VAYYAK’HEL

G-d had consented to begin again.
New tablets were brought down, by human hand
Hewn and engraved. Again their teacher drew
The circle of the Sabbath in the sand
And called them to the labor of creation.
The people’s gifts flowed in, a generous tide,
And Betsalel, of wise imagination,
Knew how to shape them as G-d specified.
He made the Ark, the two Kruvim, the vail,
He made the golden lampstand and the table;
The tent, the altar, the surrounding pale
He made, while men and women wise and able
Wove and spun. And a world that had trembled
On dissolution’s brink was reassembled.