Exodus Cycle Three Vayakhel 35:1 to 38:20

Vayakhel

Vayakhel introduces a situation we think we have never experienced. After all, have we ever asked for donations…and received more….mountains more… than requested? It feels like a miracle yet in Torah it isn’t written as such. It’s explained as an every day event. This is what happens. Moses requests the necessities for the creating of the mishkan. And they come. They come with gold and silver and wools died crimson and blue. They come with poles and rings because they have the generosity in their heart to give. They come with so much so continually that the force of their giving becomes too great. Moses has to place a firm boundary on this awesome heart-flow. He has to stop it.

Why, we might wonder. Why must there be boundaries on our gift-giving, on our heart-flow? Especially if this light (that the objects so clearly symbolize) is going to be molded by the great artist Bezazel to craft a home for God so He may dwell among us?

Before I attempt to shine some light on this question I also want to bring up another interesting fact about this short but powerful parasha. There is one commandment. And it’s not about the mishkan (directly). According to Maimonides it is this: The court must not inflict punishment on Shabbat.

So here we have this dwelling for God in actualization being built. Why do we have this commandment? Well, one might think, God is seeing ahead. He knows that the people are going to be so excited about the building of the mishkan that they will do labors specifically forbidden on Shabbat. Therefore, the court might make a mistake and inflict the punishment on Shabbat as well. This is one way of looking at it.

Here’s more about Shabbat The Gemara says we may light the Shabbat lights when we choose as long as it isn’t too early (because it won’t honor Shabbat) or too late (later than just before nightfall). Too much excitement could actually render the early action meaningless. Too much excitement about other holy-projects could also render the late action meaningless. As we excitedly and enthusiastically allow our love to flow forth…as the Sfas Emes quotes: Vast floods cannot quench love, nor rivers drown it (Ps. 8:7)…. we must be aware that we need boundaries of time/space/action. Why? Because God says. If God says, we do.

Pure faith is reason enough to follow God’s will. But there’s even more than faith here. There’s truth. And this is inferred by the Sfas Emes. The point is that the love and attachment to God that Israel received at Mt Sinai is alive in them forever, even when sin (the gilded calf) prevents them from bringing this hidden love out into the open. So after this sin, they needed to give this offering (for the mishkan)….by the act of giving they brought forth their own inner generosity…so they were able to draw the Shechinah into their midst.

The giving therefore, the rush of light coming from the heart, creates the flow that emphasizes the true generosity in each individual being. And that’s what creates the mishkan, not necessarily the things themselves. And this is what draws forth the Shechinah.

But if we dig too crazily, if we rush too hard to create the flow, if we need too much too fast and yearn too much and grab too much of ourselves to shove into the heart-swell surging out to God and to each other…we might think this is good for there is emotion here…crying and dancing and song… but in all of the wildness of the immediacy we may just unconsciously fling forth the shadow, the same jewels and ornaments that created the gilded calf. This is where the commandment comes in. If we are so intent on administering God’s decree and if that flow is beyond our capability to balance it, then on the most holy day, on the day of rest, the day of our additional soul and of our finest radiance we could easily (in our eagerness) open the gates too wide. Our judgment could know no boundaries and this, according to kabbalists, is how evil..or rah…or the sitra achra…is born.

The relationship of rah to kadosh is further emphasized in Exodus Rabbah 50:3. Here we read that God heals with the very thing with which God wounds. This is shown through Numbers 25:1 which says…and Israel abode in Shittim and the daughters began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab. To compare we read in Exodus 37:1 that Bezazel made the ark of acacia wood. Acacia wood is the same as wood from Shittim. Therefore with this wood we both witness the holy and the evil in creation. The former heals the latter. The former is still healing the latter. This is possibly the very definition of our humanity.

So when Moses tells everyone to stop giving this is a serious statement, one not to be underestimated. We are human. Even God, when He creates, has self restraint. He stops the process. He finds the boundaries. He sees that it is good.

We, as humans call it humility.

Vayakhel is all about humility, about knowing who we are, and where we fit as individuals within the community and as the one community before the throne of God. How much can we give to each other and to God while watching carefully? How far to the edge can we go without going over? What is the very most we can give and create before we know within our very bones that it is time to rest and be in that creation? What is our personal rhythm? The rhythm of our our town, our city, our culture? It’s different for everyone. It’s important to know. This intimacy with ourselves and with God allows the raising of sparks and brings us closer to olam habah…the world to come.

So, may we honor our creations. May we honor the mishkan as we build it within our beings every moment. May we know our boundaries to safeguard that same creation. May we see those boundaries very clearly. Together, as a community, may we have compassion for each other as we do the work and may we realize that the purpose of it is to rest in the holiness. May we guide each other and know the meaning of self restraint as we stand on the breathtaking precipice of consciousness. May we chant our prayers as we (with awareness) open our heart and infuse our beings with the sacred scroll and the breath of all being.