The twenty-second reading from the Torah and the second-to-last reading from the book of Exodus is called Vayakhel (ויקהל), which means “and he assembled.” The name comes from the first words of the first verse of the reading, which could be literally translated to read, “And Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel …” (Exodus 35:1). This portion from the Torah describes how the assembly of Israel worked together to build the Tabernacle. In most years, synagogues read Vayakhel together with the following portion, Pekudei.(First Fruits of Zion)
