VAYAKHEL
Torah
Haftara: I Kings 7:40-50 (Sephardi
add I Kings 7:13-26).
GATHERING
OF THE PEOPLE
The parshah of VAYAKHEL opens with the words: "And Moses
gathered together all the Community of Israel." (Exodus 35:1). According
to our sages, Moses' gathering of all of the Community took place on the day
following Yom Kippur, when he had secured atonement for the sin of the golden
calf.
This gathering
consisted of all of ADAS YISRAEL, the Community of Israel. The Zohar (beginning of VAYAKHEL) states specifically that this
Community was made up of all who remained faithful to the true Covenant of
Israel, accepting no deviation from the Torah and no prophet other than Moses.
The Zohar emphasizes that they could only build the
Sanctuary after being purged of all the Mixed Multitude who went astray after
the golden calf, which was half ox (Edom, Christianity) and half donkey
(Ishmael, Islam). Both deviated from the finality of the Torah and the
supremacy of Moses as G-d's true prophet, seeking to
displace them in different ways by erecting new prophets and intermediaries
standing between man and G-d. They and all the nations are excluded from
membership of ADAS
The materials and
manpower for the construction of the Sanctuary for the One G-d were to be
contributed only by this Community of true Israelites, those willing to abide
by the Law of Moses. This accepts no intermediary between man and G-d and
permits no form or idol in worship. The only forms permitted in G-d's Sanctuary and
The commandment
to build the Sanctuary was addressed to the whole Community of Israel. Each
member of this community was to have his or her personal share in this joint
national project of building the Sanctuary that Moses was to announce. For the
true Israelite, there is no intermediary between man and G-d. Man faces G-d
directly. Each one contributes -- and each one has responsibility for his own actions. Only one who truly INTENDS to do what he
does can be said to be responsible for what he does and, if he does good,
fairly take the reward. Only then is there merit in his contribution.
How can one
INTEND what he does? Taking precedence over all the commandments about
contributing to and building the Sanctuary addressed to the Community of Israel
is the commandment to observe the Shabbos -- to spend
one entire day every week WILLFULLY ABSTAINING from many kinds of actions and
activities.
Moses' discourse
to the Community of Israel about the building of the Sanctuary opens with the
following words:
"Six days
labor shall be performed, and on the seventh day you will have a holy Shabbos of rest in honor of G-d: anyone who performs a
labor on Shabbos shall be put to death." (Ex.
35:2).
It is a
commandment to labor -- "Six days labor shall be performed". Part of
that same commandment is the commandment to observe the Shabbos
by willfully abstaining from labor when so commanded. So stringent is this
commandment that its willful infringement is punishable by execution. The
example of forbidden labor given in the Torah text is that of kindling fire on
the Sabbath day, which is infringed by acts as simple as flicking on a
light-switch, lighting a cooker or starting a car ignition.
The ability to
observe Shabbos and the ability to engage in truly
meaningful labor on the other days of the week are bound up together. Only when
a person can consciously abstain from action and willfully NOT perform a
particular range of actions as instructed by G-d on Shabbos
can he be said to have true INTENTION when he does perform the action in honor
of G-d on the six days of the week. Only then does his action have true merit.
Only the
observance of the commandment to abstain from labor on the Seventh Day in honor
of G-d gives true meaning to the building of the Sanctuary in the wilderness
and the
* * *
PRAXIS
The greater part
of our parshah of VAYAKHEL is devoted to a detailed
description of how Betzalel and his fellow craftsmen
made the Sanctuary and its vessels in accordance with the plan whose details we
studied three parshahs earlier in TERUMAH. While
TERUMAH taught how they were to be made when they were still on the level of
thought -- BE-KOACH, in POTENTIALITY -- our parshah
of VAYAKHEL teaches how they came to made BE-PHO'AL, in ACTUALITY, on the level
of ASIYAH, action.
It is significant
that all of the laws of what constitutes forbidden MELACHAH, labor, on Shabbos are learned from the 39 archetypal forms of labor
that were involved in the making of the Sanctuary on the six days of the week.
It is only when we abstain from performing forbidden labor on Shabbos BECAUSE IT IS SHABBOS that performing those labors
"for G-d" on the six weekdays can be said to be truly intentional and
meritorious. The labors that are forbidden on Shabbos
are called MELECHET MACHSHEVET, a labor that involves MACHSHAVAH -- i.e. it is
intentional.
When we observe
the Shabbos FOR G-D, abstaining from forbidden labors
because that is His command, this gives the intentional labors that we perform
on the other six days of the week in pursuit of our livelihood and all our
other needs the sanctity of BUILDING THE SANCTUARY. Our intention in pursuing
all these needs is that we may serve G-d, pray and keep the commandments. Our
going about our daily lives in our homes, at work and elsewhere is all part of
BUILDING THE TEMPLE, a dwelling place for G-d's
presence. For each one of us has our own contribution to make to the
construction of this
According to a
tradition handed down by the Kabbalah, Betzalel accomplished the "labors" required to
build and construct the sanctuary vessels through manipulations of the 22
Hebrew Letters of Creation, as taught in Sefer Yetzirah. Successful manipulation of the letters to produce
actual physical constructions in the world without performing any physical
action requires the greatness of a Betzalel or the Maharal of Prague, who created a Golem. Nevertheless, even
a simple Israelite has the power to "manipulate" the letters of
creation by using them to compose prayers to G-d to bless his material efforts
in the actual world of Asiyah with success. With the
help of G-d, our very words themselves have the power to serve as vessels
within which G-d's presence can dwell in this world.
Through our words we contribute to building the Sanctuary -- the House of
Prayer -- to G-d.
May we soon be
worthy to contribute to the
* * *
Shabbat Shalom!
Avraham Yehoshua
Greenbaum