In parashat P’kudei, we read: “vateikhel kol avodat mishkan ohel mo’ed” [Thus was completed all the work of the Tabernacle] (Exodus 39:32). Only a few commentators take any interest in the term “vateichal”[thus was completed]. Ibn Ezra and Rashbam (R. Samuel b. Meir) suffice in explaining the grammatical structure of the term. The midrash also appears to take little interest in the term other than to use it as the starting point for comparing the building of the Tabernacle with Creation by pointing out the term “vateikhal” and the term “vayekhulu” in the verse “vayekhulu hashamayim veha’arets” [Thus the heavens and the earth were completed](Genesis 2:1) share a common root. The use of the same root in describing both events is not accidental.

The Hebrew word for “finished” (va-y’khal) echoes the same word in a different form (va-y’khullu) at the close of the story of Creation (Gen. 2:1). This is significant, because the link between shrines and creation was traditional in the ancient world. It is echoed both in the structure of the Tabernacle and in the procedure entailed in its construction. (Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, 571).

R. Jacob b. Asher (Ba’al HaTurim) takes the symbolism a surprising step further. Noting the similarity between vateikhel and vayekhulu, he writes: “it lomar ki ata kala melechet kol ha’olam” – “It can now be said that the creation of the entire world is finished.” Not only is building the Tabernacle similar to creating the world, building the Tabernacle completes Creation.

The Aramaic translation of the Bible suggests another avenue of interpretation. Onkelos makes what seems to be a subtle point in his choice of terminology. In Genesis, Onkelos translates vayekhulu as ishtakhlalu. In other words, the heavens and the earth were completed or perfected. In Pekudei, the term vateikhel is rendered ushleimat, meaning made shalem [whole], which is another way of saying that it was completed or perfected.

However, Onkelos employs a different Aramaic root for translating the term vayekhal in the verse “vayekhal Moshe et hamelakha” [When Moses had finished the work] (Exodus 40:33), and in the verse “vayekhal elohim bayom hashevi’i melakhto asher asa” [On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing] (Genesis 2:2). Although vayekhal derives from the same Hebrew root as vateikhal and vayekhulu, Onkelos does not translate them with a word meaning to perfect or complete, but employs the term vesheitzei. Vesheitzei means “finished”, and like the word “finished” it has both positive and a negative connotations. In choosing this term, Onkelos captures the broader meaning of the term vayekhal, as in the verses: “When the water was gone (vayikhlu) from the skin…” (Genesis 21:15); “So he made their days vanish (vayekhal) like a breath” (Psalms 78:33); “I will consume (mekhaleh) them by the sword” (Jeremiah 14:12).

1. In what way is building the Tabernacle, the Temple or a synagogue similar to creating the world?

2. In addition to the linguistic parallel between building the Tabernacle and Creation, a parallel that may suggest a connection between completing the Tabernacle and the Sabbath, before detailing the construction of the Tabernacle, parashat Vayakhel tells us: “On six days work may be done, but the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of complete rest” (Exodus 35:2). This would seem to make the connection between the Tabernacle and the Sabbath explicit. What connections might we see between the two?

3. What does the approach of R. Jacob b. Asher suggest about our place and purpose in the world?

4. In choosing the Aramaic word vesheitzei, it  would appear that Onkelos was trying to preserve the broad semantic field of the Hebrew term “yekhal”, but was he also to implying that there is some ambiguity or double-meaning in the use of the term? Might we infer from Onkelos’ translation that every act of finishing or creating something new comprises both a positive and a negative potential?