Parsha for Kids: Vayakhel 2023
(Yes, I will do Pekudei as well, but I figured I would make two separate episodes.)
Below is the transcript for this week’s episode of Parsha for Kids, Vayakhel 2023.
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Season 2 Episode 10:
Hello! My name is Chana and this is Parsha for Kids. The Parsha of the week is Vayakhel. Vayakhel means “And he gathered.” A kahal is a group or gathering.
Who gathered? And what was being gathered?
It was Moshe. He gathered the community of Bnei Yisrael together. Rashi explains he did this the day after Yom Kippur, once God had told Moshe he forgave the Jews for their sin of the golden calf.
Moshe told the Jews about the objects that God wanted them to create for the Mishkan. He also reminded them that they were not allowed to break Shabbat in order to make these items. He explained that melacha, creative work, could be done on six days of the week, but on the seventh day one must have complete rest. Moshe specifically mentioned that one is not allowed to light a fire on Shabbat.
You may remember that we talked about the view that some commentators have of ein mukdam u’meuchar b’Torah, the Torah is not written in chronological order. According to Rashi, the reason Moshe is talking about the Mishkan here is because the Mishkan was a response to the sin of the Golden Calf. God had originally suggested that He would let an angel lead Bnei Yisrael through the wilderness instead of doing so Himself. Moshe begged God to reconsider. Now God changed His mind and indicated He would dwell amongst Bnei Yisrael once more, because His Shechina would rest upon the dwelling place they would build for Him, the Mishkan.
Our Sages also mention that God saw that Bnei Yisrael wanted some physical way to connect to Him. Seeing Him lead them through the pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud was not enough for them. Therefore, God chose to be merciful and to give them a physical way to connect. He didn’t want them to have a golden calf or other type of image that could be turned into idol worship. But through making sure they had a physical house for Him, He enabled them to have something on earth that connected them to the unseen God. Additionally, since they had misused their gold to make a golden calf, they now had a new opportunity to use their gold and other treasures to make something holy for God. In this way, God met the people where they were, understood them, and provided them with a way to atone for the sin they had committed.
TRANSITION
Moshe shared God’s commandments with Bnei Yisrael. He told them that God had said “kol nediv libo, any generous hearted person” should bring a terumah, or contribution, for God. That contribution could be gold, silver and copper. It could also be blue, purple, or crimson wool, linen and goat hair, ram skins dyed red, tachash skins, special wood, oil for lighting, spices for making the oil, and gems and jewels.
I want to focus on the term that God used here, nediv libo. Nediv Libo means generous hearted person. What does it mean to be generous?
When someone is generous, they are happy to share what they have with others. It could mean they are happy to share with others in the community, with their family, with God, or all three. When someone is generous, they usually understand that anything they own isn’t really theirs. The only reason they have it is because God gave it to them and let them have it. Because of this, they are happy to give what they have to others.
Generosity is a good quality. You see, God made each one of us unique and different. That means each one of us has special skills or qualities others might not have. Some of us might be really good at understanding math. Others might be really good at learning Torah. Some of us might know how to build amazing Magnatile castles. Others might be great at doing chores. Generosity is when we take whatever we have, whether it is something physical like gold or silver, or something we know how to do well, and we share it with or give it to others. This could look like giving someone else who doesn’t have toys some toys (with your parents’ permission.) It could also look like sitting with someone and helping them understand math because you understand it well and you’re willing to spend the time to help them learn.
Bnei Yisrael were very generous. It says in our Parsha that the men came with the women and they brought bracelets, earrings, rings and buckles, all kinds of golden objects, in addition to all the other objects that Moshe had requested. In fact, later on in our Parsha, the people who were doing the work and craftsmanship of spinning the wool, creating the tapestries and so on said
מַרְבִּ֥ים הָעָ֖ם לְהָבִ֑יא מִדֵּ֤י הָֽעֲבֹדָה֙ לַמְּלָאכָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה לַֽעֲשׂ֥ת אֹתָֽהּ:
The people are bringing very much, more than enough for the creative work that God has commanded to do. (Exodus 35:5)
So Moshe had to tell the people to actually STOP bringing contributions! Can you imagine that? The people were so generous in offering up items to God that there was too much and Moshe had to tell them to stop!
That is an amazing testament to how generous Bnei Yisrael were. Nowadays, it is very rare that any organization will tell people to stop bringing items, because unfortunately there are many people in need who could use those items. Maybe in your school you are sometimes asked to bring in gently used clothing or cans of food to donate to people who might need these things. It is good to always try to contribute if you can, and to do so happily. By practicing giving, you learn to become generous yourself, just like Bnei Yisrael were.
