Vayak'heil and P'kudei

Vayak'heil & P'kudei

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In parashat Vayak'heil the Israelites gather all the pieces mentioned before and start building a home for God, not just a house. All the Israelites come together and build something beautiful for the one that created and freed them. The Godcast to go along with this is a song and I suggest you listen because it's very good! Finally, in parashat P'kudei, all the pieces come together. The tabernacle is built, the priestly garments are finished and every priest has been anointed by Moses. The cloud that had followed the Israelites since they first came to the desert settled into the Tabernacle. God was finally home.

From parashat Vayak'heil we see this quote:

"Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon [on this day] shall be put to death” (Exodus 35: 1-2).

In this article from the Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the chief rabbi of Efrat, discusses why we should not use cell phones on Shabbat. It apparently has nothing to do with the kindling fire law but more to do with something Maimonides said:

"And this point is clearly made by Maimonides, in his biblical commentary...that in addition to the negative prohibition of work (melacha) on Shabbat there must be also a positive biblical commandment for a positive and recognizable expression of Shabbat menuha (spiritual activity which can be accomplished on the one day in which the individual is freed from his usual necessary weekday toil), a day dedicated to God."

So basically this means that we shouldn't do work on Shabbat but we also shouldn't lie in bed all day! Rabbi Riskin suggests that instead of going on our phones and 'talking' with our friends we should go out and be with them. How are we supposed to have holy moments if we're on our phones all the time? It's hard, trust me I know.

However, on Friday night I watched a movie called The Darjeeling Limited and it made me realize that we all need to get away from our distractions every once in a while. The movie is about three brothers who haven't spoken in a year after their father died. The eldest decides that they need to take a spiritual journey together through India by train in order to reconnect. At one point, their train gets lost.

Their travel assistant says to the impatient brothers that "we haven't located us yet". Again, the eldest brother has a revelation! He interprets this to mean that the brothers hadn't found themselves yet. For the duration of the trip, the three of them had either been visiting temples and distractedly 'praying' or smoking, drinking and abusing prescription drugs.

After getting kicked off their train (for the above mentioned illegal activities), it takes a journey into the wilderness for them to finally find themselves. While walking along, they passed a river where three boys were on a raft. The raft tipped but only two of the three could be saved. When the brothers arrived at the boys' village, all of their distractions disappeared. They finally saw the fragility and beauty of life.

At the funeral for the boy, everyone wore white (the traditional color of respect in India). The three brothers were finally given the opportunity to start over and let the pain in their lives go.

At the end of their trip, the brothers know that they are not entirely healed or free from grief, but they know that they have each other.

It doesn't take a trip to India to have a meaningful Jewish experience, it takes time. Holy moments come along when you least expect it so don't try to force it like the brothers! This week, take time to step back and reassess. Throw out the itinerary, put down your phone and find your own path. 

Namaste.