Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 24 Adar 1, 5784
Parsha Va-Yakhel: (Exodus 35:1 – 38:20)
Second Portion: Exodus 35:21 – 35:29

Good morning! It is Monday the start of a new work week! We are working through this portion of Va-Yakhel, which means “and he assembled.” What are we gathering together this week as we enter the new moon of Adar II? A second month to celebrate the work we’ve been doing over the past year? What have we learned this month in our celebration that we need to focus on for the next month? Yesterday we focused on wisdom and generosity.  The people in our lives that Hashem (the universe, source, etc) has brought into our world?  Today, let’s see where we go…

21Every man whose heart uplifted him came, and everyone whose spirit inspired him to generosity brought the offering of the Lord for the work of the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.

22The men came with the women; every generous hearted person brought bracelets and earrings and rings and buckles, all kinds of golden objects, and every man who waved a waving of gold to the Lord.

23And every man with whom was found blue, purple, or crimson wool, linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red or tachash skins, brought them.

24Everyone who set aside an offering of silver or copper brought the offering for the Lord, and everyone with whom acacia wood was found for any work of the service, brought it.

So we see – the men were the leaders of generosity. They came with the generous women.  And? They had hearts UPLIFTED.

Let’s pause here. How often in today’s society do we connect MEN with “uplifted” hearts? How often do we connected MEN with INSPIRED spirits? Generous HEARTS?

This is counter intuitive for us, isn’t it? Let’s keep going:

25And every wise hearted woman spun with her hands, and they brought spun material: blue, purple, and crimson wool, and linen.

26And all the women whose hearts uplifted them with wisdom, spun the goat hair.

The women were the MAKERS. The women were WISE. Women had WISE hearts.  WHAT?

Let’s just sit there for a minute.

Men had uplifted and generous hearts. Women had wise hearts.  Sit there. Just sit in that.

I almost want to do a thought experiment:

• Close your eyes.
• I want you to imagine a group of people with uplifted and generous hearts. Picture them in your mind.
• Describe for me their gender?
• Close your eyes again.
• I want you to imagine a group of people with WISE hearts. Picture them in your mind.
• Describe for me their gender?

What do you think the answers would be?

Let’s keep going:

27And the princes brought the shoham stones and filling stones for the ephod and for the choshen;

28and the spice and the oil for lighting and for the anointing oil, and for the incense.

29Every man and woman whose heart inspired them to generosity to bring for all the work that the Lord had commanded to make, through Moses, the children of Israel brought a gift for the Lord

PRINCES brought stones. Royal princes were GENEROUS.

We’ve lost generosity and wisdom, haven’t we?

Where do WE fall? Are we wise? Are we generous?

Within me? I feel both masculine and feminine. The generous part of me comes from my masculine energy. The wise part of me comes from my feminine energy.

This is the takeaway today – in my opinion. What is yours?

Here is my thought from two years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts 20 Adar I, 5782

Today’s portion begins after the people left Moses who had just instructed them about the Tabernacle.

Then; every person whose heart inspired them came, everyone whose generous spirit inspired them brought the contribution for Hashem.

Men and women came together; everyone brought what inspired them. Jewelry, colors, linen and wool, etc.

The Torah records that every wise hearted woman spun with her hands – they brought spun thread; turquoise, purple, and crimson wool and linen. All the women whose hearts inspired them with wisdom spun the goats hair.

Let’s stop here for a moment. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson writes this:

This demanded exceptional craftsmanship, since they spun the goats’ hair while it was still attached to the back of the goats (Rashi, 11″‘ century).

The women wished not only to dedicate the materials, and hours of work, to God’s Tabernacle, but also to offer the highest quality gift possible. Spinning the hair while it is attached to the goats ensured that it remained fresh and shiny, because after being detached from the animal it would gradually deteriorate (Rabbi Obadiah Sforno, 16″ century).

An animal offering is superior to a vegetable offering, as we find that Cain brought an offering to God of flax, whereas Abel brought animal offerings, and God accepted the latter (Genesis 4:38). By contributing goats’ hair that was spun while attached to the goats, the women had the advantage of involving a live animal in their offering to the Tabernacle, rather than a mere animal product. For this reason, the Jewish women inconvenienced themselves considerably to spin the goats hair while it was still attached to the goats.

In the building of the tabernacle; women were front and center of the process. It is one of the reasons during Sukkot (the feast of the tabernacles) there is a Jewish custom for husbands to give gifts of jewelry to commemorate this idea. Women were crucial to the tabernacle!

Continuing on, the Torah says that the leaders brought the shoham stones and filling stones for the apron and breastplate, the spice, the oil for lighting, for the anointing oil, and for the incense.

Rashi writes about this:

What prompted the leaders to donate first for the dedication of the altar, and not for the construction of the Tabernacle? They said, “Let the community donate what they will donate, and whatever they are missing we will complete!

However, the community donated everything, as the Torah declares, “The work was sufficient”

(36:7). The leaders then wondered, “What are we to do?” So they brought the precious shoham stones. Subsequently, when it came time to bring donations for the dedication of the altar, they made certain to donate first. Nevertheless, since they were idle in the first instance, a letter is missing from their name in the Torah, and the Hebrew word for “the leaders” is written missing the letter yud.

The portion closes by saying “every man and woman whose heart inspired th to generosity to bring a donation for any of the work that God commanded them through Moses to make was brought by the children of Israel as a gift for God.”

I think the question/takeaway is this; what is Hashem calling you in generosity towards? How can we be truly generous? Not just with our finances, but with our time, with our deeds? What is it for you?