PARSHAT VAYAKHEL

 (5768)

 

HOW GOD CREATED THE WORLD

 

“Let all among you who are skilled come and make all that the Lord has commanded.”

                                                            (Exodus 35:10)

 

            This portion describes in superb detail the step-by-step building of a portable tent which the Israelites carried through the wilderness.  The Rabbis read the words as an analogy to God’s creation of the universe.  The language seems clear – just as we built this portable sanctuary, so God built an entire universe.  Just as God commanded the Israelites to rest from work on the Sabbath Day, so God rested on the seventh day from creation.

            We can look at this portion and ask the question, how did God create the universe?  Did God start from nothing and create everything in its complete and current form in one vast act?  (This is known as creatio ex nihilo – something from nothing.)  In six days did God go from nothing to the world as we know it?  This belief is the source of all the silly arguments between modern science and Biblical literalists, between creationists and evolutionists.  In truth, I prefer a more mystical understanding of how God created the universe.  Looking at ancient kabbalah, the vision seems far closer to contemporary science.

            Kabbalah speaks of God creating four worlds, each within the other as Russian nested dolls.  Higher worlds lead to lower worlds and what we do in the lower world can influence the higher world.  It is a powerful idea that is worth exploring in greater detail.

            At the highest level is the spiritual dimension of reality, which flowed from the One as light flows from a light source.  That is why it is called Olam HaAtzilut – the World of Emanation.  It is a world beyond space and time.  If you wonder how anything can exist beyond time, consider how Einstein’s theory of special relativity viewed light.  Light is timeless; a photon never ages.  In the spiritual dimension nothing ever ages, including God, including light, including the human soul which the Bible calls the “Light of God.”  Consciousness comes from this spiritual world.  Science deals with the physical, material world and can say nothing about this spiritual dimension of reality.

            The next world is called Olam HaBeriyah – the world of creation.  It comes from the Hebrew word boreh which means “to create” and refers to something from nothing.  This is the creatio ex nihilo we spoke about.  Scientists call it the Big Bang.  Remember the classic Doors song “Break on through to the Other Side.”  The spiritual world enters the world of time and space, energy becomes matter.  Einstein’s equation E=mc² becomes the basis of this break through.  The miracle is how something exists where nothing ever was.  In the beginning the something is undifferentiated reality.  As the universe cools, the symmetry of particles and forces also breaks down and our world comes into being.  (Could this be like the breaking of vessels which is a classical idea in Kabbalah.)

            The third world is called Olam HaYitzirah – the world of formation.  It comes from the Hebrew world yitzer which means “to form.”   Formation is putting more complicated things together from less complicated things.  (Think of legos.)   We are no longer speaking of something from nothing, but rather the emergence of more complex from less complex.  Hydrogen atoms become stars, which creates fusions into helium atoms, which explode creating higher forms of matter.  A planet is formed and organic molecules begin to form in the sea.  This is the world of evolution as higher and higher forms of life emerge.  Neural cells come together to form brains, and within brains consciousness enters the world.  The spiritual is now part of the material world.

            Finally we come to the fourth world, the material world we humans function in.  The final world is called Olam HaAsiyah – the world of action.  It is our familiar world of time and space, matter and energy.  It is the world where we humans can build a portable tent, where we can work to perfect the world God has given us. 

            Kabbalah teaches that God created four worlds and we must live within all four.  The central theme of my newest book, about to be published, is how we humans can love one another in all four worlds of creation.

 

 

PARSHAT PEKUDAI

(5768)

 

MOSES THE ACCOUNTANT

“These are the records of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Pact, which were drawn up at Moses’ bidding.”                                                                                                   (Exodus 38:21)

            We have all heard of the shoemaker’s son who had no shoes. I am the accountant’s son who cannot follow finances.  My dad wanted me to take over his successful Certified Public Accountant practice, but I never had a taste for it.  My eyes gloss over trying to follow the monthly financial reports in our synagogue.  This year I finally learned a little accounting.  My daughter took a class at the University of Central Florida in hospitality industry accounting, and I had to help her set up t-accounts for a restaurant.  Lucie Reisch, a CPA in our synagogue, tutored me so I could tutor my daughter, and now I am beginning to comprehend debits, credits, and equity.  My dad would be proud.

