Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayakel (וַיַקְהֵל) and Parshat Shekalim (שקלים). Up until now we received plans to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle), but this week we start taking those plans and building. As we all know, the plan doesn’t always take into account everything and what we end up as a deployed architecture usually needs some tweaks to accomodate various factors that we couldn’t or didn’t know when doing the planning. So we go over all the plans again, but this time as they are being actually built AND we have our builder Betzalel.

This week is also Parshat Shekalim. We read the special parshiot as we gear up toward Pesach (Passover) and we have Purim along the way too. The Half Shekel is a method used to count the fighting age men of Bnei Yisrael and the contributions are used for community sacrifices and the upkeep of the Mishkan and later the Temple.

And on a personal note, my son and I ran the 10k in Jerusalem this morning. It turned out to be a beautiful day for a run and we feel great with our accomplishment. Am Yisrael Chai. Shabbat Shalom.