Vayak'hel Drash

The offering is for unity

This weeks Parashat is Vayak’hel and means assembled. That is also the theme in away for the the entire Parashat. The most obvious example of this for me is the offerings that are described in all 3 sections of the readings this week.

To begin with in Exodus 35 - 38 we read about the abundant offerings that where brought for the construction of the tabernacle. Great quantities of material was provided as a freewill or peace offering from the people to HaShem for this project. They gave so much that Moshe actually had to tell them to stop giving!

What would have happened if only 1 family provided material? What would have happened if only 1 person was assigned the task of building and making the tools, tapestries, walls, fixtures and all the implements of the Tabernacle? It would have been a great burden and probably under appreciated by the rest of the congregation. It is only when the people had united by giving offerings and working together that it could be completed rightly.

We see another partnership of unification in 2 Kings 12:10-11 this week.

10But Jehoiada the kohen took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one entered the House of Adonai. The priestly guards of the threshold deposited there all the money that was brought to the House of Adonai. 11Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal scribe and the kohen gadol would come up, put the money in bags and count the money that was found in the House of Adonai.

Here we read the government of ancient Israel working with the Temple to collect the offerings for the repair of the temple. A unity is in place to make sure the work is done and properly funded.

What would have happened if the the government had not partnered with the Temple? How long would it have taken with the Kohen Gadol organizing and managing this project as well as tending to all of the daily sacrifices, prayers, rituals, needs, and responsibilities of his office? What if only the government had been involved and the Kohanim had no part in collecting the money and repairing the temple?

Then in Matthew 17:24-27 we read about Peter and Yeshua discussing the temple tax. Yeshua asks Peter, does a king collect taxes from his sons or others? When Peter says others, Yeshua says a famous quote of “So that we do not offend...” In this verse it is interesting to note that the word offend comes from the word skandalizō the root of which is skandal. It does not mean to do or say something that another may not like, rather it means to cause to sin or create a scandal. We see unification between a student and his master with the greater population through paying the temple tax or making an offering so to be obedient to HaShem and not SIN.

What would have happened if Yeshua had refused to pay the tax? Of all the people ever he is the one that has every right to not need to pay this money to his own father to be near his own house. Yet it seems to me Yeshua knew obedience to HaShem is greater than the claiming of ones own rights. He knew that there is more good to be done by working together in unity than to offend or create scandale even when we are right.

There is a lot of hurt in the world today. We all, each and everyone, has had our rights violated and trampled. Sometimes it feels as if going it alone is the best way or that working with some people is like giving in to the enemy. Yet in all things we must seek first the kingdom of HaShem. That is done not through tearing apart but by building up. If we use Benei Yisrael, Jehoiada, and Yeshua as an example, that means humbling ourselves and casting aside our judgment of others; because if we are honest the sin we see in others is the sin that lives in us. So that means only by uniting that which is good in each of us, can we ever hope to cure the evil that surrounds us.