            Does a rabbi need to be an accountant?  Rabbis deal with questions of the spirit; accountants deal with questions of the pocketbook.  And yet, without a full understanding of financial matters, we cannot fully focus on the spirit.  The Talmud teaches, “Without bread there can be no Torah.”  (Avot 3:17)  Of course, the same passage continues, “Without Torah there can be no bread.”  The financial and the spiritual are intertwined.  And nowhere is that more obvious than in this week’s Torah reading.

            In this week’s portion Moses becomes an accountant.  All the weighty spiritual matters are set aside.  Moses the law giver, teacher, and prophet become secondary.  Instead, we see Moses giving a certified audit.  How much gold was used in the building of the tabernacle?  How much silver?  How much copper?  Was everything accounted for?  The purpose of the audit is clear.  Moses collected all the precious metals and materials for the building of the tabernacle.  He had to be personally beyond reproach.  If there was the least suspicion of misappropriation of funds, his spiritual leadership would quickly disappear.  There could not even be the appearance of impropriety.

            The Talmud (Yoma 38a) speaks about the house of Garmu as the family who would prepare the showbread for the ancient Temple.  This family was especially honored because their children were never seen eating fine bread.  Nobody should think that the family was misappropriating offerings that did not belong to them.  In a similar way, the family of Abtinas used to prepare the precious incense used in the ancient Temple.  None of the women of this family would wear any perfume, lest people think they were taking the fragrances for personal use.  The Midrash teaches that the official who collected the half a shekel offering (which we read about this week with the special reading of shekelim) would wear a garment with no pockets and no long sleeves.  (Exodus Rabbah 51:2)  Even the appearance of impropriety is forbidden.

            Moses was careful to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.  But people love to find fault with their leaders.   The Midrash tells how people would watch Moses and if he had gained any weight, they accused him of eating from the various offerings the people brought to the sanctuary.  Later, following the great revolt led by Korach and his followers, Moses cries out to God, “Pay no regard to their oblation, I have not taken the ass of any one of them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”  (Numbers 16:15)

            All leaders, whether politicians or business people or sports heroes, can become the subject of gossip and speculation about improprieties.  But religious leaders are particularly susceptible to questions of impropriety.  Perhaps this is the legacy of the many televangelists who have been brought down after a public audit of their financial dealings.  (Never mind their sexual misconduct.)  Those who preach about spiritual and ethical matters need to be particularly careful about their personal spiritual and ethical life.  But money can be tempting.  This is why Moses had to account for every piece of gold and every bit of cloth, every jewel and every piece acacia wood that went into the Tabernacle.  When a person becomes responsible for the public’s money, avoiding even the appearance of impropriety is vital.

            Does this mean that rabbis should become accountants?   I hope not.  I admire people who can look at financial records and make sense of them, and I hold in particular awe those who can prepare a complex synagogue budget and track it week by week and month by month.  But I think rabbis and all spiritual leaders ought to know that money is a sacred trust.  In this portion the people Israel give money to serve God.  Anybody who handles the public’s money ought to be able to stand before the public and say, I am using this money to serve God.  In this small way, rabbis ought to become accountants.

           

 

 

PARSHAT VAYAKHEL-PEKUDAI

 (5767)

 

HUMAN CREATION

 

“Thus was completed all the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting.  The Israelites did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did.”

                                                                                    (Exodus 39:32)

 

            At the beginning of the book of Genesis God creates a universe.  At the end of the book of Exodus humanity creates a tabernacle.  The language is nearly parallel.   It is almost as if human creative activity reflects divine creative activity.  We humans are able to use our imaginations and our dexterity to transform nature and to create a better world.  This is part of the meaning of being made in the image of God.  Like God, we have the power to create.

