I overheard my daughter on the phone with a friend this morning. It wasn't hard to do - she was speaking animatedly in the living room! The Hakhtarah is coming up - the crowning of the Rabbanit Purim - the Purim Rebbetzin - in her Ulpana. She is in twelfth grade, and the twelfth-graders put on the Purim Shpiel. There was brisk competition for the various parts, and Shalhevet was chosen for the lead role. Her good friend also was chosen for a part, albeit a minor one. In the most recent rehearsal yesterday, it seems that a number of girls who had minor parts skipped the rehearsal, and their lines had to be read by the directors. A few dedicated girls are trying to pick up the slack, but that creates ill-will. Shalhevet was engaged in giving musar in a forthright but loving way, to her good friend, one of those who skipped the rehearsal to tend to personal matters. She said that she understood the thinking - how much can the absence of one line impact a rehearal, and why should she give up hours of precious time when there were other pressing matters to be tended to. But, Shalhevet reminded, such pouting sort of behavior was more characteristic of third-graders than graduating high-school seniors. She explained that those who had the major parts were also adversely affected by the absence of the "one-liners", as the rehearsal lacked the feel of the real thing. In the end, the shpiel would resemble the kind of slapped-together presentation of a youth group rather than the crowning achievement of talented high school seniors working together.
This week's parashah, Vayak'hel, is often overlooked, as it "rehashes" parashat Terumah and some of Ki Tisa. Having received the divine command regarding the Mishkah in those parashiyot and in the intervening Tetzaveh, Moshe now conveys that command to the people and Betzal'el and crew begin the work of construction. The wording is often word for word like Terumah, the only difference being the conjugation of the verb in past tense instead of command form. This "duplication" is confirmed by Rashi, who has little to say this week. It is in precisely such circumstances that our attention is drawn to details that might ordinarily have escaped our attention. Details such as the commanding of Shabbat before the Mishkah, rather than after, as it was given to Moshe; the use of the phrase, "These are the things which Hashem has commanded to do them", regarding Shabbat, which is only one thing, and there's nothing to do; and, the very name of the parashah - Vayak'hel.
The Ohr Hachayyim points out the unusual use of the word Vayak'hel - "and he convened". Moshe is constantly speaking to the people, but nowhere else is such wording used. The Ohr Hachayyim suggests that Moshe needed to reconvene the people since they had fled at his approach upon his descent from Har Sinai with his face beaming intolerably bright. It would be unthinkable that anyone should be absent when the details of Shabbat are presented. Now, the details - the thirty-nine categories of prohibited work derived by the Rabbis are not presented, but they are hinted at in a number of well-known ways. The most engaging, to my mind, the one I heard from Rav Yoel Bin-Nun. He noted that the subsequent list of everything which Betzalel and crew needed to make has a total of 39 items for the Mishkah's construction (Bigdei HaSerad were the covers used to protect and honor the various kelim during transport when the Mishkan was packed away, and thus not part of the Mishkan itself. Aharon and son's garments, however, were an integral part of the "construction" of the Mishkah, as were the various oils.
He also brings the Zohar, which understands that Moshe made separate gatherings of women and men, since they were all involved in bringing the Terumah, and, in situations such as these, the evil urge abounds. This, however, seems to be far from the peshat - the peshat says that Moshe brought together, and the Zohar says that Moshe brought individuals into two separate groups. But it started me thinkiing.
The command to donate to the Mishkan is a command to tap into our individual gifts. Kol Nediv Libo - Everyone whose heart motivated them. Everyone brought what they had, what they could, everyone contributed their own skills. One one hand, this makes the Mishkan a communal effort. On the other, it emphasizes differences. Everyone is encouraged - commanded, if fact, to bring to the fore those things which they DO which makes them unique, and to offer them for the sake of the divine. The people is thereby individuated. Every one has a role, emphasis on the one. In an effort to reach deep into untapped individual potential, an appeal has been made that disguises the ego involved by placing in a context of giving. Upon hearing the command, everyone would go off and search their estates for possessions and abilities which their own heart could offer. Great!! Except for where that energy might lead you.
Thus, it was critically necessary FIRST to gather all the people, to make them a Kahal - a community - before the command to access their individuality. Not to gather them in order to make sure everyone hears the details, but to gather them in order that they understand that THAT is what it's about - THAT's the Mishkan. Now, Shabbat is about ceasing doing. In this manner, everyone is equally gifted - everyone can equally refrain from acting the master of Hashem's world. There are no jagged edges to all the parts, everyone fits together in the wholeness, the action-silence of Shabbat. And it is ONLY with such an understanding - that the I is allowed to be because of the WE, that the I comes back to re-include itself in the WE, that the undifferentiated core of being which resides in the stillness is really the stuff from which our identities are extruded - that the actions of individuals can come together to form a greater whole in a world in which every THING excludes by its very being the THING next to it. Shabbat enables a life in which the possibility of wholeness - holiness - can be constructed from the Lego parts which are our ego-gifts.
