Ki Tissa

Tzedaka is collected, One half shekel from each person.  Everyone could afford it so that all Israel contributed the same amount for the creation and dedication of the Mishkan, the sanctuary.

There is a small but meaningful lesson in this: all we have do is our part.  We are not asked to move mountains, make miracle, and change the universe: all we need do what we can.  And when we play our small but significant role everything in nature and the universe works.  Just like the poem attributed to Benjamin Franklin,

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

Everything matters.  Everyone matters.

We are not tasked to do the impossible just our part in making the world a little more perfect.  


Then we come to the story of Betzalel who is tasked with making the menorah and the clothes for High Priest.  

Once again a small but powerful lesson can be learned from this episode.  Make room for others to contribute.  That is what Moses did when he approached Betzalel.  If we allow our ego to step aside and let others contribute their gift we empower them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bo

We are approaching the end of servitude for the Jewish nation.  The plagues that God inflicted on Egypt are at their climax.  Darkness and the death of the Firstborn were the final plagues that struck the Egyptians in this parasha. Imagine the terror everyone felt as one affliction after another the people were denied access to the life giving aspects of nature.  One by one the gods of Egypt were demythologized.  From the god the Nile to the sun god Ra each one was successfully degraded to show that there is only one God in the world who alone has the power to control destiny.  For thousands of years humankind has worshipped nature.  They have exported the idea that nature needs to be appeased and cultivated so that the gods of the sky, rain and crops would be good to them.  Imagine their disillusionment when they found that everything they were taught to believe was a lie. We live in a time when a plague confounds and con...
Read more

Vayaytzay

“And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of your son's mandrakes. And she said unto her, ‘Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and you would take away my son's mandrakes also?’ And Rachel said, ‘Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.’ And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, ‘You must come in unto me; for surely I have hired you with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.”   Genesis 30:14-16   Longing and love are in conflict. Leah loved Jacob.  She thrived on his love and presence.  Remember that she was the “second prize.”  Leah was the unwanted wife, the last minute substitution for all Jacob’s labors.    Jacob desired the younger, Rachel.  The reader cannot help but feel sorry for...
Read more

Nasso

  The Lord tells Aaron to bless the people in His name (Chapter 6).     What follow is the most famous blessing in the entire Torah.     Do you recognize it?     When is it recited and by whom?   1.It appears in the daily morning service.  The blessing is recited at the public repetition of the Amidah. 2. The blessing is said where the Kohanim still duchan – that is when they are invited onto the bima, place a tallit over their head and then bless the congregation.  In Israel, Kohanim duchan every Shabbat.  In America duchanning is usually reserved for the High Holy Days. 3. That same blessing is pronounced by parents over the heads of their children on Shabbat and festivals.   Rashi declares that this blessing must be given with kavanah, and a full understanding of what it means.  He further instructs that the words must not be said too quickly but with great care and deliberation.   The first p...
Read more