            However, the Bible also contains warnings.  In Genesis we humans create the Tower of Babel, in order to make a name for ourselves and challenge God.  In Exodus, right before the building of the tabernacle, we Jews build a Golden Calf to serve as our god.  The message is that creativity alone is not enough; we need morality to go along with it.  Technology cannot teach us right and wrong.

            Let us move from Biblical times to modern times.  We humans have proven our technological mastery of the earth.  We can communicate anywhere in the world instantaneously, travel almost anywhere in the world in less than a day.  We have explored space and split the atom, uncovered the human genome and cured diseases that have plagued humanity for centuries.  Our technology is wondrous.  Unfortunately, our technological growth has not led to a parallel growth in our morality.  One of the lessons of Nazi Germany was how technology and bureaucracy can expand the reach of evil in ways the Bible could never imagine.

            Human creativity raises numerous ethical issues.  We have cloned a sheep and soon we will develop the ability to clone human beings.  But is it proper to do so?  We are exploring the use of embryonic stem cells to cure diseases.  But what are the implications for human life?  We have vastly improved the comforts of life by the internal combustion engine.  But are irreversible climate changes an unintended result?  We have harnessed the power of fusion in the nucleus of the atom.  But have we found a way to prevent the Bomb from falling into the wrong hands?  We have built marvelous cities, centers of commerce and culture.  But have we destroyed too many of the primal forests which feed oxygen into the air and keep our species alive?

            There are no easy answers to any of these questions.  The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau spoke of returning to a state of nature.  And the American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau spoke of living in the woods.  But we humans are not going to give up our ipods and big screen televisions, our jet planes and automobiles, and return to a state of nature.  Pandora’s Box has been open, and will not be closed again.  The questions is not doing away with technology but finding our way back to morality.

            How do we learn right and wrong when it comes to applying our technology?   Philosophers, theologians, and ethicists spend a lifetime struggling with this question.  Again there are no easy answers.  But there is a hint in this week’s portion.  Before the Israelites begin building the tabernacle, God reminds them not to work on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that the world does not belong to us humans.  Ultimately, as the Psalmist taught, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”   (Psalms 24:1)   If the earth belongs to God, we humans must handle it with respect. 

            The Torah wants us humans to use our creative power.  But the Torah is also filled with laws which put limits on our technological prowess.  We cannot mix diverse kinds of seeds when we plant or make clothing with a mixture of plants and animals.  If we build a home we must put a parapet around the roof so people will not fall off.  And one day a week we must stop our work and consider the implications of the fact that the world belongs to God.

            All of these laws serve the same purpose; we are to respect the integrity of God’s creation.  Perhaps it is time to heed these warnings again.  Only then will our morality catch up with our technology.  Only then can we truly become God’s partners in our acts of creation.

 

 

PARSHAT VAYAKHEL – PEKUDAI

 (5766)

 

JOINING TOGETHER

 

“Moses then gathered the whole Israelite community and said to them, these are the things that the Lord commanded you to do.”                     (Exodus 35:1)

 

            Sometimes the Hebrew language gives us powerful insights which are lost in translation.  For example, the Hebrew root k-h-l means “gather together.”  In modern Hebrew a kahal is a community.  When the people gathered together to build the Golden Calf, the word is used.  “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down the mountain, the people gathered themselves (vayekahel) against Aaron and said to him, Come make us a god who shall go before us.”   (Exodus 32:1)   At the beginning of this portion, when Moses gathers the people together to build a holy tabernacle, the same word is used.  “Moses then gathered (vayakhel) the whole Israelite community.” 

