exactly to G‑d's specifications, and he blessed the workers.

Talmud Yerushalmi notes that the phrase, "as G-d had commanded Moshe" appears 18 times in Pekudei. Correspondingly, we have 18 brachot in our weekday Amida (the connection between Service in the Mikdash and Davening is obvious). Thus says Sh'muel b. Nachmani in the name of Rabbi Yochanan. This does not include the first time the phrase is used: And Bezalel... did all the G-d had commanded Moshe. There are differences between the context of the phrase with Bezalel and contexts of all the other uses of the phrase that justify its not being counted together with the rest. On the other hand, our Amida does have a 19th bracha, so the "extra" phrase is accounted for.

No comments:

Post a Comment