Sermon from Parashat Vayakhel
Ari, tonight we welcome Shabbat. It might seem strange to be commanded to rest when so much is happening in the world around us. You will always remember that your bar mitzvah occurred as Russia was invading Ukraine, but also it is Shabbat, and as you will discuss tomorrow, Judaism is very insistent that Shabbat must be observed, even when things are in turmoil - especially at times of turmoil. Perhaps one key reason is that at such times as these, it is not intuitive, but it is wise for us to stop, reflect and consider how we can be among those who increase light in the world, increase beauty in the world, and increase real peace, not the peace of appeasement or occupation, but the peace of security, justice, and mutual respect. In Oseh Shalom we ask that a holy peace, the peace of respect and wholeness come to us and that we might find the wisdom to help bring it to light.
And to symbolize that we are to be among those who increase light, beauty, and peace in the world, we light these Sabbath candles.
Ari, tonight I want to share five short lessons from our tradition that I hope will not only guide you but guide all of us.
The First Lesson is from your parasha, Vayakhel. It begins with Shabbat, and you’ll talk about that tomorrow, but then Moses gathers the people to build the Mishkan, the tabernacle. It seems odd that after the whole incident with the gold cow and the broken tablets, that Moses doesn’t wait for God to tell him it’s time. The story is a bit confusing, but Rabbi Aviva Richman of Hadar inspired me with this teaching this week. She says that Moses, having gotten through the episode of the Golden Calf, surveys the people and realizes that inaction will create the very thing he wants to change, and so he takes a leap, not of faith, but of action, and begins the community project without the go-ahead from God. He didn’t know if God would even show up, but he knew doing nothing was wrong. In Judaism, we believe that not doing something, standing by silently when action is needed – we believe that is just as wrong as doing a harmful action. The person who says nothing and does nothing is responsible along with the person doing the bad action in the first place. Reflection is crucial, but passivity is action, and our tradition teaches us that we are responsible for our actions and inactions.
The second lesson is also from your portion. We’ve talked about how important it was that the Tabernacle was beautiful, and not just functional. Ari, it matters in this world that we make things of beauty for the sake of beauty, for the purpose of appreciating our ability to see beauty. We are commanded to hiddur mitzvah, making those things we must do beautiful, to reflect the beauty of creation all around us. Find ways to bring both action and beauty into what you do. Both reason and art are part of how we reflect God within us; one without the other isn’t ever the full expression of what it means to be human and what a holy thing it can be, even in the face of great sufferings.
My third lesson is not from your portion, but from the book of Proverbs, where we learn that “A Good Name is to be chosen over great wealth.” A good name, a shem tov, is what we call a person with integrity, who is honest, follows through on what they promise, and is fair and leans toward kindness. Ari, always strive to have a shem tov, a good name, one that lives up to your name Ari Yosef. Ari the lion of Judah, a symbol of strength and haAri, Rabbi Isaac Luria, one of the greatest scholars of mysticism in Jewish history; and Yosef who loved beauty but having been thrown in a pit, thrown in jail, and framed, his integrity is what saves him and lifts him to a position where his good name, shem tov, enables him to save his people.
The Fourth lesson is not from a source, because you must be the source of it. What is the lesson you need to learn from becoming bar mitzvah? Only you can know, for there is a Torah for each of us, but you have to open yourself to it.
The fifth lesson is from the Talmud, Pirkei Avot, a collection of rabbinic teachings that date back to the late biblical period. The most important and respected of all those rabbis is Rabbi Hillel, whose compassion and love for human beings pushed back against a strict legalism. He said many wise things, but perhaps the wisest is this: In a place where no one is behaving like a human being, you must strive to be that human being, or we might say humane being. Being a good person, having a good name is not so complicated that you are not completely capable of choosing it. While ethics can be complex, and none of us owns the truth, our hearts will tell us when we are not being who we should be. If we just pause and listen to that voice of God within us. Perhaps that is why Shabbat is so important in our tradition. To force us to stop and listen to the part of us that is most deeply humane and most beautifully divine. We just must strive to be a human being, be a mensch. Deuteronomy teaches us that this law is not too difficult, not in the heavens that you have to go up to get it and not beneath the sea, but in our hearts and mouths that we may do it.
Shabbat shalom.