Vayakhel-Pekude
Chopped is an American reality-based cooking television game show series which challenges four promising chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. In each episode, four chefs compete in three rounds. In each round, the chefs are given a basket with four unrelated ingredients, and the dish each competitor prepares must contain all of these ingredients. Those of us who sit at home watching the show may challenge ourselves to create in our minds a dish that could be the winning entry. Or we may simply revel in the sight and imaginary taste that is created by these aspiring chefs. With Passover on the horizon, I find myself browsing through websites and cookbooks in search of the latest, greatest creation which will be made out of that bland, dry, hard piece of matzah. Cakes, casseroles, and the like will find their way to many a seder table, to be oo-ed and ah-ed over as we sit at our family gatherings.
This week’s double parasha – Vayakhel-Pekude – begins with the command by Moses to the Children of Israel: “Take from yourselves an offering for the Lord; every generous hearted person shall bring it, [namely] the Lord's offering.” Following is a shopping list of items to be brought to complete the construction of the mishkan. “Every man whose heart uplifted him came, and everyone whose spirit inspired him to generosity brought the offering of the Lord for the work of the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.”
The richest of colors and materials were brought, each according to his or her sense of contributing generously to the final product. Two special individuals were selected to oversee the project – Betzalel and Oholiab. Each man was imbued with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with insight, and with knowledge, and with talent for all manner of craftsmanship. It takes a special eye to peruse the array of offerings, even if collected with a certain calculation of what the finished product could become. With the talent of these two, the mishkan could be constructed similarly to a fine recipe, each element in its correct measurement, to become an object of beauty and good taste, pleasing to Adonai.
As anyone who has been part of a home, synagogue, or similar building project will attest to, it all begins with a dream. In the building of our synagogue’s school and administration building completed nine years ago, it began in 2009 with a dinner I shared with the co-chair of the project, known as Project Legacy. Lila explained her dream to create a building that would replace our decrepit trailers that had been used for the past 40 years and were beyond repair. Together we dreamed on a dinner napkin of what a building could look like based on the current needs and projections for our synagogue’s rich future. It was the beginning of a $3 million project, one in which we asked each family to contribute, from the generosity of their hearts. The architects took our resources and brought their talents to the table, just like Betzalel and Oholiab. Two years later, we dedicated the Asa Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning, named after our beloved Rabbi Emeritus and his wife. It is our mishkan, a place that welcomes all to enter and celebrate their Judaism within our walls.
Our parasha provides a recipe for what the feast of Jewish life can be. We can go through life accepting the mundane, being satisfied living in a desert devoid of the rainbow of color, the aroma of blooming flowers, and the taste of spices that pique our experiences with each bite. Or we can take the elements provided to us by our own talents, dreams and visions, to create a soulful meal, one that takes the ingredients found in our pantry of the soul, to mix the sweet with the sour, the salty with the sweet, so that what we bring to the table is a masterpiece of Jewish life, one which God will accept as our offering, not as just something thrown on a plate, but as a masterpiece of fine dining, filled with the glory of Adonai – a way of life that will merit us a place in Olam Haba, the world to come.
Ken yehi ratzon – May it be God’s will.
