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Weekly Torah portion: Vayakhel-Pedudei

“Moses then gathered the whole Israelite community and said to them: These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do: On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day. Moses said further to the whole community of Israelites: This is what the Lord has commanded: Take from among you gifts to the Lord; everyone whose heart so moves him shall bring them — gifts for the Lord: gold, silver, and copper.”

 

One midrash sees a connection between Moses gathering the Israelites, and the gathering of the people before Aaron in the story of the Golden Calf:

 

Moses then gathered – This is what the Bible means by: “Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation (pesher) of a thing?” (Ecclesiastes 8:1). Happy are the righteous who know how to achieve a compromise (peshara) between Israel and its Father in Heaven. Thus Moses our teacher, may he rest in peace, said to gather “and let them make Me a Sanctuary” (Exodus 25:80 to repent for the incident of the Calf, of which the Bible says: “Come make us a god” (Exodus 32:1). And so the gathering of Moses atones for the gathering of Aaron (Midrash Aggada (Buber) Exodus 35).

 

But this midrash is somewhat problematic. How can making a house for God atone for making the Golden Calf? As another midrash explains:

 

What is the purpose of all of the matter of the candelabrum and the table and the altar and the planks and the tent and the curtains, and all of the utensils of the Tabernacle? The Israelites said to the Holy One: Master of the Universe, the kings of the nations have their tent and table and candelabrum and incense burner and other trappings of royalty, for every king must have them. Should not You our King, Redeemer and Saviour posses the same trappings of royalty, so that all the inhabitants of the world will know that You are the King? He replied: They who are flesh and blood have need of all that, but I do not (Midrash Aggada (Buber) Exodus 27).

 

Perhaps this is why the parasha does not begin with the building of the Tabernacle, but rather with keeping the Sabbath. Professor R. Abraham Joshua Heschel explained in the Prologue to his book The Sabbath:

 

This is a radical departure from accustomed religious thinking. The mythical mind would expect that, after heaven and earth have been established, God would create a holy place – a holy mountain or a holy spring – whereupon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is holiness in time, the Sabbath, which comes first. When history began, there was only one holiness in the world, holiness in time. When at Sinai the word of God was about to be voiced, a call for holiness in man was proclaimed: “Thou shalt be unto me a holy people.” It was only after the people had succumbed to the temptation of worshipping a thing, a golden calf, that the erection of a Tabernacle, of holiness in space, was commanded.

 

1. Idolaters believe that the spirit of the god resides within the idol. Is the Divine Presence similarly expected to reside in the Tabernacle? Do the midrashim suggest such a parallel between the Tabernacle and the Golden Calf? What is the nature of the “compromise” between the Israelites and God?

2. The repetition of the commandment to observe the Sabbath at the beginning of Vayakhel seems out of place and appears to interrupt the narrative. Does Heschel’s explanation of the Sabbath imply that the inclusion of the Sabbath at this point in the narrative teaches us that the Sabbath is the true Sanctuary?

3. Is the purpose of the synagogue conceptually different than that of the Tabernacle or the Temple?

 

Iyunei Shabbat is published weekly by the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, The Masorti Movement and The Rabbinical Assembly of Israel in conjunction with the Masorti Movement in Israel and Masorti Olami-World Council of Conservative Synagogues.

 

Chief Editor: Rabbi Avinoam Sharon

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.20.09, 07:35
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