A D’var Torah for Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei by Rabbi Jonathan Biatch
Each Shabbat morning, I ask my congregation to offer together a prayer from the mind and creative spirit of Rabbi Robert I. Kahn, of blessed memory. Found in Mishkan T’filah (p. 261), he encourages us to rise from worship better people due, in part, to our mutual engagement in prayer:
Let me not be discouraged by my failings. Let me take heart from all that is good and noble in my character. Keep me from falling victim to cynicism. Teach me sincerity and enthusiasm. Endow me with perception and courage, that I may serve others with compassion and love.
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Rabbi Kahn asks us to summon forth an inner spirit of passion and positive excitement in our life’s tasks. We are called upon not merely to live, but to bring gusto and verve to our work, our friendships, our families, and our religious engagements.
In this week’s parshah, Vayakhel-Pekudei, we hear a similar instruction from Moses to the Israelites: “All people who elevate their heart, and all who bring forward their generous spirit: You should bring the contributions for the ETERNAL for the labors of constructing the Tent of Meeting and all its fabrications, as well as the sacred clothing.” (Exodus 35:21)
In these moments when Moses and the Israelites begin to fabricate and assemble for the first time the components of the Mishkan, we see that zeal, optimism, and an openness to new things are the human components that go along with the materials of the Mishkan. We can imagine the sight of these construction materials rising from the desert floor: magnificent acacia planks connecting to animal skins and woven goat hair segments, cloth walls waving in the desert breezes, sometimes shielding from view and sometimes revealing to the keen observer the sanctified ark and utensils that the priests will use in their rituals.
At the same time, we can imagine the inner spirits of those already imbued with zeal for that task kvelling at the building rising in front of them, from their very hands. Consider the joy that such work brought about!
That desert vision of sanctity stimulates our prayerful imaginations. It can also, as my colleague Rabbi Doug Alpert shared three weeks ago, elevate our passion for the work of social justice in which we must also be engaged.
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A week and a half ago, I was moved by video of the former Speaker of the Knesset Avrum Burg, who appeared among demonstrators protesting the West Bank settlers’ pogrom against the Palestinian village of Huwara. In direct confrontation with four IDF soldiers in riot gear, Mr. Burg held his ground, and when literally “push came to shove,” he was unrelenting in pursuing the goal of protesting the murderous actions of members of Jewish settlements from the surrounding region.
It is this kind of non-violent yet provocative response, one that contains determination and assertiveness, chutzpah and even joy, that can propel each of us to achieve the goals that lie before us.
None of us can be Avram Burg — we must each be ourselves — and most of us won’t be facing down soldiers, but we all have a role to play in the acts of tikkun olam. Whether we are valiantly protecting olive harvesters from settler violence in Israel/Palestine, justifiably praying in mixed gender prayer groups at the Western Wall, compassionately helping to process asylum seekers to the United States along our southern border, or even robustly going toe-to-toe with members and leaders of our Jewish institutions, we need to live and work with enthusiasm, sincerity, and courage. To do less — to not offer the fullness of our hearts — would displease our Creator and likely not accomplish our tasks. The Mishkan was not just a compound our ancestors built; it is a state of mind that we can inhabit. May God provide us the courage to face all our tasks with joy and with passion, and may we be successful in all our undertakings for the sake of justice and righteousness.
Rabbi Jonathan Biatch is the rabbi of Temple Beth El in Madison, WI. He was a participant in the first round of T’ruah Communities of Practice in 2022.