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Parshat Vayakehl-Pekudei

By: SFW Students & Alumna
Miri Saphire-Bernstein, SFW ’04-06

In this week's parsha of Vayahkel, Moshe starts out with a brief halacha or two about Shabbat; don't work on Shabbat (or you'll die), and don't burn fire on Shabbat (35, 1-3). He then goes into a long discussion of the mishkan, and all its material that everyone is supposed to donate, etc. What's the connection?

According to the Sfat Emet, G-d was trying to tell us something about the dual nature of the mishkan, the physical and spiritual, which was being illustrated via the comparison between the physical nature of the work week and the spiritual nature of Shabbat. On the one hand, the mishkan is a purely physical thing - gold, silver, wood, nuts, bolts, etc. On the other hand, there's the spiritual meaning behind it; the avodah performed within, the idea of G-d having a place to rest, to be a meeting point between Him and His people. This spiritual nature of the Mishkan was represented by Betzalel, the man who built it. How is Betzalel representative of the spirituality of the mishkan? According to Rashi, Betzalel was the son of Chur (Miriam's husband) who was killed by the Jews when he tried to prevent them from sinning with the Aigel Hazahav. Because of his Mesirut nefesh, he was zoche to have children with amazing kochot, such as Betzalel who had this special tvunah and ruach Hashem that enabled him to know how the mishkan should be built. That’s the Shabbat aspect, because Shabbat represents the spirituality and the Ruach Hashem.

On the other hand, you have the whole idea of the fire. What's the connection between the mishkan and this seemingly random commandment about fire? Fire, too, has a physical and spiritual side to it. From the physical aspect, it burns and destroys—it has a tangible quality. From the spiritual aspect, it brings light - a more spiritual quality because it isn't tangible, it's something you have to sense with your eyes without being able to touch it. In addition to this, light is always used as a metaphor for spirituality; it is used heavily in the inyan of Shabbat, which the women usher into the home with the lighting of candles who's purpose is to bring light, and simultaneously that encompassing sense of spirituality that comes with Shabbat, into the home.

So there brief commandments serve a very important purpose before we get into the whole long parsha about the mishkan; they serve as a reminder to us not to forget what the mishkan is all about. With all the physicality in the donations, and the construction of the mishkan, we need to be reminded not to get caught up in the physicality of it, but to remember that it's purpose is primarily spiritual.

We can connect this idea to our every day lives as well. So much of our Avodat Hashem is represented in physical things (eg, the clothing we wear, the food we eat, the money we spend on smachot) that sometimes we forget about the spirituality of these things, our connection to G-d and performing His will. So, don't get caught up in the physical aspects of the Mitzvot to the point that you forget what it is these Mitzvot are really about.

Shabbat Shalom.