The Vessels of God's Love

This week’s Torah portions are Vayakhel, which means and he assembled, and refers to Moses assembling the people, and Pekudei, which means reckonings. Moses called together the people to remind them that no work on the Tabernacle may be done on Shabbat. He tells them that they may being free will donations of all the materials needed to build the Tabernacle, to God; and that the work to build it will soon commence. The people brought more than enough and had to be asked to stop donating. The Tabernacle and its furniture is completed in this portion, overseen by Bezalel and Oholiab, who God endowed with the knowledge, insight, and skill to do it. The second portion contains an accounting of the free will offerings that were brought, the completion of the priests’ garments, the setting up of the Tabernacle. God’s approval was shown to the people by the miracle of the Cloud of God’s Presence filling the Tabernacle.

There is an interesting idea expressed three times in this portion. The text says, “Every person whose heart inspired him came and everyone whose spirit was willing brought the portion of God for the work of the Tent of Meeting.” Later it says, “All the women whose hearts inspired them with wisdom.” And the third example is: “Moses called for every wise hearted person, everyone whose heart inspired him to approach the work to do it.” The word, inspired, is not really the true translation, in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word, nasa, is literally carried or lifted. The verses really say, everyone whose heart carried them, all whose hearts lifted them came forward, to donate their possessions, their time, and their skill.

One thing this teaches us is to lead with our hearts. In other words, in our lives, let your heart do the heavy lifting. Judaism teaches that God guides the world with justice tempered by mercy. We pray that God’s mercy will prevail over strict justice. Our sages taught that the world could not survive without mercy. Rashi wrote, about the first verse in Genesis, that “the world could not last” with the attribute of strict judgment, so God “gave precedence to the Attribute of Mercy and joined it to the Attribute of strict judgment.” This applies to us slightly differently. We are not asked to judge others. God is the judge. In fact, the less we judge others, the better off we are. Rather, we are asked to use our reason to make determinations. But reason without compassion, logic without love would be the human version of justice without mercy.

Rebbe Aaron of Karlin said, “Wisdom of the mind alone without wisdom of the heart is worthless.” We need the teaching about leading with our hearts because God has structured the world in such a counter-intuitive way. The way the world truly works is not logical. The more we give, the more we receive. The more we keep, the less we will have. More for me means less for all. More for you means more for all. We don’t always understand it, but it appears to be true, and this is what the Torah tries to teach us. As I like to say: love is the spiritual currency of the world. Reality works on the same principle as love: the more we give the more we receive.

The S’fat Emet quotes the Song of Songs: “Vast floods cannot quench love nor rivers drown it” He comments,….”The love and attachment to God that Israel received at Mt. Sinai remain alive in them forever, even when sin prevents them from bringing this hidden love out into the open…By the act of giving they brought forth their own inner generosity, their longing, and attachment so that they were able to draw the Shechina into their midst.” Here the S’fat Emet equates a closed heart with wrongdoing and says that giving brings God’s presence into our midst.

There is an interesting detail in this portion. It says, “They brought to Moses additional free willed gifts every morning” (36:3). This tells us that letting go of our judgment and selfishness is a process, perhaps it is a life-long process, but one that brings contentment, well being, peace, blessing and great reward. The Apter Rebbe said, God’s love needs vessels, and he asks, where are the vessels for the blessings that God want to give us? The Apter answers, “The main resting place is in the human being.” May we be the vessels of God’s love. May we allow our hearts of carry us and to lift us, acting with compassion and generosity, being the givers who help each other and enrich all of life.