Vayakhel
Vayakhel Haftorah in a Nutshell

I Kings 7:13-26.

This week's haftorah describes the construction of several components of the Holy Temple by the wise craftsman Hiram of Tyre, paralleling the Torah portion which describes the construction of the Tabernacle by the wise Bezalel and his crew of craftspeople.

King Solomon called for Hiram, an expert coppersmith, to create copper columns to flank the largest doorway of the Holy Temple. The columns were eighteen cubits (approx. 30 feet) high and were topped by two capitals which were intricately carved with pomegranates and palm leaves. The right column was named Jachin, and the left one was called Boaz. Hiram also built a copper basin -- or "sea" as it's called in the text: "It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea (was set) upon them above, and all their hinder parts (were) inward." In this basin -- a large mikvah -- the priests would immerse before they served in the Temple.