Vayakhel 5763 Shabbat Observance 1. And Moses gathered
all the congregation
of the people of Israel together, and said to them, These are the words
which the Lord has
commanded, that you should do them. 2. Six days shall work be done, but
on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of rest
to the Lord; whoever does work in it shall be put to death.
The commandment to observe Shabbat has already been given a
couple of times in the Torah, most notably in parsha Yitro as part of
the ten commandments. In this week’s parsha why does Moses again
repeat the commandment, specifically starting out by “vayakhel,” by
gathering the people together? What is there new for us to learn from
this version of the commandment that we couldn’t have learned earlier?
To understand what’s going on in this week’s parsha, we need to put it
in the context of what has been happening in the ongoing narrative in
the Torah. In last week’s Torah portion, Israel committed the great sin
of idol worship, creating a Golden Calf. Not long after witnessing the
miracles that God performed in Egypt, the people became frightened
because Moses delayed coming down off the mountain, and they “fell off
the wagon,” and engaged in idol worship.
Rashi explains that the events described in this week’s parsha happened
on the day after Yom Kippur, the day that Moses came down from the
mountain the first time with first set of tablets with the Ten
Commandments. At the time of this week’s parsha, when Moses gathered
the people together, it is true that Israel had committed the sin of the
Golden Calf, however God had also already been appeased and reconciled
with Israel after the intervention of Moses. God wanted to destroy the
people and start over with Moses; Moses convinced God to spare the
people.
Rashi brings a surprising teaching that the people did the sin of the
Golden Calf only to instruct future generations about the power of
teshuva, repentance. To show that even after such a serious sin as idol
worship, it is still possible to turn back to God. This week’s parsha,
starting with the repetition of the commandment to obey the Sabbath, is
specifically showing us that observing Shabbat is a powerful part of the
process of returning to God. In the Talmud we are told that anyone who
keeps the Sabbath according to its laws, even if he did idol worship
like the generation of the Flood (even worse than the sin of the Golden
Calf), his sins are forgiven him. Observing Shabbat has the power to
purify a Jew of his or her sins, regardless of how low he’s fallen.
The Slonimer Rebbe points out that this is actually very surprising
advice in a way. After all, Shabbat is the high point of the week, the
time when you come closest to God, the time for a real cleaving with
God; the polar opposite in fact of idol worship, which is being so
distanced from God that you are worshipping something else entirely.
Wouldn’t logic suggest that if you are very distanced from God you need
to work your way up to reaching the heights of closeness to God that is
the goal of Shabbat? Isn’t it too big a jump, like going from a totally
dark room into bright sunlight?
What gives Shabbat this remarkable power to bring the
greatest sinner back to God is really the power of community.
A few weeks ago I had what for me is an unusual experience:
Shabbat without community. I had surgery on a Friday, and Shabbat was
spent recovering at home. Most of that Shabbat was spent sleeping. I
observed all the traditional observances—we had a Shabbat dinner, I
prayed, etc.—but all without the presence of community.
It was a much different experience than a “regular” Shabbat.
Yes, it was a very restful day. However, the lack of community—the lack
of praying together, studying together, eating together—also made it
less spiritually fulfilling and uplifting. A lot of the power of
Shabbat to change our lives comes because of the power of community to
nurture us.
Which is why in this week’s parsha Moses starts by gathering
the people together. This is the thing that “God commanded to do.” God
commanded us to “vayakhel,” to gather together on Shabbat. To be
together on Shabbat. The Slonimer says that when we come together as
one on Shabbat, with one heart, like one person, we can spiritually
elevate a Jew in any situation, no matter how distanced from God she
might be.
More Jews have been brought back to Judaism by an exciting
Shabbat experience than by anything else. I read a story a while back
about a young man who was a totally secular Jew who lived near the
ultra-religious neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem. He went out
to protest against the religious people who wanted to close the street
on Shabbat. He went out to speak about his right to do what he wanted,
to observe or not observe Shabbat in whatever way worked best for him.
One of the religious people on the other side challenged the young man
to come to spend Shabbat with his family, so he could learn first hand
what they were talking about. Not having a graceful way out, the young
man reluctantly accepted…and was amazed by the warmth, love, and joy
that filled the Shabbos table. He became a regular visitor to that
family’s home and eventually became a ba’al teshuva, a returnee to
Judaism.
A couple of years ago there was a horrible terrorist attack
at the Dolphinarium disco in Tel Aviv. 21 young people—kids in their
late teens and early twenties, my oldest daughter’s age—were killed
while standing in line to get in to the popular disco. Mostly young
Russian emigres. A Chasidic rabbi friend of mine was at the Satmar Beit
Midrash the following week, and heard an amazing exchange: "What can
they expect?" said a stout young Satmarer avrech (married student)
commenting on the bomb outrage. "They go dancing in a disco on Shabbos
night in Eretz Hakodesh (the Holy Land)? It's an invitation to the
Satan!"
But a bent, white-haired chassid gently raised his hand and said: "They
grew up in Russia knowing nothing about Yiddishkeit. They came here and
no-one taught them a thing about Yiddishkeit. What do they know, except
to go out dancing on Friday night? For that the Ribono Shel Olam (Master
of the Universe) will forgive them. The question is: Will He forgive us
for the way WE keep the Shabbos? After all, we claim to know something
about Shabbos. If we were to sing, dance and rejoice the way we should
on Shabbos, it would be so powerful that nobody would feel the
slightest desire to go out to the disco!"
And that, my friends, is the power of “vayakhel,” gathering together.
And that is the reason we need to continue to work to bring more ruach,
more spirit, into our Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom!
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The world is built on three things: on the Torah, on service of God, and
on lovingkindness…Pirkei Avot 1:2
Rabbi Barry Leff
Beth Tikvah Congregation
9711 Geal Road
Richmond, BC V7E 1R4