Dvar Torah for Parashat Vayakhel/ Shabbat Shekalim given on Friday evening 2/25/2022
(Exodus 35:1 – 38:20)
As we gather together this evening to welcome the peacefulness of Shabbat, we remain poignantly aware of the lack of peace in Ukraine. I have been obsessively following the news coverage in recent days as I’m sure is true for many of you as well.
These horrifying developments strike a particular chord for many of us.
The Jewish people is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial people. And it is right and good and admirable that the diversity of our people has gained greater emphasis of late. However, it also continues to be true that a sizable majority of the Jewish population of the United States is ethnically Ashkenazi[1], and within this Ashkenazi population, a sizable number of us trace family roots to Ukraine.
For me personally, my grandfather on my mother’s side, Harry Gray (born Aron Grabelsky) was born and raised in the town of Zhmerynka, Ukraine. And my other grandfather, Boris Steinberg, was born and raised in Odessa – one of the cities that has been under attack by Russian forces in the past couple of days.
And whether or not any of us personally has family roots in Ukraine, we all get a shiver down our spines as we witness the worst aggression of one sovereign European nation against another sovereign European nation since World War II. Only this time, democracy loving nations hesitate to battle the aggressor with full force because the aggressor has a vast stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Russian President Putin explicitly referenced that fact in remarks he made yesterday just before giving the go-ahead signal to start the invasion of Ukraine – even as the nations of the United Nations Security Council were in session trying to avoid the onset of hostilities.
That would appear to explain why the United States and its allies have announced that they would not send troops into Ukraine to fight the Russian invaders. All of this is leaving Ukraine to fight for its life at this very moment.
I’ve been incredibly inspired by the bravery and heroism of President Zelensky of Ukraine and by the people of that country. As many of you already know, Zelensky himself is Jewish – and not only that, but he lost family members in the Holocaust. He has been showing great leadership both in the days leading up to Russia’s invasion and now in the face of that ongoing aggression.
While these events play out, we can pray for the safety of President Zelensky and all of the inhabitants of Ukraine. We can also donate to charitable organizations active on the scene. For example, the World Union for Progressive Judaism, of which both the Reform and Reconstructionist movements are constituent members, has started a Ukraine Crisis Find. You can visit www.wupj.org for more information and to donate.
Well, my basic task when talking from the bima on Friday nights is to share some insight about the weekly Torah portion. In studying this week’s portion, Parashat Vayakhel, there were a few aspects that resonated for me in connection with the crisis in Ukraine.
I’ll just share two such ideas.
First off, this Torah portion --- like several other Torah portions in the second half of the book of Exodus, talks about the construction of the Mishkan, that tabernacle in the wilderness that was to make palpable God’s presence in the midst of the community. In speaking of the tabernacle – and also in speaking of the menorah that was to have an important place within it, we read of many component parts which are fashioned out of a single block of gold (in the case of the menorah)[2] or which are joined into a single structure (in the case of the tent of meeting).[3]
This integration of discrete elements into a single unified whole has been compared to the character of the Jewish people – we are diverse, but we are One. That is true, at least ideally, of countries as well. The motto of the United States, after all, is E pluribus Unum – Out of the Many, One.
And we see it today in Ukraine as well, where the people are united in defense of their land and in defense of its right be free and independent. Our hearts and our thoughts and our prayers are with them at this perilous time.
The second thought that comes to mind for me in thinking about Parashat Vayakhel is the idea of how the Mishkan and all of its components and furnishings were designed to be portable. Amidst all the dry details of our parasha, on several occasions we have mention of the poles which were used to carry the various items from place to place.[4] Indeed, earlier in the Book of Exodus we learned that such poles were to be permanently in place on that holiest of holy objects, the ark of the covenant.[5]
Torah speaks of our ancestors wandering from place to place over forty years in their journey from bondage in Egypt to settlement in the Promised Land.
And, as we well know, our people would be involved in many more episodes of wandering over the centuries that followed.
And now, today, many Ukrainians are on the move --- doing their best to move towards safer locations. Among them are the members of the main synagogue in Odessa, my Grandfather Boris Steinberg’s native city.
On Twitter today I saw a video of the Gabbai of that synagogue reporting emotionally about how the synagogue had been evacuated and how we should all pray for the safety of its people and for their ability to return in peace.[6]
He seemed at the verge of tears in that video. But, even amidst all this, he concluded by wishing everyone a Gut Shabbes.
– and now I wish the same for all of us.
Gut Shabbes.
May it be a Shabbat of peace and safety for all.
Shabbat shalom.
© Rabbi David Steinberg
February 2022/ Adar I 5782
[1] https://www.pewforum.org/2021/05/11/race-ethnicity-heritage-and-immigration-among-u-s-jews/
[2] See Exodus 37:17-22
[3] See Exodus 36: 8-13
[4] See Exodus 37:4, 37:15,37: 27-28, 38: 6-7
[5] See Exodus 25:15
[6] https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1497214891031240707
