This sheet on Exodus 35 was written by Misha Clebaner for 929 and can also be found here
Studying Torah in the modern age can be a tricky endeavor sometimes. Engaging with ideas from 3,000 years ago will inevitably lead to a culture clash between our modern sensibilities and those from the Iron Age of the Ancient Near East.
With stories that touch on the necessity for war, strict hierarchies, and with enough gender insensitivities to fill an entire semester long course for ‘smashing the patriarchy’ it can be very challenging to hang in with the process of talmud torah.
I know that I have had the experience of reading a section of torah or a page of talmud and have been shocked by the message that was being elevated.
Exodus 35 has such messages — anyone working on shabbat shall be executed. The temptation to skip over this section of holy text arises. Yet as the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai alludes to in his “From the Book of Esther I Filtered the Sediment” if we remove the challenging texts then we also lose the opportunity to wrestle. And if we stopped reading altogether then we also lose out on the messages that inspire.
In Exodus 35, Moses passes along God’s message that those with nadiv lev, generous hearts, should bring forth donations of gold. What kind of a person would dare to bring forward golden jewelry when just a few chapters earlier they were all scolded and punished for bringing their shiny gifts forward?
A brave and generous person.
The Torah asks this same question of me: will you bring your gift of presence and engagement with me forward even though you have been wounded be my words before?
So, I ask myself: can I, too, be vulnerable and courageous? Can I give a generous read; engage with a nadiv lev?
With stories that touch on the necessity for war, strict hierarchies, and with enough gender insensitivities to fill an entire semester long course for ‘smashing the patriarchy’ it can be very challenging to hang in with the process of talmud torah.
I know that I have had the experience of reading a section of torah or a page of talmud and have been shocked by the message that was being elevated.
Exodus 35 has such messages — anyone working on shabbat shall be executed. The temptation to skip over this section of holy text arises. Yet as the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai alludes to in his “From the Book of Esther I Filtered the Sediment” if we remove the challenging texts then we also lose the opportunity to wrestle. And if we stopped reading altogether then we also lose out on the messages that inspire.
In Exodus 35, Moses passes along God’s message that those with nadiv lev, generous hearts, should bring forth donations of gold. What kind of a person would dare to bring forward golden jewelry when just a few chapters earlier they were all scolded and punished for bringing their shiny gifts forward?
A brave and generous person.
The Torah asks this same question of me: will you bring your gift of presence and engagement with me forward even though you have been wounded be my words before?
So, I ask myself: can I, too, be vulnerable and courageous? Can I give a generous read; engage with a nadiv lev?
Misha Clebaner, is in his final year of rabbinical school at Hebrew College in Boston. He is currently serving as the rabbinic figure of Temple B’nai Israel in Revere, MA.
929 is the number of chapters in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, the formative text of the Jewish heritage. It is also the name of a cutting-edge project dedicated to creating a global Jewish conversation anchored in the Hebrew Bible. 929 English invites Jews everywhere to read and study Tanakh, one chapter a day, Sunday through Thursday together with a website with creative readings and pluralistic interpretations, including audio and video, by a wide range of writers, artists, rabbis, educators, scholars, students and more. As an outgrowth of the web-based platform, 929 English also offers classes, pop-up lectures, events and across North America. We invite you to learn along with us and be part of our dynamic community.
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