            The Torah deliberately uses the same word.  In the Golden Calf story, the people gather themselves together; it is a mob mentality.  In the tabernacle story, Moses gathers the people together, it is a team mentality.  The connection is clear.  People can gather themselves into a mob to do evil in the world.  Or a leader can gather people together as a team to do God’s work in the world.  People need people.  But when they gather, will they build a Golden Calf or will they build a tabernacle?

            A central theme of this portion is the importance of forming a community.  We live in a world where individualism reigns.   Sociologist Robert Putnam recently wrote a book entitled Bowling Alone.  The title says it all.  Anything we want to accomplish takes other people.  That is why the theologian Reinhold Neibuhr wrote, “Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.”  We need to join together, or be joined together.  Max Kirsch, my professor at Florida Atlantic University, has written, “Western culture, and especially US culture, is deeply rooted in a model of the individual as primary actor and subject.”  (Queer Theory and Social Change, p. 36)   His book is a critique of individualism and a call that social change begins in the realm of the social.  People need people to accomplish anything worthwhile in the world.

            Of course, people join with other people for both good and evil.  They can join together to build a Golden Calf or to build a tabernacle to serve God.  They can join together to carry out suicide bombings or to work for peace in the world.   Working together, people can transform the world.  But are they transforming it for good or are they transforming it for evil?   Are they a mob or are they a team? 

            Again the Hebrew is the hint.  In building the Golden Calf, people joined themselves together.  There is no subject, no person who joined them together.  A mob mentality formed.  According to tradition the people murdered Hur when he refused to build the calf, and threatened to murder Aaron until he agreed.  There was no vision, just people’s unleashed wants and desires.  The Golden Calf story is about passions out of control.

            On the other hand, in this week’s portion Moses gathers the people as a team.  There is a vision.  There is wisdom.  There is leadership.  To transform the world, first there must be a person of wisdom willing to present a vision.  There must be a leader.  As the book of Proverbs teaches, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)  In the Bible, Moses was the man of vision able to gather the people for holy work.  In a similar way today, the world needs people of vision who can gather people and inspire them to do holy work.

            Our task as human beings is to transform the world.  It begins with people of vision willing to become leaders.  It continues with people not as atomized individuals, but gathered together with others.  From a religious perspective, God’s waits for us to work as a team and take on these holy tasks.

 

 

PARSHAT VAYAKHEL-PEKUDAI

 (5764)

 

TIME VERSUS SPACE

 

"On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work shall be put to death."

 

What is more important, space or time?

To anyone who has studied Einstein, this is an absurd question.  There is no difference between space and time; we live in a space-time continuum.  This strange idea is reflected in classical Hebrew, where the same word olam means all of space and all of time.  The word can be translated "the universe" or "eternity", and the prayer adon olam can be translated "Lord of the Universe" or "eternal Lord," or perhaps best "Lord Who dwells beyond space and time."

Nevertheless, for us mere mortals who do not understand Einstein, space and time are daily realities.  We sanctify space, with shrines, sanctuaries, and holy places.  We sanctify time, with Sabbaths and festivals, and holy times.  Which is more important?

The answer is clear from this week's portion.  Time takes priority over space.  Most of the portion describes the detail of the building of holy space, a portable sanctuary symbolizes God's presence to be carried through the wilderness.  But work on the sanctuary must stop every seventh day.  Sanctifying holy time took priority over carving out holy space.  That is why Abraham Joshua Heschel called the Jewish Sabbath "a cathedral in time."  Other faiths build beautiful cathedrals.  For Jews, there are certainly beautiful synagogues in the world, but our holiest place is the remains of an ancient wall in Jerusalem.  We Jews are far better known for our sanctification of time.

There is a reason for this Jewish focus on time.  I was recently listening to a tape by cosmologist Brian Swimme dealing with the formation of the universe.  Swimme mentioned how the ancient Pagans had no sense of history.  They saw the universe as the eternal return, great cycles that would happen over and over.  The Greeks, particularly Plato, searched for what was eternal and unchangeable.  How did we get the sense that time has a direction and a purpose.  Swimme said that this was an insight of the Jews.

Thomas Cahill, in his book The Gift of the Jews, makes the same point.  He wrote, "All evidence points to there having been, in the earliest religious thought, a vision of the cosmos that was profoundly cyclical. . . . The Jews were the first people to break out of this circle, to find a new way of thinking and experiencing, a new way of understanding and feeling the world."  With the Bible, the world received a sense of history.  Time had a direction and history had a purpose.  Suddenly time could be sanctified.  We humans left the realm of holy space and entered the realm of holy time.

My fear today is that we have lost that sense of the holiness of time.  A new phrase has entered our vocabulary - "24 - 7."  We live in a world where nothing ever shuts down.  With the internet, with our cell phones, with our pagers, we are connected to the world every minute of every day.  There is no time to stop and refresh.  Merchants are under great pressure to keep their businesses open longer and longer hours.  Our kids are so over scheduled that the family meal has become a thing of the past.  Fast food has replaced relaxed restaurant dining.  The notion of time standing still, taking time, even a slow, timely Sabbath dinner seems strangely archaic.  There is never a time to say no from the countless day to day errands that call upon us.

This week I traveled to New York City with a group of High School kids from my congregation.  Among the many sites we visited was the Jewish Theological Seminary, where I studied to become a rabbi.  Among the new facilities which did not exist when I was there is a new modern computer lab, with links not only to American and Israeli websites, but all the classic books of Jewish literature on cd rom. 

Most important, the computer lab is always open.  At least almost always open.  Our guide commented that the lab was available to students 24 - 6.  On the Jewish Sabbath it shut down.  How refreshing!  Maybe we need more in our lives that are only 24 - 6.  After all, even God shut down on the seventh day.

 

 

PARSHAT VAYAKHEL

(5763)

 

BETWEEN THE CHERUBIM

 

"The Cherubim had their wings spread out above, shielding the cover with their wings.  They faced each other, the faces of the Cherubim were turned toward the cover."

(Exodus 37:9)

 

This synagogue used to have a strange tradition.  When we would say the weekly prayer for the sick, we would open the door of the ark and literally speak into it, as if God dwells there among the scrolls of the law.  The ark certainly contains the Torah, just as the ancient ark contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments.  It is the place symbolic of God's ethical teachings.  However, God does not live there.

If there is any spot more symbolic of God’s presence, it is above the ark.  There were two Cherubim, human figures made of gold.  They faced each other with wings that touched above their heads.  According to the Torah, God spoke from between the faces of the two Cherubim.  "There I will meet you, and I will impart to you - from above the cover, from between the two cherubim that are on top of the Ark of the Pact - all that I will command you concerning the Israelite people."  (Exodus 25:22)  If we are to meet God anywhere, it is between two human beings who stand face to face.

Rabbi Mordecai Gafni, in a brilliant essay (I wish I had written it, but he says it much better than I could have), wrote, "There are forty five muscles in the face, most of them unnecessary for the biological functioning of the face.  Their major purpose is to express emotional depth and nuance.  They are the muscles of the soul."  ("On the Erotic and the Ethical", Tikkun, March - April 2003)   In other words, we humans have been biologically created to face one another and communicate.  It is in such human interaction that God’s presence dwells.  As Martin Buber put it, "Every Thou is a glimpse through to the Eternal Thou."  Every intimate human interaction points the way to the God Who made us humans in His image.

Who were the Cherubim?  Most of us picture two children with angel's wings.  However, Rabbinic and mystical sources saw the Cherubim in a far more erotic way.  They represented the male and the female in a sexual embrace.  "R. Kattina said, Whenever Israel came (to Jerusalem) for the Festival, the curtain would be removed for them and the Cherubim were shown to them, whose bodies were intertwisted with one another.  They would be addressed, Look! You are beloved before God as the love between man and woman."  (Yoma 54a)   Humans, unlike animals, have sexual relations face to face.  According to the mystics, in such an erotic moment God's presence is found.

