Weekly Torah Portion: A Tabernacle for All

This week’s Torah portion is the first of four Torah portions that discuss the building of the Tabernacle and the vessels within.  The details are amazing – the exact dimensions of the building and of each vessel, the materials used for both inner and outer parts, the...

Holy Vessels: The Ark, Table and Lamp

The portion begins with a call for contributions to the building effort. God gives a specific list of materials needed for His Tabernacle. He then goes on to describe three of the primary vessels which will be set up inside the Tabernacle: the Ark of the Covenant, the...

The Courtyard and its Altar

Moses is next instructed in building the Altar which is to sit in the courtyard of the Tabernacle. The Altar is to be a hollow box built of wood and covered in copper. Its utensils, too, should be copper. It is to have four raised corners, or horns, a base and a...

The Tabernacle

The Tabernacle building itself is to be constructed out of several parts. Its walls are to consist of planks with tabs on each end. The tabs fit into silver sockets which hold every pair of adjacent planks together. Three bars, top, bottom and center, also secure the...