VaYaqhel

Shemot 35:1-38:20

Giving Individually, Giving Communally

Rabbi Josh Cahan, 5763

Parashat VaYakhel describes the details of the construction of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle that will accompany the people as they travel through the desert. Most of the details of this picture are repeated from Parashiyot Terumah and Tetzaveh, where the instructions were laid out. What gets more emphasis here in chapter 35, however, is the act of giving the materials needed for the project. This overlaps with the half-shekel, the required donation of every Israelite, for which Shabbat Shekalim is named.

The Mishkan, like any good Jewish organization, is run entirely on donations. There are two types: one is the fixed sum, a half-shekel from every adult male, which is used to purchase the animals for the daily offerings; the other is the voluntary donation, each according to his or her means and to whatever extent he or she possessed the particular materials needed. The first, Parashat Shekalim (Ex 30:11-16) is connected with a census - each person had to stand and be counted. Each contribution must be equal. These offerings belong not to the community as a whole, but to each of the individuals in it, and we cannot allow a situation wherein one person might seem to have greater ownership over them than any other. By taking part, each person declares personal participation in this ritual - I as an individual must actively take part if these offerings are to represent me before God. How do they represent me? The purpose of this half-shekel, as the passage repeatedly emphasizes, is "לְכַפֵּר"- to atone. Rashi suggests that the term refers to the sacrifices for which the money is used. The daily offering is understood to enable the Israelites to atone for their sins. This action is done communally, but the rabbis emphasize that atonement is achieved only through the combination of sacrifice and repentance, of a personal action together with the Temple ritual, such that when an animal in whose purchase I shared is offered, it is as though I did the action myself. Atonement is ultimately deeply personal - no one else can rightly shoulder responsibility for my actions or take the punishment for my misdeeds. Therefore, in seeking God's kindness, each of us must take part in the bringing of the offering which asks for forgiveness.

The building of the Mishkan paints a very different picture. No one pays any attention to who is giving what, or who has given and who hasn't. It doesn't matter. The people who had the needed materials gave them without hesitation, to the point that Moses ultimately had to ask them to stop bringing (36:3-7). We could talk about this act as one of free, generous giving, the way we talk about giving to the needy, but that misunderstands this action. Like the half-shekel, this also represents ownership, but of a different sort - communal rather than individual. Everyone felt personally invested in it, but what was significant was that the capabilities and resources of the people be pooled in whatever way necessary to achieve the task. There were, of course, individual roles in the building process, but nevertheless no individual ownership. And ultimately the Mishkan stood as a testament to the wholeness and unity of the community as it traveled in their midst.

Sometimes the things we give are ultimately about ourselves - about who we are and who we are trying to become. But many times we need to struggle to broaden our vision. Often the point of our giving of ourselves to others is feeling a sense of ownership and responsibility for the fate of the entire community: when we respond to the community's need, we come to realize that in so doing we are making our world a better place to live, and that doing for the community truly is doing for ourselves.