Torah Portion - February 28, 2008
Vayakhel, Exodus 35:1-38:20
There are an extraordinary number of similarities between this week’s Torah portion and the one we read last week. In both sections, God tells Moses to bring forth members of the community in order to build the mishkan, the sacred place of assembly during the Israelites’ sojourn in the wilderness. Both times, the primary architect of the mishkan is to be a talented man called Betzalel. Both times, the people are asked to donate their jewelry, their other precious metals, and their fine linens in order to create a dazzling, exquisite sanctuary. Both times, God provides Moses with a very detailed description of precisely how the mishkan must be built.
Last week, however, the Israelites failed to build the mishkan. Rather, they grew impatient and annoyed when Moses appeared to be gone too long. They quickly abandoned all trust in Moses, and any faith in the supposed God that Moses represented. Irritated and afraid, they demanded that Aaron have their gold jewelry be melted down so that a statue of a calf could be built for them to worship.
In this week’s portion, the Israelites are more trusting. Once again they donate gold and copper, fine linen, brilliant jewels--but this time they donate them for the mishkan.
What has changed during this period? The transformation was so great that, to paraphrase the Sages’ commentary on these two Torah portions---it was with fine jewelry that the Israelites committed a grievous sin (of the Golden Calf,) and with fine jewelry that the Israelites redeemed themselves (by donating to build the mishkan.)
Perhaps one key to understanding the changes that took place during these two building projects is to look at the language that is used to describe the chief architect, Betzalel. The words in both Torah portions are virtually identical. In each section, we are told:
1 And GOD spoke to Moses, telling him: 2 'See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of craftsmanship, 4 to create skilful pieces, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 5 and in the cutting of stones for setting, and in the carving of wood, to work in all manner of craftsmanship.
This week, we read words that are almost identical. The only difference is that after repeating the above description of Betzalel, Moses adds: “And God has put in his heart the ability to instruct…“.
In this week’s parasha, as Rabbi Daniel Gropper point out, Betzalel is more than a he is a master teacher. He didn’t merely use his many gifts to create a thing of beauty. He understood the importance of empowering others. The mishkan became a community project because Betzalel’s understanding and knowledge included the insight to teach other people how to weave the lovely threads into tapestries; how to create pieces from silver and in gold; how to communicate effectively about an essential project; how to create a sanctuary holy enough for the Divine Presence to dwell within it.
This brings us to another important distinction between last week’s text and this one. Our current portion opens with a reiteration of the commandment to keep Shabbat. It is no coincidence that the section on building the mishkan; the section on teaching as a holy act begins with the mitzvah of Shabbat. As Abraham Joshua Heschel has written, Shabbat is a "sanctuary in time." Shabbat reminds us that the mishkan is simply a concrete symbol for the holiness we can experience directly on Shabbat. When we exit that sanctuary in time at the end of Shabbat, we can get a taste of it through text study. The words used in this week’s Torah portion to indicate that Betzalel was not only a master builder, but a master teacher, come from the same root as the words for “teach” and the word “Torah.”
By teaching and learning together, we can build holy places in space and in time.