Finding Community- Vayakhel

(1) Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them: These are the things that יהוה has commanded you to do: (2) On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to יהוה; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. (3) You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day. (4) Moses said further to the whole community of Israelites:This is what יהוה has commanded: (5) Take from among you gifts to יהוה; everyone whose heart is so moved shall bring them—gifts for יהוה: gold, silver, and copper;

ויקהל משה AND MOSES ASSEMBLED [ALL THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — on the morrow after the Day of Atonement when he came down from the mountain. It (the word ויקהל) is used in the verbal form that expresses the idea of causing a thing to be done, because one does not actually assemble people with one’s hands, but they are assembled by his command. The Targum therefore should be ואכניש (not וכנש as some editions have).

ויקהל משה את כל עדת בני ישראל, “Moses assembled the entire community of the Children of Israel. The comprehensive term עדה includes both men and women. Seeing that both the men and the women had contributed of their belongings for the work on the Tabernacle they were all entitled to be addressed here directly. The assembly mentioned here, occurred on the day after Moses had returned from his last trip to the Mountain on Yom Kippur and had informed the people that the instructions to build a Sanctuary for G’d were living proof that they were back in G’ds favour. While it is true that Moses himself had already received such instructions on his first ascent to the Mountain, to wit chapter 25,8 ועשו לי מקדש, seeing that the sin of the golden calf had intervened, and G’d’s manifest Presence had withdrawn in the interval, these instructions now had to be renewed.

Children are you to YHWH your God!
You are not to gash yourselves, you are not to put a bald-spot between your eyes for a dead-person.

He used to say: do His will as though it were your will, so that He will do your will as though it were His. Set aside your will in the face of His will, so that he may set aside the will of others for the sake of your will. Hillel said: do not separate yourself from the community, Do not trust in yourself until the day of your death, Do not judge your fellow man until you have reached his place. Do not say something that cannot be understood [trusting] that in the end it will be understood. Say not: ‘when I shall have leisure I shall study;’ perhaps you will not have leisure.

(2) The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron.

They assembled against Moshe and against Aharon
and said to them:
Too much is yours!
For the entire community, the entirety of them, are holy,
and in their midst is YHWH!
Why then do you exalt yourselves over the assembly of YHWH?

MISHNA: One does not recite the introductory prayers and blessing [poresin] before Shema; nor does one pass before the ark to repeat the Amida prayer; nor do the priests lift their hands to recite the Priestly Benediction; nor is the Torah read in public; nor does one conclude with a reading from the Prophets [haftara] in the presence of fewer than ten men.

The Gemara asks: From where in the verse may this be inferred? The Gemara responds that it must be understood as Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: It is inferred by means of a verbal analogy [gezera shava] between the words “among,” “among.” Here, it is written: “And I shall be hallowed among the children of Israel,” and there, with regard to Korah’s congregation, it is written “Separate yourselves from among this congregation” (Numbers 16:21). Just as with regard to Korah the reference is to ten men, so too, the name of God is to be hallowed in a quorum of ten men.

The connotation of ten associated with the word “among” in the portion of Korah is, in turn, inferred by means of another verbal analogy between the word “congregation” written there and the word “congregation” written in reference to the ten spies who slandered Eretz Yisrael, as it is written there: “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation?” (Numbers 14:27). Consequently, just as there, in the case of the spies, it was a congregation of ten people, as there were twelve spies altogether, and Joshua and Caleb were not included in the evil congregation, so too, here, in the case of Korah, the reference is to a congregation of ten people. The first several items mentioned in the mishna are expressions of sanctity, and they consequently require a quorum of ten.