Vayak’heil/P’kudei , Exodus
35:1–40:38 Shabbat HaChodesh,
March 13, 2010 / 27 Adar, 5770 The Torah: A
Modern Commentary, pp. 668–687; Revised Edition, pp. 611–636 The
Torah: A Women’s Commentary, pp. 521 – 568 Haftarah, Ezekiel 45:16-25 The Torah: A Modern Commentary,pp.
1,653–1,654 ; Revised Edition, pp. 1,457–1,458
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Fairest of
Them All? Laura
Geller
This
week’s double Torah portion, Vayak’heil and P’kudei, is very
familiar because much in it repeats what we read several weeks ago. In the
earlier portions, God commands Moses to erect a Mishkan, a portable
sanctuary, with all the ritual objects furnishing it?the Ark, the menorah, the
sinks for the priests to wash before they begin their daily tasks?and then gives
detailed instructions about the priestly vestments.
In this week’s portion, the
Torah tells us that the people did exactly as God commanded Moses. But instead
of reporting: “And Moses did as God commanded,” the text provides another very
detailed description of each of the objects and clothes, repeating with great
specificity everything we’ve already heard. Dr. Carol Meyers labels the earlier
instructions “prescriptive Tabernacle texts” because they prescribe what is to
be done, while our portions, which describe the implementation of the
instructions, are called “descriptive Tabernacle texts” (see The Torah: A
Women’s Commentary, ed. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea L. Weiss [New York:
URJ Press, 2008], p. 521). What separates the two accounts is the sin of the
Golden Calf.
Why does there need to be
such detail? Maybe it is to reassure us that even after such an egregious sin as
the idol worship of the Golden Calf, not only has God forgiven us, but also,
we’ve finally gotten it right. We shouldn’t worship a golden idol, but we can
use gold and other valuable resources to symbolize God’s presence among us
through the Mishkan. And apparently we did, as we read: “. . . all the
artisans who were engaged in the tasks of the sanctuary came . . . and said to
Moses, ‘The people are bringing more than is needed for the task entailed in the
work that YHVH has commanded to be done.’ Moses thereupon had this
proclamation made throughout the camp: ‘Let no man or woman make further effort
toward gifts for the sanctuary’ ” (Exodus 36:4–6).
But perhaps we are simply
meant to learn that attention to detail is important. Anyone who has ever
remodeled a home or redecorated a room knows how many details are involved:
color, texture, shape, size, material, and so on.
There is one detail that I
have always found fascinating. “He made the laver [sink] of copper and its stand
of copper, from the mirrors [mar’ot] of the women who performed tasks
at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” (38:8). B’mar’ot hatzov’ot
literally means “the mirrors of legions,” but as The Women’s Torah
Commentary explains, because hatzov’ot is grammatically feminine,
the text must be talking about women (see The Torah: A Women’s
Commentary, p. 536).
Rashi, the famous eleventh
century commentator, notices that only here in the whole story of the making of
the Mishkan do we have an account of a specific gift and what it was
used for. He imagines a dialogue between Moses and God:
“Mirrors?” Moses demands of
God, “The women are bringing mirrors? How dare they bring these trinkets of
vanity into a holy place? I forbid it! Mirrors just lead to lustful
thoughts!”
But God intervenes: “Accept
them, for these are more precious to me than anything because through them the
women set up many legions [i.e., through the children they gave birth to] in
Egypt.” When their husbands were weary from backbreaking labor, the women would
go and bring them food and drink. Then the women would take the mirrors and each
one would see herself with her husband in the mirror, and she would seduce him
with words, saying, “I am more beautiful than you.” And in this way they aroused
their husbands’ desire and would copulate with them, conceiving and giving birth
there, as it is said: “Under the apple tree I aroused you” (Song 8:5). This is
[what is meant by] that which is said, “with the mirrors of those who set up
legions, that is, the mirrors of those who had lots of children” (see Rashi on
Exodus 38:8).
Imagine what it must have
been like for the Israelite men forced to do backbreaking, demeaning work. Their
spirits were destroyed; they had lost all hope for the future. It was the women
who kept the men’s will to live alive. Even in those horrible circumstances, the
women would beautify themselves with the help of these mirrors, using makeup
from with whatever dyes and rouges they could find, making themselves attractive
to their partner. When the men came home, exhausted and dehumanized, their wives
would arouse them by flirting, by playing erotic games, by looking with their
husbands into the mirrors, by teasing “which one of us is more
attractive?”
These women didn’t give up
hope for a different future. They were responsible for our spiritual survival.
It was their initiative, courage, and faith that led to the next generation.
Perhaps because of that the Talmud tells us: “It was because of the
righteousness of the women that we were redeemed from Egypt” (Babylonian Talmud,
Sotah 11b).
That detail about the
mirrors reminds us of the special role that women played in the liberation of
our people, and that detail links this story to Passover.
That link is important
because this is a special Shabbat, Shabbat HaChodesh, the Shabbat when we
announce the upcoming month of Nisan, which begins on Tuesday. Nisan is the
month in which we celebrate Passover.
The Book of Exodus concludes
with P’kudei. The portable Tabernacle is ready. A cloud rests on it by
day; by night a pillar of fire, “in the view of all the house of Israel through
their journeys” (Exodus 40:38).The journey continues.
And we take with us on that
journey the attention to detail that reminds us about hopefulness even in dark
times. We carry God with us as we look forward to the future.
Chazak chazak
v’nit’chazeik.
From strength to strength,
may we strengthen each other.
Rabbi Laura
Geller is the senior rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills
in Beverly Hills, California.
DAVAR ACHER | Rest Stop
Daniel
Gropper
Rabbi Geller reminds us that
Torah is best understood when we slow down and pay attention to the small
details. Amidst the detailed descriptions found in this double portion, it is
easy to overlook the specific gift of the mirrors or any other small linguistic
change found in Vayak’heil and P’kudei .
The small detail that
catches my eye is the final word of Exodus. “For over the Tabernacle a cloud of
the Eternal rested by day, and fire would appear in it by night, in the view of
all the house of Israel throughout their journeys — b’chol mas’ei’hem ”
(Exodus 40:38). Notice that the text uses the plural, journeys. Given that the
entire wilderness trek took our ancestors from Egypt to the Promised Land,
wouldn’t it make more sense to say, “throughout their journey?” If I fly to
Israel through London, I consider it a single journey, not two separate ones.
What is going on here?
Rashi looks at this and asks
the same question. He says, “The place where they camped was also known as a
journey — a masa.” What? Since when is a rest stop a journey? Rashi
comes to this because two verses earlier, it says that Israel journeyed when the
cloud lifted and here, when the cloud of God’s glory remained in place, it was
also called a journey. In other words, things don’t just happen when you are
moving, they also happen when you are at rest. The place of rest is as much its
own journey as a place of movement. There is something to be learned, gleaned,
and discovered in every experience. Woven together these form one larger journey
of life. Our task is to notice that things happen when we are at rest, just as
they happen when we are in motion.
But I like to also think
that the text speaks to us as an ever-living document. Bringing the grand sweep
of Jewish history and memory to mind, these last words of Exodus still ring true
and the plural form of this word helps to illuminate its meaning: the God who
brought us out of Egypt and through the wilderness is still very much with us,
throughout all of our journeys, be they individual, communal, or generational.
Maybe that’s why we were to donate mirrors, to reflect on where we can find God,
wherever we might go.
Chazak chazak
v’nit’chazeik — May we be strengthened through this journey of Torah.
Rabbi Daniel
Gropper is the spiritual leader of Community Synagogue in Rye,
New York.
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