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Parshat Vayakhel
2005
Building Community
Just last month I helped to install a major (read: really big and heavy) art exhibition for an artist named Tobi Kahn. Since the exhibit was of his Jewish ritual art, it was only natural that we talked about Judaism, Jewish journeys and Torah. In one of these discussions, Tobi said that his favorite Torah portions were the ones that everyone else skimmed-the sections about building the tabernacle. The descriptions fascinated him because they were so mechanical, so planned. As an artist, he appreciated the careful calculations needed to make something simultaneously functional and beautiful.
I thought about what Tobi said as I put together and took down these large art displays, and another thought came to mind about these "construction" portions. The tabernacle, like the art, is portable. The tabernacle was constructed in such a way that it could be deconstructed and reconstructed again and again. Previously, in the minds of the people, God "lived" in the Temple. Later God "moved" to Sinai. But the Israelites were not permanently in one place, and their faith could not be abandoned simply because they could not move a mountain or a building. The popular consciousness did not allow for a God that did not "live" somewhere. The Golden Calf was a well-intentioned, albeit sinful, man-made throne for God. In simple phrasing, they needed to see it to believe it. The people needed a place for God to dwell, and that place needed to be mobile.
The blueprints laid out in the portions about the tabernacle not only provide plans to build a functional and beautiful structure, they are perhaps the first example of psycho-architecture that fulfills the physical as well as emotional needs of the people. Not only did God match these needs, but through the process of building the tabernacle, the needs are changed and formed. Moses' implementation of these architectural plans shapes the needs of the community. In Parshat Terumah it is written, "Build a tabernacle so that I may dwell among them." God does not say to build a tabernacle so that God may dwell "in it," as the people would probably best understand. Instead, God understands that the process of building the tabernacle will not just build a physical structure but a communal structure as well.
Additionally, Moses shows himself in a particularly savvy light by not shirking back and doing the organization and building privately. Indeed, during that time period most religious activities (of cults or of the Israelites) were carried out by priests or elders. Instead, Moses gathers everyone together and the building itself becomes a community activity. The people are starving for spiritual nourishment, as evidenced by the Golden Calf episode. It was not commanded, per se, for everyone to gather, bring their valuables and work on this construction. Rather, Moses requests that those who are skilled come to work. But the community responds tenfold. It is not just the skilled who respond to the call; all of those "whose hearts moved them" respond. They bring materials and valuables until Moses had to tell the people to stop; no more was needed to build the tabernacle.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk said, "Whoever does not see God in every place does not see God in any place." These Torah portions about building the tabernacle exemplify Rabbi Mendel's statement. The portability of the tabernacle allowed the Israelites to visually and tangibly see God wherever they wish to construct or deconstruct God's dwelling place. Through building the tabernacle as an entire community rather than just a few individuals, God's prophecy of "dwelling among them" was fulfilled. These Torah portions describe the monumental change in the way the ancient Israelites thought about God and themselves as a community. Our diverse and dispersed community today is a product of the new shape formed in these few portions that are so often skimmed.
Prepared by Julie Fishman, director of Hillel Program Center: Georgetown University
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Parshat Vayakhel at MyJewishLearning.com.
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