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D'var: Parashat Vayaqhel-Pequdei 5784 Commentary by Michael Goldstein Friday, March 8, 2024 |
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Vayaqhel Exodus 35:17–38:20
Pequdei Exodus 38:21–40:38 |
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During the year, there are seven times we read two parashot. Once in Exodus, three times in Leviticus, twice in Numbers,
and once in Deuteronomy. This Shabbat is one of them. Tonight we conclude Exodus with Vayakhel and Pekudei.
In Vayakhel, Moses tells the Israelites that God commands them not to work on Shabbat. He also says that God has directed that every good-hearted person should give something toward building the mishkan, also called the tent of meeting or the tabernacle or the sanctuary. In Pekudei, Moses says that God commanded the artisans Bezalel and Ohaliab to build the Sanctuary. He also provides an accounting of how the contributions were used. Aaron and his sons are given the clothing they must wear while working in the mishkan and they are anointed by Moses. A cloud covers the mishkan and God’s presence in it. For me, there are two important messages in these parshahs. First, from Vayakhel, in Exodus 35:5, Moses tells the Israelites that God wants them to "Take from yourselves an offering for the Lord; every generous hearted person shall bring it, the Lord's offering." This concept of "generous-hearted," or "good-hearted," or even "wise-hearted" is mentioned at least six more times in Vayakhel. Here, for example are Exodus 35, verses 21 and 22.
21: Every man whose heart uplifted him came, and everyone whose spirit inspired him to generosity brought the
offering of the Lord for the work of the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.
22: The men came with the women; every generous hearted person brought bracelets and earrings and rings and buckles, all kinds of golden objects, and every man who waved a waving of gold to the Lord. This having giving from a generous heart is not tzedakah. Tzedakah is charity — a moral obligation that God commanded the Jews to perform. Having a generous heart, on the other hand, means making a voluntary sacrificial gift to a cause or to others, in this case, construction of the mishkan that will also serve as a home for God. That the gift is voluntary makes it of a higher moral value than tzedakah. It is the kind of gift, I think, to which all of us should aspire. The second message of Vayakhel and Pekudei, is, for me, that while each of us should strive to do good deeds — to be kind and of benefit to our world and everything on it, from humans to animals to flowers, trees, and other plants — we must never lose sight of the fact that nothing of truly significant and lasting value can be created without the ‘T’ word, teamwork. A person alone can do something good, even great, but it requires a team to accomplish something of significant and lasting value. So it was with the mishkan. The mishkan was to be the central structure of the Israelite community as well as God’s home, so its location was important. It was not only the spiritual center, but because the Israelites arranged their tents around it, it also was the physical center. The 16th century Italian Rabbi, Obadiah Sforno, wrote that because the Jewish people wholeheartedly donated the materials to build the mishkan, they all shared in its actual construction. He held that even if one Israelite was physically unable to do the work of building it, providing support for its construction allowed each individual to share in it completely. The same is true for us today as we work to build a more moral global community. The mishkan was completed the year after the Israelites left Egypt, so there were still 39 years in the desert to go. They did not wake up the morning after its completion with nothing to do. For them, as for us, the task of making the universe a worthy dwelling place for our beliefs and our desires continues. And there are so many broken systems and troubled people we must repair. Like the community that built the mishkan, a warm and welcoming global community must have an ethical core. It must be a place where neighbors treat each other with respect, where disputes are settled justly, and where everyone can live in peace and be unafraid. In his book, Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam charted the weakening of social connections. More recently, he found that a person’s religious beliefs — or lack of them — is not what promotes involvement with others or the satisfaction derived from it. Rather, it is involvement in a community that makes the difference. Whether secular or religious, participation in almost any community steadies somewhat the insecurity we may feel in our lives. It teaches us that we do not have to isolate ourselves and that we do have something valuable to contribute. And, in a community, we remember that we matter to others. Perhaps the Israelites were bringing those gifts to appease God, but it was healing for them as well. Sometimes in the act of giving, even when you think you have nothing left to give, you end up receiving more than you give. Michael Goldstein |
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