Rabbi Gary Pokras
  • Home
  • About
  • Israel
  • Torah
  • Sermons
  • Blog
  • Experience
  • Contact

VaYakhel/Pekude - 5777

3/24/2017

0 Comments

 
Exodus 35:1 – 40:38
VaYakhel Moshe et kol adat b’nei Yisrael “And Moses assembled all the community of Israel …” (Ex. 35:1) 
Right here, we find history in the making. I mean, how often does anyone call the entire community of Israel together in one place? And if the call comes, how likely are we all to show up? 
In last week’s parasha, the same verb – VaYakhel was used to describe the Israelites as they gathered against Aaron to demand that he fashion the Golden Calf. This week, in a dramatic reversal, Moses convokes the entire assembly to build a place for God in the midst of the camp. The result, is remarkable. Free will donations are requested, and gifted artisans and craftsmen are engaged. The people are so generous with their free will offerings that it becomes necessary to make them stop! In all of its glory the Tent of Meeting is completed, and God descends to the Tent to fill its precincts with the Divine Presence. We are finally ready to begin our journey to the Promised Land.
​The verb VaYakhel can be translated as gather, assemble, or convoke. However, a deeper meaning is in play here. We might say that the very act of assembling was the prerequisite for building the Tent and finding the Promised Land. VaYakhel is not just a convocation, it is a mobilization. There is purpose behind VaYakhel, to which we are called. When we choose to become part of a kehillah (community), we become part of something greater than our individual selves. When we mobilize out of fear alone, we risk the same kind of knee-jerk reaction that led to the Golden Calf. When we mobilize around Torah, around love of God and of each other, then we see how the Promised Land beckons.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Hi there!  I am the senior rabbi at Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, Maryland, where I have served since 2016.  

    Archives

    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All
    Community
    Education
    God
    Holidays
    Identity
    Interfaith
    Leadership
    Love
    Mitzvot (Commandments)
    Shabbat
    Social Justice
    Spirituality
    Wisdom

    RSS Feed

    View my profile on LinkedIn
(c) copyright 2018 by Rabbi Gary Pokras
  • Home
  • About
  • Israel
  • Torah
  • Sermons
  • Blog
  • Experience
  • Contact