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Parshat Vayakhel
2000
Beyond Survival
After the 'Golden Calf Disaster,' the Israelites returned to inviting the Presence of God into their midst by building the tabernacle, a physical construction that would serve as a "Dwelling Place" for God. They had already received the detailed instructions; now the actual labor lay before them. But first, Moses reminded them of a spiritual invitation:
Exodus 35:1-3
Now Moses assembled the entire community of the Children of Israel and said to them, "These are the words that YHWH has commanded, to do them:
For six days is work to be made, but on the seventh day there is to be holiness for you, Sabbath, Sabbath-Ceasing for YHWH; whoever makes work on it is to be put-to-death!
You are not to let fire burn throughout all your settlements on the Sabbath day."
Your Torah Navigator
1. Why does Moses choose this particular moment to teach about Shabbat? In other words, why this moment and why Shabbat?
2. What explanation does Moses give for Shabbat? What does it mean that there is to be holiness?
3. Why does Moses specifically mention fire as something prohibited?
The Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 97b) suggests that the reason that Moses teaches about Shabbat precisely at the moment before the work of the Dwelling begins is to instruct us on the nature of work; besides the prohibition against fire, we don't really know what it means to "make work." Based on the subsequent chapters of Exodus, the rabbis derive 39 categories of labor which include the following:
baking
extinguishing a fire
grinding
kindling a fire
kneading
plowing
reaping
sheaf-making
sifting
sowing
threshing
winnowing
bleaching
combing raw material
cutting to shape
dyeing
inserting thread in a loom
removing finished article
scraping
selecting
separating into threads
sewing
sheep-shearing
skinning or flaying
slaughtering
spinning
tanning
tearing
trapping
tying a knot
untying a knot
weaving
building
carrying in a public place
demolishing
erasing
marking out
the final hammer blow
writing
Your Rabbinic Navigator
1. Does this definition of work help you make sense of Shabbat or hinder you? Why?
2. Here the 39 categories of work are shown divided into sub-categories. How would you title each section?
3. Why do you think these particular categories were chosen to define work?
4. Would you add anything? Subtract anything?
A Word
After the terrible fire that produced an idol, we return to the physical blueprint of how to remember God's Presence in our lives. Yet, this building is fraught with danger. How will we remember that God is infinite, greater than the splendid Dwelling? And how will we remember that God is truly in our midst--in the midst of us all--if the Dwelling is limited to one specific location?
Shabbat is that reminder.
As my teacher, Dr. Michael Chernick taught me, the rabbis taught all of us that we have six days a week to think about physical things. We have six days a week to do everything we need to provide for the three categories listed above: food, clothing and shelter. We have six days a week to take care of our survival. On the seventh day, we stop and consider what we are surviving for. On the seventh day, we invite the spiritual and the holy into our dwellings and bask in the Presence of God.
Prepared by Rabbi Lisa Goldstein, Executive Director, Hillel of San Diego.
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