Our highest awareness of the Creator, represented by Moses, is what empowers us to unite (assemble) the multidimensional consciousness represented by the children of Israel. This multidimensional consciousness encompasses not just every aspect, trait and level of our consciousness, but also the individual reality of every Jew, either he be poor, rich, ignorant, wise, weak, strong, etc. When these multidimensions are all gathered into the common purpose of creating a dwelling place in this world for the Divine Presence, the first Commandment is to understand this unity in the context of the Shabbat.

In vayakhel it is emphasized the difference between the Shabbat and the rest of the days, in the same way that the labors related to the building of the Sanctuary (Tabernacle) are those that we do not perform during the Day of Rest. Our Sages explain this distinction not as a separation between the material and the spiritual worlds, but as a connection between both. After all, nothing is separated in the Oneness of the Creator and His Creation. In our material reality work shall be done in order, not just to make a living and survive, but also to pursue individual and collective happiness in our endeavors. At this point we have to define the kind of “work” that the Creator commands us to do and those are His Commandments, His ways and attributes.

In the book “God as Love” we say that our work in this material world is to reveal G-d’s Love, and we do it by being and manifesting His ways and attributes. That is our work, and we do it by choosing between living in ego’s fantasies and illusions, and living in the truth of Love; and we make this choice every moment in our daily life. Therefore, “working” in anything we have to is about being and doing who we really are, G-d’s image and likeness; and this identity is nothing less than G-d’s Love, because He created us with His Love and it is Love what we must reveal and experience in this material world. In this context, the daily labors to build the Sanctuary are the same endeavors to build the permanent connection with the Creator in our daily life. Hence, building the Sanctuary to achieve this connection is also working in Love’s ways and attributes in order to be connected with Him in our physical reality.

The Shabbat is not another day because its Essence transcends time and space: in it the Creator is beyond His Creation and His creating. We have mentioned many times that our Sages say that “the Creator, the Torah, the Shabbat, and Israel, are One” and this is how we understand life in this world, in our Oneness with the Creator. Without this awareness, we live only in the materialistic aspect of the world, and the consequence is a life without the Presence of the Creator, something that can be equated to death. Hence, it is not about imposing the death penalty against those who do not observe the Shabbat, because death is the consequence of it. Does it make sense to live in this material world without the Presence of its Creator?

Vayakhel continues with the reiteration of the detailed construction of the Sanctuary as indicated in the previous portions, and this time the extremely abundant donations from all the children of Israel for the construction is something that we celebrate, because when we are fully aware of our endeavors to build our permanent connection with Divine Love our hearts urge us to give as much as we can: “And they spoke unto Moses, saying: ‘The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make’. (…) Because the labors they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.” (36:5, 7). From these verses we learn that we as individuals have the potential to use all our talents, traits, qualities and direct them in Love’s ways in order to reveal Love in the world.

Vayakhel is joined by the last portion of Exodus, Pekudei, which starts with the verse: “These are the accounts (pekudei) of the Tabernacle, even the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were rendered according to the commandment of Moses, through the service of the Levites, by the hand of Itamar, the son of Aaron the priest.” (38:21). The description of the Sanctuary continues, and the details end with the crown of the High Priest: “And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it a writing, like the engravings of a signet: ‘Holy to the Lord‘. And they tied to it a thread of blue, to fasten it upon the cap above; as the Lord commanded Moses.” (39: 30-31), and the crown symbolizes the sacredness of our permanent connection with the Creator. “And they brought the Tabernacle to Moses (…). And Moses saw all the work and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it. And Moses blessed them.” (39: 33, 43).

Again Moses is reaffirmed as the highest awareness of the Creator, to be in charge of guiding and elevating ALL aspects, levels, dimensions, traits, qualities, and potential expressions of our consciousness in order to be constantly connected to Love’s ways and attributes; and that is Moses’ blessing to the children of Israel. And when we are all united individually and collectively in Love as our common identity, G-d’s Love joins us to be One with Him: “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.” (40:34), and in this awareness the Divine Presence will always be with us: “Because the cloud of the Lord was upon the Tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.” (40: 38).

The book of Exodus begins with our bondage in the lowest materialism, and through the power of Divine Love we were redeemed with His miracles; and in our awareness of G-d’s Love, He embraces us always. It is in this awareness, represented by the Sanctuary, that He fulfills His promise: “And they shall make Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst (lit. in them).” (25:8, 29:45-46, Leviticus 26:11, Numbers 5:3, I Kings 6:13).