Shabbat Vayakhel-Pekudei

Note: Due to Coronavirus, the service this sermon was delivered at was recorded for my community to watch, and can be found here.

The last part of the book of Exodus focuses on the construction of the mishkan, a shrine to house the Ark and the Tablets of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. The mishkan becomes our sacred center: a place everyone can gather around.

In order to build this space, God instructs our ancestors to bring nedivat lev, literally, “offerings of heart.” Whatever our people feel moved to offer; whatever feels like a true expression of love: that is what they are to use to build the mishkan.

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This was our first attempt to create a sacred space, something that we could carry with us in the desert. Centuries later, after our people settled in Israel, King Solomon redesigned the mishkan, building the mikdash, the First Temple. Centuries later it was destroyed, along with the Second Temple.

Suddenly, we no longer had a place to gather as a community, to sing together and connect with our Creator. When the Temple was destroyed, our ancestors lost their spiritual home, their gathering place. And for a moment, it seemed all was truly lost…

If our ancestors had given up then, Judaism, as we know it, would never have come into being..Instead the sages came up with an idea --

They set up houses of learning. They replaced animal sacrifices made in the Temple, with offerings of heart. They designed prayers to mark our holy days, and the special moments in each of our lives. They created the first book club, reading Torah on a set cycle.

And from then on, any time our people were displaced from their physical homes, their spaces of worship lost, they still could gather around Torah, and words of prayer, wherever they were.

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The Torah tells us what defined the mishkan, our first spiritual home, was not how strong it was, how long it lasted but the effect building it had on us. God tells our ancestors, if they create a sacred space, shechanti betocham (25:8) – “I will dwell amongst you.” Our sages point out, betocham literally means I will dwell “in them.” God is not in what we build, but within the hearts and souls of its builders.

Over the next few weeks or months, as we build a mishkan for our time, let’s build it with nedivat lev, with love, expressing our care to one another through a phone call, or a letter or email. As we do, God will be with us, within our hearts and souls, giving us the strength to get through one more day.

Please know that I continue to be here for you to offer assurance, and be a listening ear. In the coming days I hope to find some creative ways like this for us all to stay in touch. In the meantime, please reach out to me to let me know what would be helpful to you right now, or if you simply want to talk.

Yivarechecha Adonai v’yishmarecha – may God bless you and keep you. Amen.