TRANSITION
Moshe spoke about Bezalel and Oholiav, the men who had been appointed to lead the creative work when it came to designing and crafting the Mishkan. We already know that both of these men were wise-hearted individuals, but in this week’s parsha, Moshe mentions another attribute of Bezalel’s.
וְלַחְשֹׁ֖ב מַֽחֲשָׁבֹ֑ת לַעֲשֹׂ֛ת בַּזָּהָ֥ב וּבַכֶּ֖סֶף וּבַנְּחֹֽשֶׁת
(Exodus 35:32)
And to think thoughts to work with gold, silver and copper.
What does it mean to think thoughts?
This is talking about the power of imagination. The power of vision. The power of seeing something that does not yet exist.
There is a commentator called Avraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra, often referred to as the Ibn Ezra for short. He lived in Spain. According to the Jewish Encylopedia, he was born between 1092-1093 and died in 1167. Ibn Ezra was a poet, but he is best known for his approach to Torah, which focuses largely on the peshat, or the meaning that best suits the words of the text according to a simple, clear reading. Ibn Ezra explains that the words “to think thoughts” mean
ולחשוב. בלבו מחשבות שלא נראו כמותן
Or in English, “to devise in his heart designs which were never seen.” Bezalel knew how to imagine, how to dream up ideas and designs that didn’t already exist. And that ability to imagine was important.
The Toldot Yitzchak, a different commentator on the Torah whose name is Rabbi Yitzchak Karo, further elaborates on this. He explains, “There are men who know how to imagine or envision but not to do. For example, they might not know how to build a house or how to be a carpenter, but they DO know that a certain plot of land would be the perfect place for a house to be built, and they might be able to imagine how the kitchen should look. There are also people who know how to build but they don’t know how to imagine or envision- if someone hands them a blueprint, they can follow the directions, but they couldn’t come up with the ideas themselves. The greatness of Bezalel is that he was able to do both. He had the imagination and the vision AND the ability to execute the vision.”
Think about yourself. What kind of person are you? Are you a dreamer, who likes to come up with ideas, visions and use your imagination? Are you someone who likes to put ideas into practice, building and creating based on them? Or do you like to do both? Some of the best partnerships come about when you pair a person who has a wonderful imagination with a person who knows how to execute and activate their vision.
TRANSITION
There was yet another gift that God gave to both Bezalel and Oholiav.
In the words of the verse
וּלְהוֹרֹ֖ת נָתַ֣ן בְּלִבּ֑וֹ ה֕וּא וְאָֽהֳלִיאָ֥ב בֶּן־אֲחִֽיסָמָ֖ךְ לְמַטֵּה־דָֽן:
And He put into his heart [the ability] to teach, both him and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
Ibn Ezra, whom we already mentioned above, elaborates on the above verse by explaining, “there are many wise men who teach with great difficulty.” In contrast, God gave Bezalel and Oholiav the gift of the ability to teach.
I think this is so important. Every single one of us benefits from teachers. Sometimes they are in a formal role, like teachers in your school. Sometimes, they are in an informal role, like teachers at your youth group or Parent-Child Learning session. And sometimes they are people you meet in settings like camp or even at your dinner table. But if these people are effectively able to help you learn how to do something you didn’t know how to do before, or understand something new about a text or area of learning, then they are teachers.
And not everyone is able to teach well. There are people who have a lot of book learning but who are not able to pass that understanding and information on to others. And then there are those that have a gift for taking concepts, breaking them down into clear, understandable chunks, and passing that on to others. As Moshe explains in this week’s parsha, that is a true gift from God, and it was something Bezalel and Oholiav had. That’s how the two of them were able to effectively work with all the wise-hearted individuals from Bnei Yisrael and explain exactly what was needed when it came to creating everything that went into the Mishkan.
So the next time you find a teacher from whom you really learn well, recognize they have a God given gift and remember to thank them for their work!
TRANSITION
So here’s what we learned this week!
God understood that Bnei Yisrael needed a physical way to connect to Him, so He gave them the Mishkan as a way to do that.
Bnei Yisrael were so generous that Moshe had to tell them to stop bringing contributions for the Mishkan. We can learn from this to be generous with our possessions, talents or time as well.
Bezalel had a wonderful imagination- the ability to envision and also to execute. It’s important to consider which of these we are able to do (or both) so we can partner with the person who can best help us in our work!
Teaching is a gift, and Bezalel and Oholiav were given the gift of being able to teach well.
If you have any questions or comments on this week’s episode, please email me at parsha4kids@gmail.com. That’s parsha the number 4 kids at gmail.com. Good Shabbos!