Ziv: Parashat Vayakhel - Pekudei

And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done
We have arrived at the end of the book of Exodus. This book was called by the ancients simply “the second book” signifying that it is the direct continuation of the book of Genesis. In fact, as we have seen throughout our study, creation is the main theme of the book - or more precisely, re-creation : we have shown how the people of Israel is re-created around the event of the Exodus until their arrival at Mount Sinai, and then the commandments tied to the tabernacle in the wilderness and the description of the priestly clothes which symbolize a new creation of the world and of man - in the figure of the high-priest Aaron. It is in our parasha, at the end of the book, that we reach the end of this new creation with the words: “So Moses finished the work” (Exodus 40:33) - a reminder of the second chapter of Genesis. With this fulfillment of creation “the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34) thus confirming the perfection of the work - not only the divine, but also that of man.
Our parasha beings with a description of the contributions of “whoever is of a generous heart” (Exodus 35:5). It is man’s role to bring all the elements of the tabernacle - and he must do this freely, with all good-will. We read that “they came, both men and women” (Exodus 35:22), a fact that led the ancients to declare that even the little children came to give all they could. And, as at the beginning of the book, the work of the women is again emphasized : “All the skillful women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and fine linen; all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair” (Exodus 35:25-26). But the two master-artisans, filled with the spirit of God, were “Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah” (Exodus 35:30) “Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.” (Exodus 35:34). The commentators noticed here that each one represents the largest and the smallest tribe: Judah and Dan. Also their names evoke the work of creation : Bezalel - in the shadow of God (Genesis 1:26) and Oholiab - the tents of the father.
Among the offerings contributed by the children of Israel there is a very special offering for the bronze basin : “He made the basin of bronze with its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting” (Exodus 38:8) This basin in which Aaron and his sons had to purify themselves before beginning their service and before any sacrifice and in which Moses himself was washed (Exodus 40:30), was made of the offerings of women who wished to rid themselves of their objects of vanity and sin, in order to give themselves to the service of God.
The cycle of creation, begun at the start of Genesis, finds finally its fulfillment - albeit for a short while. In the first account, creation is wholly divine, in the second, it is man who labors. Thus we see the realization of the original role of man since creation : “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Shabbat Shalom.