Vayakhel: Creating a Vessel for Divine Presence

From Rabbi Shai Held, (A) Building With Heart at https://www.hadar.org/torah-resource/building-heart

The question, of course, is why. What is it about the construction of the mishkan that makes giving from the heart so fundamental? The answer, I think, lies in the fact that the heart is the great equalizer.

R. Meir Leibush Weiser (Malbim, 1809-1879) makes the beautiful observation that in the construction of the mishkan, “the essence of the gift (terumah)... is the generosity (nedavat ha-lev); the spirit’s desire to donate is the very essence of the donation.” This requires emphasis, Malbim writes, because “there were poor people among the children of Israel who did not have anything at all to donate, but they gave in spirit (hitnadvu be-ruham)—that is, they thought that if only they had great wealth, they would give enough for the whole mishkan and all of its utensils just from their own possessions. God, who knew what was in their heart, received this as if they had given concretely” (Comments to Exodus 35:21).

Why the special concern in this context to include those who cannot afford to contribute materially? The mishkan is a magnificent structure; in constructing it, the Torah tells us, the Israelites make use of “gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson yarns; fine linen and goats’ hair; tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood... lapis lazuli and other stones” (Exodus 25:3-5,7). In any massive capital campaign, the temptation is for people to lavish attention and admiration upon those with means; after all, it is their generosity that makes the project feasible. In such moments, those without wealth or “capacity” can quickly be rendered invisible. Yet something about that possibility undercuts the very purpose of the construction: If the mishkan is to be erected so that God can dwell in and with the entire people, then manifesting—and even deepening—divisions of status and class in the process of building it represents a spiritual contradiction in terms. So God stresses that all gifts count—even the smallest of the small;8 even the purely internal gift of wishing one had the means to contribute materially. As a Talmudic dictum puts it, “It is the same whether one offers much or one offers little, as long as one directs one’s heart to Heaven” (BT, Menahot 110a).

A similar logic underlies a memorable midrash about those who led the construction efforts. The Torah highlights the great wisdom and skill of Bezalel, from the tribe of Judah, who directed all aspects of the building (35:30-35). Alongside him, we learn, stood Oholiab, from the tribe of Dan (35:34). R. Hanina b. Pazi observes that “there was no more elevated tribe than the tribe of Judah and no more lowly tribe than the tribe of Dan, who was from among the sons of Jacob’s concubines... The Blessed Holy One said, ‘Let Oholiab come and work with Bezalel, lest the latter grow haughty—for the great and the lowly are equal before the Blessed Holy One’” (Tanhuma, Ki Tissa 13). Expanding upon this midrash, Rashi (1040-1105) cites a description of God from the book of Job: “The noble are not preferred to the wretched” (Job 34:19, cited in Rashi’s comments to Exodus 35:34). In appointing those who will manage the massive construction project, in other words, God carefully ensures that the whole people is represented. The mishkan is to be built together, without some being glorified and others erased.

From Rabbi Jill Hammer, “Parashiyot Vayakhel and Pekudei: The Power of Embodied Love” at https://www.myjewishlearning.com/2013/03/04/parashiyot-vayakhel-and-pekudei-the-power-of-embodied-love/

Moses has been instructed to create a mishkan dwelling place for the Divine. He asks the people to bring gifts of precious metal, colored yarn, tanned animals skins and jewels to beautify the shrine. The pattern for the mishkan has been set by heaven, yet it is human wisdom and physical activity that weaves the pattern into a multifaceted reality. We are told “all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats’ hair” (Exodus 35:26) and “Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiav [the chief artists] and every man who was wise of heart.” This wise-heartedness allows the people to bring the plans for the sacred shrine to life. Unlike Sinai, when the role of the people is to receive, here the role of the people is to give, and for each to give a unique and personal gift. The design Moses has received cannot live except through the hands of the givers, workers, and artists who join together to weave, shape, build and forge all the necessary pieces of the mishkan-puzzle. When the mishkan is built, it holds something of each person in it.

The words in our parshiyot suggest that “wise-heartedness,” the knowing that comes from inside, has something to contribute to the body of sacred knowledge. Queer people, like other marginalized people, have often spent a great deal of time becoming wise-hearted: knowing and skillful in understanding the workings of their bodies, hearts and spirits. They have had no choice: this skill is a necessary defense against the many people who misunderstand, demonize, or ignore them. Only by knowing themselves can they accurately know which of the images others have thrust on them are false. The gifts they bring to communal understanding of self, sexuality, love and community are powerful. Their embodied wisdom is not simply an idea to take or leave, it is an expertise in being, one that the community needs in order to build.

By Rabbi Tamara Cohen, “And they Assembled” https://truah.org/resources/and-they-assembled-prayer-covid-19-2020-rabbi-tamara-cohen/

And Moses said dayam, enough

Enough: enough

Stop, withdraw,

bring/do/perform/gather no more.

Let the silver glare of a silent sanctuary,

the gold blue of a plane-less sky

the garnet sheen of an empty concert hall

be our sacred offering,

meager gifts of absence from wise and less wise-hearted people.

Please God let our ceasing be enough.

Let our hospital beds be enough.

Let our slow awakening to the interconnectedness of every living being be enough.

Let a pillar of stillness rest at the entrance of every home and prison.

Let this plague pass over us, enough of us.

Enough.