Parashat Hashavua: Vayakhel-Pekudei
“Pete and Repeat were in a boat, and Pete fell off. Who was left?” “Repeat.” “Okay. Pete and Repeat were in a boat…”
In our reading of VaYakhel this week, we encounter many, many details about the building of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, that we have encountered before. Why would the Torah go to the trouble of repeating itself when it comes to the Mishkan in particular?
One is reminded here of another example of extreme repetition, when Avraham sends Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak. The Torah first tells us what Eliezer is looking for in Yitzchak’s future wife, then describes many similar details when he encounters Rivka, and then again shares many of the same details when Eliezer recounts what happened. (Gen. 24) One of the most meaningful explanations for this repetition, offered by Nechama Leibowitz, also resonates here: the Torah uses all that repetition to very intentionally slow down the narrative and emphasize the strong character and kindness of Rivka in order to help us recover from the Akeidah, the binding of Yitzchak, and Sarah’s death as well, which immediately precede Eliezer’s encounter with Rivka.
What are we recovering from here? Egel HaZahav, the Golden Calf, a tremendous and traumatic sin by Bnei Yisrael. It is not a coincidence, as Rabbi Sacks notes, that when “Moshe caused the whole community of Bnei Yisrael to congregate / וַיַּקְהֵ֣ל מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶֽת־כׇּל־עֲדַ֛ת בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל” (Ex. 35:1) here in VaYakhel, that language echoes what happened at Egel HaZahav when “the nation congregated against Aharon / וַיִּקָּהֵ֨ל הָעָ֜ם עַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן.” (Ex. 32:1) (Three Types of Community) The gathering here serves as a tikun, a repair or correction, to the gathering that happened for Egel HaZahav. What makes this gathering work where the previous one did not? Because, according to Rabbi Sacks, Bnei Yisrael are tasked here with building the Mishkan, effectively joining them together in pursuit of a holy cause.
There is even more to learn about taking positive action from an in-depth reading of VaYakhel, including its repetitiveness. When the mitzvah of Shabbat is given here – or, more accurately, repeated – we are told that “melacha is done for six days / שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֮ תֵּעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒.” (Ex. 35:2) Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg explains that melacha is when one “renews the nature of something and changes them with one’s actions from what they were, and because of this renewal the thing is repaired / המחדש דבר בעניינים טבעיים ומשנה אותם במעשהו ממה שהיו, ועל ידי החדוש הזה יהיה תקון הדבר.” (Haketav Vehakabbalah, Ex. 35:2) In other words, whenever one takes action, the opportunity arises for renewal and repair, each and every time. This is what characterizes melacha, the actions we take throughout the work week.
The Netziv (Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin), in his Torah commentary Ha’Emek Davar, mines an early part of the Mishkan narrative for lessons in how to make the most of what we do. There are three people or groups of people described as “chacham lev / חֲכַם־לֵ֖ב,” literally “wise-hearted” in VaYakhel. First, Moshe invites “all who are wise hearted among you, come and do all that God commanded / וְכׇל־חֲכַם־לֵ֖ב בָּכֶ֑ם יָבֹ֣אוּ וְיַעֲשׂ֔וּ אֵ֛ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוָּ֖ה יְהֹוָֽה.” (Ex. 35:10) Quite an open invitation! The Netziv explains it was extended to “all who feared Heaven; if they came and worked, God would help them even though they never learned that craft in Egypt / ומי שנגע יראת ה׳ בלבבו יבא ויעשה ויהי ה׳ אלהיו עמו בס״ד אע״ג שלא למד אומנות זו במצרים.” One’s intentions and beliefs mattered more than technical skills.
The Netziv later offers another understanding of the phrase “wise-hearted” when it is used for women and for Betzalel, the lead builder: it means “the heart trusts it can do the work successfully / הלב בוטח שיעשה ויצליח.” (Ex. 35:25) And, for women in particular, he says that those “who lifted their hearts / אֲשֶׁ֨ר נָשָׂ֥א לִבָּ֛ן (Ex. 35:26) were able “to exceed a normal level of confidence / למעלה מדרך הבטחון הרגיל” to accomplish their work.
Whether we are doing something for the first time or repeating it for the umpteenth time, may we always remember that any melacha we do has the potential for renewal and repair, and may we take to heart the notion that with the right intentions and with belief in ourselves, the efforts we invest in our work will lead to the best possible results, even greater than it initially seems we have the potential to achieve.
Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head (Ivrit/Tanach/Tefillah/Toshba)