It's going to be a great Purim shpiel at Shalhevet's Ulpana. Not because she's starring - in a girl's ulpana, I can't watch in any case. But because when she got off the phone with her friend, after a few giggly last exchanges, her smiling face told me that the show would go on, with everyone bringing what they bring best - the passionate compassion that the other neither left out nor leave out. All aboard!!
This week's parashah, Vayak'hel, is often overlooked, as it "rehashes" parashat Terumah and some of Ki Tisa. Having received the divine command regarding the Mishkah in those parashiyot and in the intervening Tetzaveh, Moshe now conveys that command to the people and Betzal'el and crew begin the work of construction. The wording is often word for word like Terumah, the only difference being the conjugation of the verb in past tense instead of command form. This "duplication" is confirmed by Rashi, who has little to say this week. It is in precisely such circumstances that our attention is drawn to details that might ordinarily have escaped our attention. Details such as the commanding of Shabbat before the Mishkah, rather than after, as it was given to Moshe; the use of the phrase, "These are the things which Hashem has commanded to do them", regarding Shabbat, which is only one thing, and there's nothing to do; and, the very name of the parashah - Vayak'hel.
The Ohr Hachayyim points out the unusual use of the word Vayak'hel - "and he convened". Moshe is constantly speaking to the people, but nowhere else is such wording used. The Ohr Hachayyim suggests that Moshe needed to reconvene the people since they had fled at his approach upon his descent from Har Sinai with his face beaming intolerably bright. It would be unthinkable that anyone should be absent when the details of Shabbat are presented. Now, the details - the thirty-nine categories of prohibited work derived by the Rabbis are not presented, but they are hinted at in a number of well-known ways. The most engaging, to my mind, the one I heard from Rav Yoel Bin-Nun. He noted that the subsequent list of everything which Betzalel and crew needed to make has a total of 39 items for the Mishkah's construction (Bigdei HaSerad were the covers used to protect and honor the various kelim during transport when the Mishkan was packed away, and thus not part of the Mishkan itself. Aharon and son's garments, however, were an integral part of the "construction" of the Mishkah, as were the various oils.
He also brings the Zohar, which understands that Moshe made separate gatherings of women and men, since they were all involved in bringing the Terumah, and, in situations such as these, the evil urge abounds. This, however, seems to be far from the peshat - the peshat says that Moshe brought together, and the Zohar says that Moshe brought individuals into two separate groups. But it started me thinkiing.
The command to donate to the Mishkan is a command to tap into our individual gifts. Kol Nediv Libo - Everyone whose heart motivated them. Everyone brought what they had, what they could, everyone contributed their own skills. One one hand, this makes the Mishkan a communal effort. On the other, it emphasizes differences. Everyone is encouraged - commanded, if fact, to bring to the fore those things which they DO which makes them unique, and to offer them for the sake of the divine. The people is thereby individuated. Every one has a role, emphasis on the one. In an effort to reach deep into untapped individual potential, an appeal has been made that disguises the ego involved by placing in a context of giving. Upon hearing the command, everyone would go off and search their estates for possessions and abilities which their own heart could offer. Great!! Except for where that energy might lead you.
Thus, it was critically necessary FIRST to gather all the people, to make them a Kahal - a community - before the command to access their individuality. Not to gather them in order to make sure everyone hears the details, but to gather them in order that they understand that THAT is what it's about - THAT's the Mishkan. Now, Shabbat is about ceasing doing. In this manner, everyone is equally gifted - everyone can equally refrain from acting the master of Hashem's world. There are no jagged edges to all the parts, everyone fits together in the wholeness, the action-silence of Shabbat. And it is ONLY with such an understanding - that the I is allowed to be because of the WE, that the I comes back to re-include itself in the WE, that the undifferentiated core of being which resides in the stillness is really the stuff from which our identities are extruded - that the actions of individuals can come together to form a greater whole in a world in which every THING excludes by its very being the THING next to it. Shabbat enables a life in which the possibility of wholeness - holiness - can be constructed from the Lego parts which are our ego-gifts.
It's going to be a great Purim shpiel at Shalhevet's Ulpana. Not because she's starring - in a girl's ulpana, I can't watch in any case. But because when she got off the phone with her friend, after a few giggly last exchanges, her smiling face told me that the show would go on, with everyone bringing what they bring best - the passionate compassion that the other neither left out nor leave out. All aboard!!
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