So from where does God speak to us?  According to this image God is in the passionate relationship symbolized by the Cherubim who stood above the ark, rather than in the tablet of the law within the ark.  God is in love, not in law.  God is in passion, not in rules. 

Nevertheless, to return to Gafni's essay, this passion must be balanced by rules.  The erotic must be together with the ethical.  Love and law must go together.  Paganism taught passion without restraint.  On the other hand, laws without passion become mere behaviorism.  God is both above the ark and within the ark, between the Cherubim and within the Ten Commandments, in passion restrained by ethical boundaries.   The Cherubim symbolize love; the ark symbolizes law.  We need both if we are to find God.

 

PARSHAT PIKUDEI

(5763)

 

BEYOND REPROACH

 

“These are the records of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Pact, which were drawn up at Moses’ bidding.”                                  

                                                                                                                      (Exodus 38:21)

 

            Moses played many roles in the Torah – liberator, political leader, lawgiver, prophet.  In this week’s portion he played a role different from any other.  He became an accountant.  The portion begins with a certified audit of all the gold, silver, and copper used in the construction of the ancient tabernacle carried through the desert.

            Nowhere does God order such an audit of materials.  Moses did it on his own initiative.  Nobody should ever say that Moses pocketed some of these precious metals for his own personal use.  As the leader of the people, he needed to be beyond reproach.

            The Talmud later speaks of two prominent Jewish families.  The Garmu family was responsible for preparing the showbread, the fine loaves of bread on the table before the ark.  They never had fine bread in their home, so that no one would even suspect that they were using the Temple’s bread for their personal use.  In a similar way, the Abtinas family was responsible for preparing the sacred incense used in the Temple.  The women of the household would never wear perfume so that no one would suspect that they were using the sacred ingredients for personal use.  (Yoma 38a)  Both families understood that, to have public responsibilities means being beyond reproach.

            It is not enough that there be no impropriety.  There must not even be the appearance of any kind of impropriety.   That is why Jewish tradition developed the notion of marat eyin  (literally “the appearance to the eye”.)   One must not only act in a way that is proper in the eyes of God, but one’s behavior must never be questionable in the eyes of one’s fellows.  There should not be room even for rumors that someone acted improperly or illegally.

            People love to find fault with their fellow human beings.  Those in positions of leadership – politicians, business people, clergy – are particularly subject to scrutiny and fault finding.  Even Moses later will cry out, “I have not taken a donkey of any of them nor wronged any one of them.”  (Numbers 16:15)    When a person is in a position of public responsibility, he or she must bend over backwards to avoid the appearance of impropriety.  Even if he or she knows that there are no faults before God, there must also be no faults before one’s fellow humans.

            Moses had the wisdom to do a public accounting of the gold, silver, and copper used in the building of the tabernacle.  Those in positions of leadership must be prepared to do the same kind of public accounting of their actions.  People can always say, “I do not agree with this person’s decision.”  They should never say, “This person behaved in a way that was dishonest.”  May all of us learn to behave in way that is beyond reproach.

 

PARSHAT VAYAKHEL - PEKUDAI

(5762)

 

WORK THAT CHANGES THE UNIVERSE

 

"Six days do all of your work (melacha) but the seventh day shall be a holy day of rest for God, whoever does work (melacha) on it shall surely die."           (Exodus 35:2)

 

People frequently ask me, "If it is forbidden to work on the Jewish Sabbath, why do you go to work?"  Great question.  The answer is that the work I do, conducting services, delivering sermons, teaching Torah, as stressful as they may be, are not work forbidden on the Sabbath.  To use the proper term, they are not melacha.

The Torah uses the term melacha in three different contexts.  From these three, we can learn profound insights into the role of us humans in the universe.

