Parshat Vayakhel

Exodus 35:2: Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon [on this day] shall be put to death.


This is a lived reality for me. If I don't honor the cycle of work and rest - daily, weekly, yearly - then parts of me begin to shrivel and die. Without a break from striving and working, my capacity to wonder, to appreciate, to honor life, begins to wither.

May we remember to honor periods of rest and reflection, and may this rest connect us to the wondrous, pulsing rhythms of life.

Parsha Vayakhel - Giving from the heart

Parsha Vayakhel

Exodus 35:5. “Take ye from among you an offering (terumah) unto the Lord, whosoever is of willing heart, let him bring it, the Lord’s offering (terumat).  .  .  . ."  Exodus 35:21.  “And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord’s offering (terumat).  .  .  .”

Jewish tradition distinguishes between two types of generosity: terumah and tzedakah.  The first is the giving that comes spontaneously from the heart, from neither obligation nor guilt, but from a feeling – nedivut ha’lev - that stirs deep within.

May we be blessed to practice generosity and receive the gift of the presence of God dwelling among us.