ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל, “Moses assembled the entire congregation of the Children of Israel;” he did so as soon as he had descended from the Mountain with the second set of Tablets.

אלה הדברים, “these are the words;” he wished to tell them that he had authorization to proceed with the building of the Tabernacle in which G-d would have his residence on earth. [He warned them that in spite of what appears to be a task of the highest priority, even that task must not interfere with the regular observance of the Sabbaths and the restrictions to perform creative activity on that day. The rationale of this was to teach the people that just as the Tabernacle is G-d’s, so the Sabbath is G-d’s, i.e. it is the holiest day in the universe, and that is why on occasion the Day of Atonement is called שבת שבתון, “the Sabbath in its ultimate degree.” The Torah applies that same definition to the Sabbath here. Work on the Tabernacle cannot override the sanctity of the Sabbath.]

ששת ימים, “during six days, etc;” the Torah repeats itself so as to make clear that this rule applies also to the work on the Tabernacle.

לא תבערו אש, “do not kindle a fire;” some of our Rabbis claim that the reason that of all the work prohibitions on the Sabbath, only the act of kindling a fire has been singled out by name, is to teach us that lighting a fire is the only one of these prohibitions which, instead of being punishable by death when performed knowingly, is punishable only by 39 lashes, as are other negative commandments when violated on purpose. This is the view of Rabbi Yossi in the Talmud, tractate Shabbat folio 70. Rabbi Nathan, on the other hand, holds that the reason why this mode of activity has been singled out by name is: לחלק, i.e. to give us a definition of the nature of the activities that are prohibited on the Sabbath. It was singled out as a basic activity. Just as this activity is prohibited on the Sabbath on pain of death, so are all the other activities which were indispensable for building a Tabernacle equally forbidden to be performed on any Sabbath for any purpose. Any activity required to be performed for building or functioning of the Tabernacle is considered a basic activity, or אב מלאכה, in Hebrew, and is punishable separately even if performed as part of a number of activities. We have a rule in the Talmud, that if something had at one time been part of a number of items under the same heading, and had subsequently been singled out, it was singled out as an example in order to teach that what applies to it now, also applies to the other items that it had been part of under the same heading, i.e. been under the same “umbrella.” In our situation it means that the other 38 types of basic activities connected with the construction of the Tabernacle or its functions must also not be performed on the Sabbath, each such on pain of death. This is the way in which Rashi explains the verse in general terms. The reason why just the activity of kindling light was chosen by the Torah as the example in question, is that lighting a fire is something that for the onlooker hardly seems like an activity at all, involving neither skill, nor physical strain. If you were to say that granted that actually lighting a fire on the Sabbath is forbidden, but activities preparatory to lighting a fire after the Sabbath are permitted, this too is prohibited. The Sabbath is not a day to be used as a preparation for the activities on the six weekdays. A different interpretation: the reason that the legislation about work prohibition is repeated here is in order that people would not say that just as in Parshat Bo (Exodus 12,16) certain kinds of work were prohibited on the festivals, but preparation of foodnecessitating lighting a fire was exempted, the same was true during the Sabbaths during which work on the Tabernacle was in progress. The Torah therefore categorically prohibited this kind of work, implying that, of course, all other kind of work would be prohibited also.

בכל מושבותיכם, in all of your dwellings, i.e. the Tabernacle was exempt from all of these restrictions as it was not a residence for human beings. Communal sacrifices were offered as usual. (Mechilta Vayakhel 7)

את בריחו, “its bolts;” the reading is as if it had been spelled בריחיו.

את עמדיו ואת אדניה, “its pillars and its sockets.” Anything which is not a living creature is sometimes referred to in the masculine mode and other times in the feminine mode. The following examples are proof of this rule: המחנה האחת והכהו, “one of the camps, and he smites it” (Genesis 32,8) המחנה הנשאר, “the remaining camp;” (same verse) רוח גדולה וחזק, “a great and powerful wind,” (Kings I 19,11). והרים ממנו מקמצו מסולת המנחה; our author quotes more examples; he adds that on occasion even living creatures are referred to sometimes as feminine and sometimes as masculine; example: אם בהמה אשר יקריבו ממנה כל אשר יתן ממנו, “and if the beast (feminine) from which he will offer parts as a sacrifice, every part that he will give from it (masculine), etc.” (Leviticus27.9) . An alternate explanation of our verse: the word: עמודיו refers to the posts supporting the קלעים, ‘the hangings” around the courtyards, and the word: אדניה, refers to the courtyard itself, the חצר, that word being feminine, (as we know from Kings I 6,36)

ויבואו האנשים על הנשים, the men came “upon” the women, to take away their jewelry in order to use them for building the Tabernacle, as we will read presently. A different interpretation: the word על in this verse means: “with;” in other words, the men did no volunteer their own jewelry as gifts for to building the Tabernacle until after the women had already done so by removing their own jewelry. The use of the word על as meaning “with,” we know already from Leviticus 25,31 על שדה הארץ יחשב, “it will be considered as belonging with the open country.” Or, Numbers 19,5: על פרשה ישרף, “it will be burned together with its dung.”

חח, jewelry worn in the ear;

נזם, jewelry worn in the nose;טבעת, jewelry worn on the fingers;

כומוז, jewelry worn on the arms.35, 27. והנשיאים הביאו, “and the princes had brought;” they had taken these things with them at the time when theIsraelites had “emptied” Egypt of all their valuables (Exodus 12,36) each taking items appropriate to their social status.

Everybody brought these materials, even those who were under the age 20 or over the age of 60, that is to say, even those who were exempt from army service.

And the stones that were for the breastplate, each one brought one stone for the name of their tribe and also the anointing oil they brought to sanctify everything. And the anointing oil suggests magnificence because it was used to anoint kings and high priests. And they also brought the incense that was burnt on the golden altar and the same incense that was burnt by the High Priest on Yom Kippur in the Holy of Holies.

למאור. “for lighting.” The letter ל, has a semi vowel sh’va under it. [instead of a kametz]

ולהורות, “and to give instruction,” to others.