Vayakhel–Pekudei 5777 - English

By Rabbi Dario Feiguin

B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

True Success

 Parashat Vayakhel–Pekudei

Some years ago, the former Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, made a commentary on this week’s Parashah that leads me to reflect on the nature of success and failure. 

AM I A WINNER, OR AM I A LOSER?

What signals success? What makes failure?

The last two Parashiot Vayakhel-Pekudei speak of the construction of the tabernacle, in the times of Moses. 

The Haftarah that usually corresponding with this Parashah speaks of the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem, in the times of King Solomon. 

Even though this year we read a different Haftarah on account of it being a special Shabbat, there is a parallelism and an essential difference between Moshe’s Mishkan and Shlomo’s Beit Hamikdash. 

How are they alike?

In both, the Divine Presence – the Shechinah, was supposed to be there. Even in the architecture of the Temple, there was a clear relationship between the travelling tabernacle that carried the tablets and Solomon’s fixed temple, also built with two facing keruvim opening their wings on the sacred ark.

But the national impact of each sanctuary was different. The tabernacle of Moses served to unite those who had been slaves around a common sacred space. The Temple of Solomon failed miserably by not being able to keep the unity and grandeur of the Kingdom of David. The schism between Israel and Yehuda occurred from his son Rehavam on, and the People were split in two. 

How is it possible that the national impact of the Great Temple, the architectonic pride of the age, was such division? Why was the mobile simple altar, fragile and weak as it was, able to generate that feeling of union around a common idea in people?

Success or failure do not lie in the construction that can be achieved, in the impressiveness of the building, in the beauty of the details, or in material gain. It does not seem to matter how big or how small, sumptuous or simple, costly or cheap. 

What truly matters in a construction, whatever its nature, is how it will fulfill or not its functional objectives, and if it will facilitate a richer, more profound life. 

Rabbi Schorsch’s idea is that from the get-go, the two sanctuaries held different motivations. 

The tabernacle was made with everyone’s donations. Every man and woman in the camp contributed what they could, from the dictates of their heart.  And Moses had to say, ‘no more’, because they had more than enough resources.

The Temple was made through taxes. Solomon had 30.000 Leviim working on the construction. The Temple was made by force. 

Between the tabernacle and the Temple there was more than just 480 years of difference. There was also a difference between spontaneous and duty; what comes from within and what comes forcefully from outside. Truth be told, what is visible matters little. 

And us: how are we going to continue building our community?

Are we going to let a few take charge, or are we going to commit from the heart?

Rehavam, son of Shlomo, thought the work was in bricks, but confused the goal. When the people of Shechem asked him to reduce taxes, his answer was, “My little finger is fatter than my father’s thumb. He flogged you with whips. I will flog you with scorpions.”

The true construction is not in Space, but in Time, and it has to do with our Jewish identity, our common history and destiny, our ancestral values, and the passing on of those values to our children and the future generations. 

Not even the Great Temple of Jerusalem could overcome the sin of human degradation. Families and institutions cannot sustain it. States and common markets do not hold it. Because success is not measured in material accomplishments, but in the creation of moral conditions for the idea to grow and develop, in health and peace. 

One day, I would like to be able to say, “I AM NOT A LOSER, because I was able to beat selfishness and the miseries of power.”

One day, I would like to be able to say, “I AM A WINNER, and thank God and Life for the love and moral integrity, for enjoying Freedom, Truth and Peace in my life.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Darío Feiguin

B´nei Israel, Costa Rica