First, melacha refers to God's work in creating the heavens and the earth.  "On the seventh day God completed all God's work which God had done, and God rested on the seventh day from all God's work which God had done."  (Genesis 2:2)  It means creative work, those activities that form a universe and allow it to function.

Second, melacha refers to the human tasks of building the mishkan, the portable tabernacle which the Israelites carried through the desert.  "Moses saw all the work (melacha) and behold, they had done it as God had commanded it be done, and Moses blessed them."  (Exodus 39:43) These included most of the fundamental tasks we humans do to show our mastery of the universe: growing plants for both food and dyes, spinning and making cloth, building, metalwork, writing and drawing, and of course, using fire.

Third, melacha refers to those acts forbidden on the Jewish Sabbath, from sundown Friday night until nightfall Saturday night.  "Six days do all of your work (melacha) but the seventh day shall be a holy day of rest for God, whoever does work (melacha) on it shall surely die." (Exodus 35:2)  The Rabbis of the Talmud counted thirty nine categories of forbidden work.  These were precisely the activities which were done in building the tabernacle.

Now we have a definition of melacha, work - any creative activity that changes the universe.  From this we can reach a powerful understanding of what it means to be a human being at work in the universe.

God created a universe.  We humans have been given the creative ability to be God's partners, to transform the universe God made.  Animals live in the world; humans change the world.   If animals eat plants they gather, we humans grow our own plants, if animals eat food raw we cook our food, if animals seek shelter in the wild, we humans build our own shelter, if animals have fur to protect them, we spin, weave, dye, and create our own clothing.  We humans make tools and have control of fire and energy.  Today we humans explore space, use the power of the atom,  build great structures, unlock the genetic code, cure diseases.  When God created the universe, God looked and saw that it was "very good" - very good but not perfect.  We have been given the technological ability to perfect this universe.

God also put a limit on our technological ability.  One day in seven we must leave the universe alone.  We are to avoid any activity that changes the universe.  We do this as a reminder that God made the world and that we are not to see ourselves as gods.  In the Tower of Babel story, we humans built a skyscraper to make a name for ourselves.  Some would use our technological prowess today to make a name for ourselves, for example, to clone a human being.  Therefore, we stop and remember that it is God's world.  We were placed in this world as God's partners, to quote the Alenu prayer said at every synagogue service, "to perfect this world as a kingdom of God."

 

PARSHAT VAYAKHEL-PIKUDEI

(5761)

 

OUR UNIQUE GIFTS

 

"See, the Lord has singled out by name Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur of the tribe of Judah.  He has endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft."

(Exodus 35:30-31)

 

This long double portion describes the detailed building of a portable tent or tabernacle.  It was truly a work of art, involving precious metals, jewels, cloth, and wood.  The artist who put it together was named Bezalel.  Today, Israel's art academy in Jerusalem bears his name.

The Torah teaches that Bezalel was given a gift from God, a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft.  His artistic ability was an innate gift.  What he accomplished with that gift makes up most of this portion.  Today, there is a beautiful gift book put together by an artist that recreates Bezalel's work.

We are all given gifts by God.  We may not all be artists. (I certainly am not, I still draw stick figures.)  Hopefully, I have other gifts and talents.  So we all have gifts and talents. 

A wise person once wrote, "What we are is God's gift to us; what we do is our gift to God."  What will we do with the gifts that God has given us?  Will we use them, or let them go to waste?

I have written elsewhere that every human being has a unique mission, a reason why God put him or her on this earth.  In my forthcoming book The Ten Journeys of Life, I recommend that people do a search for their particular talents and gifts.  "Take out a pen and paper and begin a careful self-evaluation.  Or perhaps keep a journal, asking the following questions:  What unique gifts do you have?  Are you good with people?  Are you artistic?  Do you love solving problems?  Are you a writer?  Do you have a taste for adventure?  Do you have unusual athletic talent?  Can you play a musical instrument?  Do you enjoy solving people's problems?" 

