Vayakhel-Pekudei (Hachodesh) : To Infinity and Beyond
בס"ד
13th March 2021/ 29th Adar 5781
It was like a breath of fresh air, albeit of the Martian variety
when we heard that Perseverance, NASA's $2.7 billion 'rover' had landed successfully
inside the Jezero Crater on 18th February.
Ignoring the spectre of Covid19, we could focus our minds, albeit temporarily
on another news-story. We waited for the
first photographs to arrive from across the universe and twenty-four hours later,
my WhatsApp proudly showed me the very first image received from our mechanical
buddy, bearing the legend: "First photo they released from Mars".
Endurance had captured the red planet's rocky surface in all
its glory and there, nestled in full view was...a Chabad House! Of course, it was,
because Chabad 'refreshes the parts that no other organisation can reach'.
Yes, it was a joke and a good one at that, but behind the humour,
there was a salient fact, that somehow, the Jewish Nation manages, through sheer
chutzpah to punch 'far above our weight' and we've been doing this for a very, very
long time.
Who cannot be extraordinarily proud of Israel's successes in
managing to vaccinate millions of people in record-breaking time? She is leading the world in this respect, followed
hotly on its heels by this country. The numbers
vaccinated in both countries are frankly staggering and the envy of the world. I make no apologies for Israel's success but then
again, I'm not surprised. We have 'tenure'
in showing our Gentile neighbours how to behave. A great deal of tenure.
Through the centuries, our nation has faced many existential
threats, the first of which I discussed last week, when we recounted the shocking
episode of the Golden Calf. It seemed that
despite His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our newly minted nation was not
going to make its way out of the desert.
Had Moses not intervened and pleaded with Gd on our behalf, our life on this
planet would have been extinguished long before mankind sought to explore other
worlds. Gd relented and forgave the Israelites
and then the most unexpected event occurred.
Over the last month, we have been reading through the detailed
description which began with these words:
The Lord spoke to
Moshe, saying, "Tell the Israelites to take an offering for Me; take My offering
from all whose heart moves them to give.
These are the offerings you shall receive from them: gold, silver and bronze...they
shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst." (Exodus 25)
The master craftsmen who were individually appointed by Gd to
carry out the intricate work were Betzalel and his aid, Oholiov. The Torah tells us in the first of this week's
sidrot of Vayakhel that:
From Moshe they received all the offerings the Israelites
had brought for the work of the sanctuary and the people kept bringing them additional
gifts every morning. (Exodus 36)
The people were so generous to the extent that we are told that
they:
Said to Moshe, “The people are bringing more than is necessary
for the work that Gd has commanded us to do.”
So Moshe ordered an announcement to be made throughout the camp, "Let
no man or woman make anything more as an offering for the sanctuary." So the people brought no more; for what they had
already had was more than enough for all the work that was to be done.
A key concept in our faith is the idea that we have a duty to
sanctify Gd's name to the nations of the world and do everything we can to avoid
desecrating it. These two ideas are known
as Kiddush and Chillul Hashem.
The origin of the latter can be found in a number of verses in
the Torah such as Leviticus 22.32:
You shall not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified
in the midst of the Israelite people—I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
Can you think of a greater Kiddush Hashem than the people making
so many contributions to the building of the Tabernacle, that they are asked to
cease from doing so? It is diametrically
the opposite of the Chillul Hashem perpetrated through the building of the Golden
Calf.
We have tenure when it comes to showing the world how to behave
when we demonstrate the very best of what we can achieve. This is both as a small community in the United
Kingdom and a nation who 'kvells' every time Israel sends her citizens abroad to
offer vital humanitarian aid during natural disasters such as earthquakes and flooding. Israel is always there. The Jewish people are always on hand to help.
The Mishkan, the Tabernacle, is very much on our minds as it
is exactly during this week that Moses prepared the structure for its inauguration
which took place on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the first day of the month which will begin
as soon as Shabbat ends.
For seven days, from 23rd Adar, the Mishkan was erected and dismantled
for a week of 'training' whilst Moses took on the role of the Cohen Gadol, the High
Priest, initiating his brother and his four sons into the ritual of the priesthood.
On Rosh Chodesh, it was assembled for use (until Gd instructed
the people to decamp) and thus began the twelve days of bringing gifts by the princes
of the Tribes which are described so beautifully in the Sidra of Naso.
This entire episode, bringing tribes together with brothers working
in harmony is the ultimate expression of what Kiddush Hashem looks like.
Chabad may not have made it to Mars quite yet, but the spirit
that they and many other Jews exhibit is built from the same material as that which
caused a people who had sunk to such a low level, reach the dizzying heights described
above. We show the world what we can achieve,
whether through the contributions we make to the world through science, technology,
philosophy and culture or the miracle that is our wonderful State of Israel. In short, we remind them that we can be a dazzling
'light to the nations' through the darkest and most terrifying of times.
To infinity and beyond!
Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov - a happy and healthy new month.
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