Parashat Vayek'hel

            Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayak’hel, in which the building of the Mishkan really starts. The Israelites have been given some instructions about this a few times already, but then the incident of the Golden Calf appears to get in the way. The people get nervous about Moses being gone so long, and they give up all their precious materials that should go to the Mishkan to the Calf instead, and rather than build a spiritual home for them all to worship the Ineffable One, they build an idol. But in this week’s parasha, they are back on course, and they seem to have more precious materials on hand, and they give from their hearts to allow the building of the Mishkan.

            The Torah tells us in Parashat Ki Tisa that Moses ground down the Calf and burnt it and mixed it with some waters and made the Israelites drink it, and a commonly held Midrash teaches that the Israelite women withheld their own gold from the endeavor to build the Calf, so all facts point to the idea that the materials that went into the Mishkan had to have been different sources, at least for the gold, and that it’s totally plausible there was still plenty of precious metals hidden in the women’s tents to contribute to the new project.

However, as I was reading this week’s parasha and some commentary, I couldn’t help but think about a BimBam (formerly known as G-dcast) video wherein I thought the narrator asserted that the same materials were reused. I relistened to that video this week, and indeed the narrator is a bit vague. He does say the “same materials” of great value are used in making both the Golden Calf and the Mishkan, but he doesn’t specify that the Calf’s gold itself is redistributed, so it could mean same as in of equal value and aesthetic, rather than physically reusing the literal same materials.

Yet, that concept still stuck with me, and I’m not convinced we should rule out the possibility either. How can Moses “burn” gold? It melts when hot! And while it is possible to grind it, and plausible someone could ingest small amounts of gold dust and survive, it doesn’t seem healthy and if it was indeed molten in the burning process it would more likely kill the one ingesting it. I mean, that used to be a form of torturous execution, which isn’t to say that Moses didn’t do that, because he does also tell the Levites to slay some sinners in Parashat Ki Tisa, but I think if that was the intent or outcome, the Torah might mention that as well, since it bothers to tell us of the 3,000 that die at the hands of the Levites. So, let’s say Moses grinds up some of it, and “burns,” or rather melts, a different part of it. He makes some of the sinners drink the non-molten gold dust, and uses the molten bits to put away as the Israelites’ down-payment on the Mishkan. Then in this week’s parasha, those who are still alive and able to move, what with that gold surely bloating their bellies, take the other gold they have left, as well as their stores of wood and fabrics and dolphin/unicorn skins.

Betzalel and Ohaliav take inventory of all that has been deposited into the Moses Building and Loan, and without regard to what came from who, what was recently donated and what might have been leftover from that Calf fiasco, they start building and crafting and weaving together all the materials. Those that have been used before for a nefarious purpose are now repurposed for good and added in seamlessly with those that have are fresh for this use, and no one will ever now which curve of gold was which.

Reb Nachman of Breslav is quoted as having said, “If you believe you can destroy, believe you can repair.” The Israelites’ gold was, perhaps, used to cause a great rift in their relationship with God, but then the same gold was, perhaps, used to create a home for God to dwell among them. The rift is healed and a beautiful thing is constructed, both physically and metaphysically. The same can be true for you in a great many situations. Your words can hurt or heal. Your money can be a tool of greed or a tool of tzedakah. Your love can smother or nourish. It’s not simply a matter of choosing to do good, because inevitably we all misstep sometimes. It’s a matter of knowing how to repair the mistake, how to rearrange the materials to make something anew after misuse of them. May you find ways to take the golden calves of your past and turn them into tabernacles for your future, repairing and reconstructing something uplifting and sanctifying for your lives and souls. Amen and Shabbat Shalom.