I continue with other advice for finding our unique gifts and our unique mission.  "You need to ask, what are you passionate about?  What do you dream about late at night when you are unable to sleep?  If you had only one year to live, what would you accomplish with your life?  What do you want to be remembered for?  In what areas are you absolutely irreplaceable?  If you had enough money to meet your financial needs, how would you fill your time?"

"Who are your mentors?  Who are the teachers that attract you?  For many people, their parents are their mentors.  Who are the other major individuals, both living and dead, both those you know personally and those you know only by reputation, whom you admire?   Who can serve as your role models and guides?   Who do you want to be proud of our work?"

Each of us pursuing our own unique God-given gifts, creates the tapestry of life that builds a better world.  It is easy to say that me and my gifts do not matter.  With difference can I make in the world?  God waits for each of us to use our unique gifts.

  There is a story about Sir Michael Conti rehearsing the London Symphony to play Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.  The full orchestra and a large chorus were singing the fourth movement, when the piccolo player suddenly stopped playing.  He said to himself, "Everybody else is so loud, they cannot hear me anyhow.  What is the difference if I play?"  Sir Conti suddenly stopped the rehearsal and shouted, "Where is the piccolo?!  I do not hear the piccolo?!" 

 

PARSHAT VAYAKHEL

(5760)

 

TECHNOLOGY: GOOD OR BAD?

 

"Do not light a fire in any of your habitations on the Sabbath day."                     (Exodus 35:3)

 

This is the perfect week to speak about technology.  Most of the portion describes the detailed building of a tabernacle, a portable tent which the Israelites carried through the desert.  Of course, the tent was handcrafted; there were no advanced technological methods available to the ancient Israelites.  Nonetheless, there are lessons that apply even today.

Rabbinic tradition sees a parallel between the Israelites building a tabernacle and God's original creation of the world.  The same Hebrew words are used for both.  Building the tabernacle was the ultimate technological feat for its day and age.  Humans imitated God as creators.  The tabernacle became a paradigm for human ingenuity and creativity.

In the Bible, fire is the symbol of creative power.  After all, light was the first thing God created.  How does God feel about our technological prowess, of our using fire?  To the ancient Greeks, technology was the realm of the gods.  When Prometheus stole the fire, he was trespassing on property not permitted to him.  Fire, and by extension, all technology, was not for humans.

The Biblical view is very different.  Fire is given to us humans to use.  We are permitted to use our technological prowess, to create and build, to imitate God in making things for this world.  At least, we are permitted to do so six days a week.  Once a week, we leave fire alone, we remember where it came from we remind ourselves that we are not God. 

The tower of Babel story contains the same message.  The people built a giant tower "to make a name for themselves."  The moral of the story is not that skyscrapers are bad.  Quite the contrary, the city of New York is a technological marvel (when it works.)  Rather, the moral is that building a skyscraper to challenge God is wrong.  God gave us the brain to use our creative skills, but we must remember that we are not gods.  We are human beings.

How are we to relate to the technological achievements of our own day?  How ought we to view modern medical instruments?  Nuclear power?  Genetic engineering?  Space travel?  Artificial Intelligence?  Are these good or bad? 

Technology itself is morally neutral.  It is neither good nor bad.  It all depends on how it is used.  Farmers use technology to increase crop production and feed the hungry.  The Nazis used technology to destroy human beings more efficiently.  Genetic engineering can cure diseases.  Genetic engineering can also bring out the worse of eugenics, creating designer babies.    Nuclear power can light up a city.  Nuclear power can also destroy the world. Artificial intelligence can help us use computers to predict killer storms.  Artificial intelligence can also be used to argue that if computers can imitate humans, than we humans are no better than sophisticated computers.

On the seventh day we are not to build the tabernacle, not to light a fire, not to use our technological prowess.  It is a reminder that these are gifts from God.  Whenever we develop a new technology, we must ask a question:  Are we using this technology as partners with God?  Or are we using this technology simply to make a name for ourselves?