Exodus Cycle 6 Vayakhel

Vayakhel

It all comes down to the pegs.

Yes, the vavayhem, plural for (yes) vav. I don't mean the letter. I mean (once again) the pegs.

But let’s take a good look at the foundation of Vayakhal.  What is happening?  There’s the mitzvah of Shabbat, the summary of directions concerning the mishkan, the seamless transition from directions to action (from being to doing), the flow of gifts from the people to build the mishkan, the restraint of the flow, the choice of craftsmen and the hierarchy within the craftsmanship, the building/weaving of the components.

  

On another level, there’s the manifestation of holy transmissions, the beauty and the brilliance, the rise of sweet smells from animal altar to incense altar.

No matter the level we like hanging out on, though, whether it’s the lobby, a high floor or the barely-accessible penthouse, without the pegs we only have pieces of sacred objects that don’t form any finished product at all.

Yes, while chochmah, tevunah and da’at (wisdom, understanding and knowledge) are mentioned as necessities in both the parashah and the Haftarah (1 Kings 7:40-50) without our pegs, well….one floor falls down to the next. Wisdom, understanding and knowledge become one big mess. You don’t have to be a contractor to know that without the pegs or nails (beam to beam and wall to wall) we can’t maintain floor to floor. 

Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what our proclivity is. We can be p’shat people (rational) or seekers in sod (mystical).  We will all see quite clearly (in the end) that the pegs are not only crucial to proper construction. They are the key to our spiritual and physical survival.

Without the pegs the ark is not the ark. It’s a pile of wood. Gold-plated.

Without the pegs the altars are no longer the altars. It’s silver and gold and horns and acacia waiting to be assembled.

Without the pegs humans are not humans. They become back bones or cherubim or beams  or partitions or veils covering the eyes lost in time and floating in space. I think of paintings by Chagall, Miro or Picasso. Without the pegs humans become the clattering words we throw at each other. Sh’mor and zachor  slam against  each other rather than merge.  Positive and negative commandments split as well as man and woman. 

The day we drop the pegs is the day we drop respect and compassion, the day we drop the ceiling and stand in cement and sawdust. What happened, we wonder? Did we stop saying goodbye or hello or how are you or thank you?   The day we drop the pegs we decide that Shabbat is just a day like any other.

There is no greater pain/joy than the pain/joy without pegs.  Without pegs we forget both Shabbat and the dead. We know this because KIng David had to be taken out of Shabbat study in order to die. (Shabbat 30a-b) At that moment of his death, he was no longer attached to the center of Shabbat or the idea of the dead (for he was dead as well).  We need Shabbat to know life. We need life to know death. These needs are the pegs of which I speak.

 The hufael (grammatical form) of the verb mot (to die) causes us to learn respect for the pegs. Using even the tiny, the timber to create a fire, is against Shabbat-time. In short, we don’t use and abuse the pegs and raise them above that which they create.

But this parsha is about bringing God to earth. The pegs bring us to that sturdy Eden of God-presence for a flash or for a day.

 See the mishkan as we might in our many commentaries, focus on this aspect or that element, use this teaching or that one, raise this above that or honor this more than that (anywhere in Torah I might add), it is our divine responsibility to envision the whole.  And we must do so with persistence, strength and a conviction that the disparate pieces are only a reflection of our fears on the outside. Within there is one main connection, one soul and center. There, the invisible pegs work real hard to merge all souls for eternal cyclical knowledge and release. And in this center we can sigh and rest. This is that Shabbat Shabbaton where the directions become the action, where being is the same as doing and love of the double vuv is God. 

The peg (yes the little peg) is the handshake of Peace.