Exodus - Cycle One - 3501-3820 VaYakhel - 3821-4038 Pekudey

In VaYakhel (35‐2) we are told to keep Shabbat….the question is, keep it? Keep a day? We’ve heard and said it often.

In Ki Thisa (34‐7) a letter nun is enlarged. It so happens to begin a line in which we are told that God will keep in mind.

In Pekudey, to keep is not mentioned much. We are informed of things being placed (40). Even though this is the English translation, all I can think is that the idea to keep must be very important. And we clearly can’t keep if we don’t place. My son plays with a local youth symphony. On the big day, before the music begins, you see people walking in, musicians tuning their instruments. Going closer, the symphony becomes a group of he’s and she’s. Look in the program, and there are names, no matter high school attended. Closer and we have a gathering of hearts, cells, souls. Back up and it’s more than musicians. It’s the people who crafted the instruments, who coached the musicians, who coached the coaches, who wrote the piece, who built the building, who gave the money, who paid for the tickets and put all of this in place….for one glorious merging of tones.

When the music begins we see how light can touch the most remote corners, how important those corners are. And, finally, we see how crucial it is that it keeps moving, expanding, seeking, and creating.

If the building (no matter how beautiful) was sitting empty, if the original composer had put down his pen no matter how stirred up his heart might be with wisdom, if the musicians (no matter how talented) were not playing, if the instruments (no matter how delicate) were untouched, if the people watching had been too cynical to get up, get dressed and get moving towards the performance, if the great light (no matter how radiant) was not active but stopped for reasons of fear, laziness, self involvement, blindness, grief, suffering or even joy…then no matter the intent of the original idea, nothing would be in place. There would not be music. Now let’s return to the performance. It’s Bach. There are three movements. The audience (not knowing) often claps between. This time, Cindy, the conductor has given a short plea. Please save your applause for the end of the piece and then you can go at it.

The piece is exquisite, spherical in structure, and then it happens. Silence. We are between movements. The music (mistakes included) has a place in which to sink, to vibrate, to hold its own, and yes, to keep itself. All we can do is breathe in and make solid the light heard. This is clearly the Shabbat of the symphony.

Now let’s look at VaYakhel and Pekudey. First, we see the importance of recognizing each divine spark as it manifests the will of God. After all, God taught to Moses on Sinai the 39 labors necessary to construct the tabernacle. According to Midrash, these are the words (line 35‐1) refer to those labors (and remind us that they are the same forbidden on Shabbat). Next, we see how the labor is manifested. For example, Oholiab, from the tribe of Dan (the tribe from Buelah…with the least status) is mentioned with Bezalet (from the tribe of Judah). We see that (not included in Terumah) we must use caps. In other words, an idea is capped (completed) with action. We see that the lower curtains of the tabernacle are to be made with wool as well as fine linen while the upper with goat hair wound right on the goat! This clearly takes finesse, a discernment of the upper and lower worlds.

In all, we see the attention to detail, the vision, the giving heart, the trust, love, dedication, restraint and boundaries (36‐6), talent, wisdom, hard manual work, time, trust. We see the flow. It is natural. It is almost like military advance…but one with divine sparks. Even the robe opens in the middle like maille (39‐23). We are clearly to get moving after the gilded calf. Now we arrive at Shabbat. But what does Shabbat mean? Do we just stop? I don’t think so. We keep the position in place. We keep the impression made. We hold it, breathe it, touch it, solidify it, make it into a seamless structure, give ourselves fully to it. We keep our earthly light. But I think we also keep our earthly darkness. Look at the giant nun in Ki Thisa. It leads to the fact that God will keep our wrongdoings in mind to the third or fourth generation. Even though it’s good that they will finally be released, this is a twist. To keep seems to refer to darkness (and to our mistakes) as well as to light. We need to hold that place no matter the modulation, see it, recognize it, give ourselves time to grasp it. It’s the only way to get beyond it.

Getting back to the symphony, maybe some people clap between movements to hide from the unknown silence…from darkness. Maybe in so doing they only feed into it. Maybe some people work on Shabbat to hide from the unknown silence…from darkness. Maybe in so doing, they only feed into it. But when we are silent between movements, all the notes of the symphony can bring us beyond fear, beyond earthly light and/or darkness, to a place where we can know the glory of the divine deep within our beings.

So, may the pause between movements of our great symphony be clean and clear like fire...lifting us like a cloud beyond the earthly. May the radiance of Shabbat transcend our mistakes as well as our great deeds. May the glory of Shabbat, in the form of love, shine on all corners, dark and light, in our hearts….and fill the universe. May we learn to create, to push towards the divine light, and to keep that place, to strengthen it, so that our music can continue from where we left off. May we shine and merge with love with God.