Sinai Update – March 19-25, 2006

Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei (Exodus 35:1-40:38)

Reflections on the Torah Portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

Again this week we see Moses as general contractor for an extraordinary building project – the Mishkan, the portable tent in which the Israelites worshipped God in the desert.  Like an engineer or architect, Moses reviews all the intricate details of the construction – the lengths and widths of the walls, the colors and materials of fabric and skins assembled, the sacred furniture, poles, planks, menorahs, and different types of oil to be stocked away.  But strangely, the very first verses of this double Torah portion begin on a completely different topic:  observing Shabbat.  “On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day, you shall have a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to Adonai…” (Exodus 35:2)  It is as if Moses wants to protect the Israelites from concentrating too zealously on their construction work.  Resting is a crucial element in the design of God the Architect. 

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose book The Sabbath we have been learning from each week at Shabbat services, wrote that Shabbat is “a palace in time.”  Our sacred Jewish calendar is, he wrote, “architecture in time.”  “Labor is a craft, but perfect rest is an art” (p. 14).  To enter into holy living, we must complete our work in six days (which should be more than enough time to get it all done!), and then engage in resting.  We should not forget that work is not our life’s goal, but rather that we work in order to rest on Shabbat when we can truly be.

Sinai Update – March 12 - 18, 2006

Parashat Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11–34:35)

Reflections on the Torah Portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

Where is God found?  This is a question we are always asking in our attempts to define God, to single out God, and point to a distinct entity that is God.  At the Golden Calf episode, in this week’s Torah portion, the Israelites did just that, saying “This is your god, O Israel!” as they danced around their idol (Exod. 32:4).  They sinned by doing so.  But what about us – where can we find God, now knowing their mistake?

The answer is found elsewhere in the Torah portion, when the discussion turns to ceasing from our labor on Shabbat (Exod. 34:21).  We learn this from the writings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who asked “…[W]here shall the likeness of God be found?  There is no quality that space has in common with the essence of God.  There is not enough freedom on the top of a mountain; there is not enough glory in the silence of the sea.  Yet the likeness of God can be found in time, which is eternity in disguise.” (A.J. Heschel, The Sabbath, p. 16)  When we seek the peace and tranquility of ceasing from our labors, finite in their very definition, we can approach the infinite Oneness of simply being, and find the Source of All Being, God.

Sinai Update – March 5-11, 2006

Parashat Tetzaveh – Shabbat Zachor (Exodus 27:20-30:10)     

Reflections on the Torah Portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

The Shabbat before Purim is called Shabbat Zachor, ”the Shabbat of remembering.”  The special additional portion for Shabbat Zachor is Deuteronomy 25:19, a paradoxical passage which tells us that we should “blot out the memory of Amalek… Do not forget!”  Haman, it turns out, was a descendant of Agag, who was an Amalekite.  The paradox of not forgetting, on one hand, and blotting out the memory of Amalek, on the other, is part of our observance as the Purim Megillah is read; we are both commanded to read Haman’s name and blot it out with loud noise whenever his name is read.  (We’ll read the Megillah this Monday night, March 13 at 5:45pm.  See below!)

Although you might think that shouting out Haman’s name is mere silliness, this paradoxical ritual of blotting-out and remembering is also a custom to remember anti-Semitism, much as we would like to eradicate it.  Given recent anti-Semitic events in France, in which three have been attacked, after the brutal murder of Ilan Halimi in February in a Paris suburb, our remembering of Haman takes on a new dimension.  As Purim approaches Monday night, we recall our obligation to end hatred wherever it exists, and to stand firm against those who would persecute the Jewish people or any group anywhere in the world.

    I wish you and your family a very happy Purim!

            - Rabbi Andy Vogel