The last 15 chapters of the book of Exodus deal with the building of the Mishkan, that portable sanctuary that housed the Presence of God as we traveled through the wilderness. This week, we read Vayakhel, which reviews God’s instruction for building this holy place with the materials that will be donated by the people, and then, the people proceed to do the work: everyone with skills and a willing heart bring offerings of gold, copper, and silver, yarn of various colors, animal hair and skins and wood. The women begin to spin yarn, and Betzalel, Oholiav, and all the other craftspeople begin to cut stones, carve wood, weave, and embroider.
Interestingly, just before the details of the Mishkan’s construction, the parasha begins with Moses commanding the people to keep Shabbat. “On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to God. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.” This isn’t the first time that the observance of Shabbat is commanded in the context of building the Mishkan. Last week too, the instructions for the Mishkan are given, followed by the command to keep Shabbat.
While building the Mishkan and keeping Shabbat may seem like two different topics, two unrelated commandments, the rabbis take note of the juxtaposition and attach great significance to it, seeing them as interrelated. So too, if we think about it, there is a great connection, many connections, in fact, between the Mishkan and Shabbat. What do they have to do with each other? Why did the Torah twice remind us to keep Shabbat in the context of building the Mishkan?
On the simplest, most peshat level, it’s what Rashi says: Shabbat is commanded here to teach us that building the Mishkan does not override Shabbat. We should build the Mishkan, but we should also stop our work each week and rest on Shabbat.
The rabbis took this even farther and defined work that may not be done on Shabbat as the 39 types of work that were done to build the Mishkan. That’s why I’m allowed to “work” on Shabbat – I may be doing my job, but it’s not one of the prohibited types of work. Similarly, that’s why painting or knitting or writing, which might seem like relaxing, restful activities are prohibited on Shabbat. They stem from the types of work that were done to build the Mishkan.
Beyond the technical connection between the Mishkan and Shabbat is the spiritual connection between these two. The Mishkan creates a physical place for God in the world, while Shabbat creates a place for God in the world in time, as Heschel described it.
But there is another, less obvious, reason why Shabbat is commanded in the context of building the Mishkan that I want to explore with you. When the people bring all of their gifts to build to Mishkan, it’s amazing: the people bring more than is needed. Moses has to stop them, saying, “we have more than enough!” The Torah says that anyone with a willing heart, anyone whose spirit so moved them contributed, and they contributed with overwhelming abundance. Giving seems like a wonderful thing; to give from a wiling heart would seem like a goal of all spiritual life, but, the Torah is teaching, it is also possible to give too much; there is a time to stop.
Giving and stopping are two spiritual qualities described throughout the centuries in Jewish mystical sources. In the language of Kabbalah, they are called Chesed and Gevurah and represent two complementary aspects of God and also of the human personality. Chesed is the quality of God and of us that is giving, loving, generous, that says Yes. It’s the quality of the Israelites who gave willingly and abundantly to the Mishkan. Gevurah is the quality of boundaries, restraint, that says No. It’s the quality of Moses saying “Stop, we have too much.”
Chesed and Gevurah should be in balance with each other. Kabbalah understands that an imbalance on the side of Gevurah is the origin of human evil and of the harshness of God that sometimes occurs in our world. Similarly, too much Chesed can be dangerous, such as with a parent who in great love only says yes to a child without any limits or boundaries, or caregivers who gives so much of themselves that they damage their own health. Chesed and Gevurah might seem like polar opposites, but they work closely together. For example, in love you might stop someone from reaching for that drink or that piece of cake. Or in giving to yourself and to others, you might stay home from work when you have the flu.
This brings us back to the connection between building the Mishkan and observing Shabbat. Giving and building must go hand in hand with ceasing and refraining. There needs to be work and rest. That’s why every time that Shabbat is commanded, the Torah says: six days you shall work, and on the seventh day you shall rest. Too much of one without the other is dangerous and can be damaging. Perhaps that’s why the Torah says that whoever works on Shabbat will be put to death. It’s not that you’ll be killed if you don’t keep Shabbat, but not stopping working can kill you!
The Torah has a message for each one of us. Most of us are imbalanced either on the side of Chesed or Gevurah. Some of us need to learn to be more giving, we need to learn to give to the Mishkan, so to speak, with a willing and generous heart. We need to learn to say Yes more, to work more, to open our hand to others, to be more loving and more kind. And some of us need to work on our Gevurah; we need to learn to say “no” and set better boundaries. We need to learn to say, “I’ve worked enough, now it’s time for me to rest” or “I’ve given more than enough to the Mishkan, it’s time to stop.”
Which one are you? Which message do you need to hear? Our parasha is teaching us that without the willing and giving hearts of the Israelites, the Mishkan would never be built, there would be no holy place for the Presence of God to dwell. But there is also a time to stop, to restrain ourselves, and to find rest. May we see our lives as building a Mishkan, a place for the Divine in space and in time, and may each of us find the perfect balance of giving and ceasing.
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