Welcome to The Morning Scroll! I'm Rabbi Deena Cowans from Mishkan Chicago and you're listening to what will be a quick dive into this week's parsha. If you’ve been meaning to brush up on your Jewish literacy, or you’re looking for some inspiration, you’ve come to the right place. This week, we read Parashat Vayakhel, “And he gathered”. We’ll start with a brief recap:
Moses comes back down Mount Sinai and gathers the people together to recap the Mishkan construction, and remind the people to observe Shabbat. He launches into a list of all the materials they will need, all the vessels they need to create, the different parts to build, and the priestly garments to make. The Israelites bring forth materials to donate, and Moses names Betzalel and Oholiab as foremen of the construction project. The people continue to donate, until finally the craftspeople tell Moshe they have to make people stop donating because they have too many things, which is a problem you don’t often hear about. The craftspeople begin by making the tapestries to cover the Mishkan, then make the wall panels, sockets, curtains to cover the entrance, ark, and table for the showbread. Then, they make the menorah, incense altar, anointing oil and incense itself. The construction is finished with the outer altar, wash basin, mesh curtains, and the final beams and hooks.
Most of this parsha has a feeling of, let’s call it deja vu? Like… didn’t we just read all this? Reading the construction manual was fun enough the first time, why do we need to do it again almost verbatim? Perhaps this is the earliest example of the DIY mantra, measure twice, cut once. Or, maybe it’s the source of another great mantra: anything that is worth saying is worth repeating. Or maybe it’s a little of both. What each of these sayings emphasizes is the importance of taking care — that we make things special and important by giving them not only our full and undivided attention, but going back to make sure we have properly understood the thing. Which is pretty countercultural. We live in a world that prioritizes urgency and efficiency. Get this done ASAP, with as little effort as possible. We are culturally ingrained to think that the best way to show something is important to us is to do it pronto. If a friend or family member texts or calls us, we might feel like we need to drop everything to respond. If a colleague asks us to do something at work, we might think we need to get it done by the end of the day, or the end of the week. “Let me think that over” or “I’m going to come back to that” are often thought of as ways of brushing something off.
The construction of the Mishkan teaches us the opposite: when something really matters to you, slow down. Take time with it. Review it. Make sure you really understand what is being asked, and how you want to tackle the task. Not necessarily because messing up is the worst outcome, but because we can show our care and dedication by investing in a good outcome before we start the task. Doing something well starts before we actually do anything at all. Which is why I think the parsha begins with a reminder of the laws of Shabbat — it’s the Torah’s way of saying, holiness and spaciousness are close cousins, so when you want to make something feel special, important, even holy, give it some extra room in your life.
I know this can be so hard — I also love to dive into projects and figure them out as I go. So I want to offer a blessing to all the Israelites who heard the instructions the first time around and were raring to go, and who had to deal with some frustration when the next step after hearing the instructions was… hearing them again. And the same to each of you, who could use a blessing for patience and slowing down.