Last week's parashah, Ki Tissa', was full of drama: A frail 80 year old man hobbling up a steep mountain to speak with God; a people, fearful of his death, worshipping a golden idol; God's anger; plagues; 3000 calf worshippers slain by zealous Levites; a frail 80 year old man begging God's forgiveness; God appeased; relationship renewed.

 

There is a huge contrast between this week's parashiyot, Va-yakhel-Pequdei, and the drama of last week's parashah.  The threat of loss of divine presence contrasts with the movement, at the end of this weeks readings, of the divine presence from the mountain, outside the community of Israel, into the midst of the people in the Mishkan, God's residence.  In between the anxiety of last week's parahsah and the glorious descent of God's presence, filling the tabernacle, at the end of Pequdei, is Israel's careful, faithful, and fastidious construction of the tabernacle.  In between the threat of loss and the reality of God's presence stands Israel's faithfulness, our faithful participation in the fullness of our redemption.

When Moses returns from his most recent trip up the mountain, he calls together the whole Israelite community to give them the renewed covenant.  The commandments are three: keep Shabbat, give gifts for the establishment of divine worship in the Mishkan, and for all the skilled (chakham-lev; 35:10) to "make all that the LORD has commanded."  God's relationship with Israel, however gracious, is also dependent on Israel's ongoing hospitality, on Israel's making room for God.

Israel's faithfulness begins with keeping Shabbat:
     

Keeping Shabbat is not only about not doing work.  Shabbat also requires active preparation, intention, of working to make room for God in the midst of our week.  One must work in preparation for the Shabbat.  Many people I know begin their preparation days in advance.  They might set the table on Thursday night, go food shopping on Wednesday, think about inviting guests on Tuesday.  Gradually, Shabbat becomes not merely the day of rest to enable you for your work during the week.  Rather, the week itself comes to serve Shabbat enabling you to dedicate a day of complete rest to God.  Shabbat, then, reorders Israel's time from the endless insomnia of slavery to Pharaoh to a new cycle of six and one, a full week directed towards the welcoming worship of God.

Israel's faithfulness continues with their giving towards the construction of the Mishkan.  The Mishkan is not some community building project, like a pool or a rec. room.  Rather, this project is to build a suitable home for God in the midst of the people.  People are to give terumah, gifts, to God.  The list is extensive and opulent: gold, silver, copper; blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen and goats' hair; tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece (Ex 35:5-9).

Israel's response to God's command through Moses is not what you might expect.  They do not give merely enough to construct the Mishkan.  They do not grumble about not having enough resources.  They have not bought into our myth of capitalism which says resources are scare.  Rather their giving proceeds out of an awareness of the abundance God has given them and with the liturgy of dayyenu pregnant on their lips (there is a hint in 36:7).  "Thus the Israelites, all the men and women whose hearts moved them to bring anything for the work that the LORD, through Moses, had commanded to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the LORD" (35:29).  The people brought "more" than was needed for the task.  So much so that Moses had to order them to stop their giving (36:4-7).

Israel's faithfulness in Sabbath-keeping and gift-giving continues in the work of the skilled among them to craft the Mishkan.  Moses commands the assembly of Israel, "let all among you who are skilled come and make all that the LORD has commanded" (35:10).  At the head of the skilled laborers are the master craftsmen Betzal'el and 'Oholi'ab.  Betzal'el is the metalsmith whose intricate work evokes the finest of craftsmanship in the imagination of the Jewish people.  There is even a world renowned art institute in Jerusalem named after him.  Beztal'el fashions the items which would rest in the holiest precincts of the Mishkan and were central to the worship of God: the ark, the table, the lampstand, the incense altar, the altar, and the copper laver.  Whereas in last week's parashah, Israel's gifts of precious metals were used by Aaron to fashion the golden calf, this week Israel gives so that Beztal'el might fashion the items which God commands to be used for worship.  Obedience to God's commands to establish divine worship counters idolatry.

A friend of mine and I were discussing this week's parshiyot, and he told me of a wonderful quote by a Hasidic master, which he paraphrased, "Where does God dwell?  Any place God is invited."  The quote is simple but profound, as wisdom from spiritual masters often is.  It forces us to question our understandings of why God chooses to dwell with us.  We often think that God dwells wherever God chooses.  Certainly this is the case, but God also must be invited.  How do we invite God into the midst of our community?  How do we make room for God?

It is common among spiritual people either to assume that God is with them or to think that God's dwelling with them requires some profound spiritual high.  This week's readings teaches us, however, that God's dwelling with Israel is contingent upon their welcoming of him into their community.  God's dwelling with Israel is, of course, the ultimate purpose of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt.  As it says in Ex 29:45-46, "I will abide among the Israelites, and I will be their God.  And they shall know that I the LORD am their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt that I might abide among them, I the LORD their God."  In this weeks parashiyot, Israel and God culminate this redemption.  Israel invites God betocham "in their midst" and God dwells richly with them.  Israel makes room for God.

Note that God does not already dwell with Israel or does not come to dwell with them because Israel is on some spiritual high or because they hold to a right set of doctrines.  Rather God dwells with this people because they set out the welcome mat of ordering their lives according to God's time schedule, of assembling all of their finest gifts to prepare for God's coming, and of fashioning a room for God crafted out of the most precious of materials.

We too prepare a place for this most important of guests by similar acts of faithful hospitality.  Messianic Jewish communities are often consumed by theological contestation and other such distractions.  These theological battles, one after another, have been a big part of our history.  More often than not these battles deal with matters of theological speculation, crafting idols which threaten the future of our community, rather than engaging in theological reflection which nurtures our community.  These discussions, though often important, can divert us from the important tasks which are necessary for the ongoing welcoming God in our community ? Sabbath keeping, gift giving, and the building of institutions which will sustain our community.  These practices of divine hospitality reorder our lives and our communities around God.  They physically embody our spiritual commitment to God's sovereignty.  They make room for God in the midst of our community and in the cadences of our lives.