D’VAR TORAH PARSHA VAYAK’HEL
EXODUS 35:1-38:20
JODI EDWARDS
Moses assembles the people of Israel and reiterates to them the commandment to observe the Shabbat. He then conveys G-d’s instructions regarding the making of the Mishkan (Tabernacle).
The people donate the required materials in abun-dance, bringing gold, silver, copper, blue, purple and red-dyed wool, goat hair, spun linen, animal skins, wood, olive oil, herbs and precious stones. Moses has to tell them to stop giving.
A team of wise-hearted artisans make the Mishkan and its furnishings (as detailed in the previous Torah readings of Terumah, Tetzaveh and Ki Tisa): three layers of roof coverings; 48 gold-plated wall panels, and 100 silver foundation sockets; the Parochet (Veil) that separates between the Sanctuary’s two chambers and the Masach (Screen) that fronts it; the Ark and its cover with the Cherubim; the Table and its Showbread; the seven-branched Menorah with its specially-prepared oil; and the Golden Altar and the incense burned on it; the Anointing Oil; the outdoor Altar for Burnt Offerings and all its implements; the hangings, posts and foundation sockets for the Courtyard; and the Basin and its pedestal, made out of copper mirrors.
D”Var Acher
If God Is To Be In The Palace, People Are Required
Neil E. Hirsch
We know of two palaces in our tradition. One is the Mishkan that the Israelites construct and place in the center of their camp for God to dwell among them. The other is Dr. Heschel’s palace in time—Shabbat. Both a physical palace and a temporal palace require something in common—the participation of the community.
I am struck by the Chasidic teaching of Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Isbitza, mentioned in this week’s d’var Torah. The building of the Mishkan is ”for the people to come together as one to rekindle their understanding and passion for real holiness.” To know and be inspired by the sacred, a community is required.
We see this principle at work in how our tradition treats public prayer. “While the individual is entitled and encouraged to turn to God at all times, the tradition teaches the importance of communal worship (t’filah b’tzibur), of joining one’s prayer to that of a congregation,” writes Rabbi Mark Washofsky in Jewish Living: A Guide to Contemporary Reform Practice.1 We can pray in private, but Judaism is far from a monastic religion. Segments of our liturgy are only to be recited when a minyanis present. We reserve some prayers for com-munal worship. We call these prayers d’varim she-bek’dushah—matters of sanctification, and they include the K’dushah and the Kaddish. When we pray, if we are to encounter the sacred, our tradition teaches that we might find it when we are with our community. As it is written in Leviticus 22:32, “I will be sanctified in the midst of the people of Israel.”
There is a nursery rhyme that goes, “Here is the church, and here is the steeple, open the doors, and there are the people!” If God is to be found in the palaces of our tradition, it is incumbent upon us to enter those palaces with one another. God does not like empty communal halls. Prayer in community affords us something we cannot find when isolated or alone—a collective effervescence. When we enter the palace of Shabbat, we are granted the gift of time to focus as a community, with voices coming together in song and prayer, sanctify God. It is in that space, among the people we love and who love us, that we might rekindle our understanding and passion for real holiness.
Shabbat Shalom