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

Bonus Parshat: Shekalim – Exodus 30:11-16

Shabbat Shalom! It is a special Shabbat today. I hope you are finding yourself resting!  Today is special for a few reasons:

• It’s the Sabbath before a New Month/New Moon
• It’s the Sabbath before a New Month that doesn’t happen every year (Adar II)
• It’s the Sabbath before a New Month that has an amazing Holy Day in it – Purim!

Today is a rest day. We are finding things around us ending, and finding other things beginning. It’s a transition time for sure, and the Torah contains the directions and guidelines to get us through. In addition, we have a BONUS Parsha today!  Let’s dig in!

We are about to see Bezalel continue his work.  We’ve been working through the senses – light of the menorah, smell of the incense, taste of the bread, etc.

1And he made the altar for the burnt offerings of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; [the altar was] square, and it [was] three cubits high.

2And he made its horns on its four corners; its horns were [all one piece] from it, and he overlaid it with copper.

3And he made all the implements of the altar, the pots, and the shovels and the sprinkling basins and the flesh hooks and the [fire] pans; he made all its implements of copper.

4And he made for the altar a copper grating of netting work, beneath its ledge from below, until its middle.

5And he cast four rings on the four ends of the copper grating, holders for the poles.

6And he made the poles of acacia wood, and he overlaid them with copper.

7And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar with which to carry it; he made it hollow, out of boards.

Bezalel now is making the altar. The place where the sacrifices would be offered.  The altar is where it all comes together – the connection between the head and the heart of the tabernacle. It’s where a fire was lit and offerings were made to Hashem.

This brings to mind the question – where is the altar within us? What parts of us get placed the sacrifices to connect our heads and hearts? Something I am chewing on!  Let’s keep going:

8And he made the washstand of copper and its base of copper from the mirrors of the women who had set up the legions, who congregated at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

This is interesting isn’t it? Washstands made from the mirrors of the women. Washing is about touch. And the implement made for washing was made for instruments designed for women to see themselves?

My takeaway here? We are needing to take a look at ourselves first before we can clean out what is within us keeping us stuck.  Where do we need to see ourselves here? What is it we need to clean?

9And he made the courtyard on the southern side [there were] hangings for the courtyard of twisted fine linen, one hundred cubits.

10And their pillars [were] twenty and their sockets twenty of copper; the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver.

11And for the northern end one hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty of copper; the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver.

12And for the western side, hangings fifty cubits, their pillars ten and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver.

13And for the eastern end, fifty cubits.

14The hangings on the shoulder [were] fifteen cubits, their pillars three and their sockets three.

15And on the second shoulder on either side of the gate of the courtyard, [there were] hangings of fifteen cubits, their pillars three and their sockets three.

16All the hangings of the courtyard all around were of twisted fine linen.

17And the sockets for the pillars were copper; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver, and the overlay of their tops was silver, and they were banded with silver, all the pillars of the courtyard.

18And the screen of the gate of the courtyard was the work of an embroiderer, [made] of blue, purple, and crimson wool, and twisted fine linen, twenty cubits long, and its height in the width was five cubits, corresponding to the hangings of the courtyard.

19And their pillars [were] four and their sockets four, of copper, their hooks silver, and the overlay of their tops and their bands were silver.

20And all the pegs of the Mishkan and of the courtyard all around [were] copper.

After the altar, we have the courtyard. This is the area surrounding the altar. Once we take a look at ourselves, and wash ourselves, cleaning out what is inside, we are to set up a courtyard around this space. It is sacred space.

How often do we See ourselves as sacred? This is what I am sitting with today.

Ok. So that brings us to the end of the Parsha this week- “and he assembled.” We have assembled our senses this week – taken a look within, and connected our heads and hearts – building a layer of protection around us as a courtyard.

Let’s transition to our bonus pasha – first – I love this article I shared yesterday.  Not only is this a time to look within – it is a time of “re-union” returning to who we are. Here is the portion:

Exodus 30:11-16

11The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

12″When you take the sum of the children of Israel according to their numbers, let each one give to the Lord an atonement for his soul when they are counted; then there will be no plague among them when they are counted.

13This they shall give, everyone who goes through the counting: half a shekel according to the holy shekel. Twenty gerahs equal one shekel; half of [such] a shekel shall be an offering to the Lord.

14Everyone who goes through the counting, from the age of twenty and upward, shall give an offering to the Lord.

15The rich shall give no more, and the poor shall give no less than half a shekel, with which to give the offering to the Lord, to atone for your souls.

16You shall take the silver of the atonements from the children of Israel and use it for the work of the Tent of Meeting; it shall be a remembrance for the children of Israel before the Lord, to atone for your souls.”

There is a lot written about this passage. The big question is – why a half shekel? The biggest takeaway is that there is an idea when our souls choose to come to earth, they split in two and come into 2 different bodies.  When we marry, at the best, it is because our souls have a re-union on this earth.  The half shekel represents this idea. And the idea that all of us have equal value in the counting.  Rich or poor, we are all the same in value. And our offerings come together to provide for the tabernacle. This means we are all interconnected (in my opinion) and as such, we have a responsibility to see each other as peers – not better than – not less than.

This is the takeaway, and it is my hope these thoughts provide us all rest today!

What are your thoughts?

Here’s my thoughts from 2 years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 25 Adar I, 5782

Today finishes up our Parsha for the week. We continue to watch Bezalel build the tabernacle piece by piece.

Today’s portion focuses on the altar and apparatus.

We see Bezalel build the altar, the the utensils; the pots, shovels, basins, flesh hooks and fire pans.

The he moves to the courtyard – the dividing curtains, the tapestries, and the walls.

He finishes with the doorway.

This is a hard passage to really find some takeaways from. It’s repetitive from the descriptions given prior.

But I absolutely love this “spiritual vitamin” from the Chumash I’m reading from:

“If you feel that no one seems interested in your work, remember that God, whose knowledge and providence extends to everyone individually, knows and is interested in what you are doing.”

I really appreciate this thought. All of us (maybe not all) watch this description of Bezalel and it’s hard to be interested in it. Yet, Hashem is REALLY interested in this work!

How about us? What about the little things we do that don’t seem very interesting? When no one notices what we are doing? Do we look at the world and the people around us and decide that we have less value because people aren’t interested in our work? Or, do we focus on Hashem and remind ourselves that He is interested in our work??

What are your thoughts?