Shmot

We have dealt with helping Jews being accepted and encouraging the conversion of those with patriarchal Jewish lineage. Now we will deal with the question of how to approach the challenges of conversion. No broad elements of the religious community in Israel treat conversion as a highest priority endeavor, with groups viewing other things as higher on the national agenda. To change this, the political leadership of the State of Israel and Torah leadership need to embark on a program that turns the spiritual absorption of olim, especially those from the Former Soviet Union who require conversion, into a major national project. Passiveness with the illusion that matters will work out by themselves, runs the real risk of assimilation within the Jewish State.

“The Mishkan was erected” (Shemot 40:17). What do we learn from the use of passive voice? “Moshe said before Hashem: ‘How will I have the power to erect it?’ Hashem answered: ‘You only have to place your hand there, and it will turn out that it is erected by itself’” (Rashi 39:33).

Parashat Vayakhel tells in a very repetitive, detailed manner that that which was commanded to be made and constructed in Parashat Teruma and some of Parashat Tetzaveh was done correctly. The people who were commanded to do the work are referred to almost entirely by pronouns. The commands, presumably addressed to Moshe, use primarily the word “v’asita” (second person singular). In several places, it says “v’asu” (third person plural). That presumably implies that when Moshe was not to do something, it was to be done by a group of other people.

There are many basic questions to consider when analyzing the sin of the Golden Calf. How is it that Bnei Yisrael changed their approach so quickly when Moshe came down from the mountain? After all, when Chur rebuked the people, they killed him (Sanhedrin 7a), and here Moshe destroyed their idol and enlisted the Tribe of Levi to fight the sinners without opposition!

Our parasha includes many p’sukim (46 to be exact) about the inauguration of the Mishkan, which started with the Seven Days of Miluim. This topic is continued in Sefer Vayikra, in Parashat Shemini, after the laws of korbanot are discussed, as well as in Parashat B’ha’alotcha.

Parashat Teruma begins with the command to build the aron (ark), which was covered by the kaporet, from which the keruvim (angel-like figures) protruded. The pasuk describes the wings of the keruvim as “extending over the kaporet” (Shemot 25:20). In Yeshaya’s inaugural prophecy (6:2), he saw seraphim (a type of angel) with six wings – two covering their faces, two covering their legs, and two for flying. In the opening prophecy of Yechezkel (1:5-6), we again hear of wings, this time, of the chayot hakodesh (the holy animals) and ofanim.