Parashat Vayakel 5768

In this week's Torah portion, Vayakel, the Israelites are commanded to help build the mishkan, Adonai's Tabernacle. Amidst the harsh, bleak desert backdrop, our ancestors are called upon to create beauty.

In past weeks, we have read the details of how the Tabernacle is to be constructed. It is to be ornate, intricate, and opulent. The Torah spins out the materials like an indulgent design show (Divine Design, anyone?):

...gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, and goats' hair; tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and the breastpiece. (Exodus 35:5b-9).

Our ancestors are called a stiff-necked people. They wrestle with faith (it was just last week they erected a golden calf, after all). They complain. They struggle. In this week's portion, though, they are called upon to do something very different. They are called upon to give freely from their hearts.

Take from among you gifts to Adonai; everyone whose heart so moves him shall bring them - gifts for Adonai (Exodus 35:5).

This week, the people are challenged: don't just create trouble, don't just come along for the ride, don't just stand back and let others take charge. Give from your heart, freely. There is potential for great holiness amongst you, but you must create it. (Or, "If you build it, God will come")

The text is clear here: Adonai will need both men and women to share their finest goods and to share their best skills. It will take the community, not through coercion, but through honest heart-felt giving, to build the mishkan.

Today, we are taught that God does not only dwell in a mishkan, a centralized holy place (although, it is still often in our holy places that we feel closest to God). Rather, our tradition teaches: God is in each of us and is in every thing. So, what, then, does it mean for us to give "freely from our hearts" today? How can we be a part of building a place for the divine to dwell?

I believe we can do so by extending our concept of holy space to a notion of holy time (an idea articulated by Abraham Joshua Heschel in his book The Sabbath). One of our most precious possessions is our time. Each of our minutes is sacred. Our tradition calls us this week to give of them freely. We are told: Give to the degree that your heart moves you and you will create a dwelling place in your life for the divine.

When we create time for reflection, for learning, for quiet meditation, for joyful praise, for social action, and for real interactions, we re-create the mishkan of old. It remains true today what was true then: We must give of our finest goods in order to create a space for holiness.