Weekly Parsha
VaYahel/Pekudei
“So the whole community of the Israelites left Moses’ presence. Everyone who excelled in ability and everyone whose spirit moved him came, bringing his offering…”(Exodus 35:21,22).
This verse from our Parsha stands out to me this year because it speaks of the work that all of us have to do in our living well. It speaks to the acceptance of our T’Shuvah by God in that we were able to build the Mishkan, the portable sancutary/tent of meeting. God’s actions tell us that we were not banished from God’s presence because of our actions with the Golden Calf.
This is an important lesson for all of us. We are so used to either being banished/thrown out of families, communities, society for our worst actions and God doesn’t do this to us. The Golden Calf was/is one of the worst actions the Israelites had taken up till now and God accepted our T’Shuvah through Moses. We, humans, forget this way of being. Yes, people have to be asked to leave a space, community, family because of our worst actions sometimes and we also have to be open to the T’Shuvah of the person as well. Forgiveness is a difficult action for many of us. We would rather hold on to the resentment and anger because it feels good and we don’t have to look at our part in the interaction. If I can make you bad, I can make myself good and living as the injured party gives me solace rather than being responsible. Whenever I forgive someone, I have to look at my part and the myriad of ways I have done the same thing to others.
We also learn that we all have something to bring to build a sanctuary for ourselves, another(s) and our community. This speaks to those of us (all of us at some time) who feel less than, not important, etc. In the context of this Parsha, it tells us that all of us are important. We all have a skill to bring, a word of Torah to give and things that will help create a sacred space for ourselves and our community. It is crucial that we remember this for our inner well-being and the well-being of another(s). In today’s world we live in so much comparison and competition that many of us believe that what we have to offer isn’t enough. This week’s Parsha says NO, that is a lie we tell ourselves and we need to stop doing this.
Living the life our spirit moves us to live is the path that these verses are telling us to do. We leave the presence of Moses in order to go inside ourselves and see what we have to bring and be willing to bring the best we have in the moment. Moses can’t do it for us nor do we have to be dependent on Moses to bring out our best. We are capable and commanded to be the best person we can be in the moment. When we take ourselves seriously enough to appreciate this truth and not so serious that we are narcissistic, we can live well and add our unique gifts to the world around us.
It is hard to live this way, I know. It is hard to be banished and not have our T’Shuvah accepted enough to be a part of a group, community, etc. It is even harder to forgive those who we have harmed and to forgive the people who don’t want us around anymore. Some of us, like me, have been blessed to be accepted back into our families and communities even after making grave errors. Some of us, like me, feel the pain of being banished from places we love and people we care about even after being responsible for the harm we did and made T’Shuvah for the harm.
Yet, this week’s Parsha tells me and us that we still have gifts to bring and bring them we must. When our old communities and/or families don’t want us, we have to find new places to bring our gifts to create new sacred spaces. The pain is real and the joy of new discoveries is also real. No matter where we are, we get to bring our gifts, our spirits and our matured inner life to the place we are, in this way we create and carry a Mishkan with us at all times. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark