Please, no, not another recounting of the details of the mishkan (sanctuary)! My eyes will glaze, my brain will freeze, my body will doze off…

Admit it! You have thought this while listening to Torah readers drone their way through Parshat Vayakhel (Exodus 35:1 – 38:20).

You’ve tried to seek refuge in spiritualized interpretations. We needed places to meet God back then, but we’ve evolved now. Today we beautify the sanctuary of our hearts, with good ethical structures.

Admit it! You’ve avoided the simple reading.

And thus, you’ve missed a great story.

After God’s revelation to all the Israelites on Mt. Sinai, Moses ascends the mountain. There, God lectures him in excruciating detail about the plan for the mishkan. Of course, the Israelites have no idea what Moses is doing. Despairing of his return, they build a golden calf; they worship it. Moses sees them, smashes the stones where he’s recorded God’s teaching, grinds the idol to dust, and goes back up the mountain.

When Moses comes down, his face is so radiant it frightens other people. So, he dons a veil. But he takes it off to receive and share Divine teachings. When Moses teaches, everyone sees beams of light shining from his face.

During his first luminous teaching, words just spill out of his mouth! “Here’s what I was doing up on the mountain! Here’s what God was teaching me! Donate, if you want to! Donate gold, silver, and bronze! Blue yarn, purple yarn, crimson yarn, linen, wool! Tanned goat skins, dugong skins, and acacia wood! Lamp oil, scented anointing oil, incense! Precious gems for the divining plate! Every wise and creative one of you, come and fulfill what God taught!”

The people have absolutely no idea what he is talking about. But he’s glowing! And he’s enthusiastic! So it must be amazing!

Finally, Moses gives them some context. “Oh… it’s for the sanctuary, its tent, cover, clasps, boards…” But the details don’t matter. Everyone is so enthused that they donate materials, time, skill. They donate and donate, until Moses tells them to please stop.

And then the work begins. They weave curtains — imagine the looms! They make fifty loops on each sides — imagine that attention to detail! They make bronze clasps — that’s a lot of casting! They make a leather covering — yet another skill set — they make a tarp. They make it all!

THEY ARE NOT THE SLIGHTEST BIT BORED!

Why? Because the Israelites don’t have the narrator’s view. We’ve already heard about every detail of the mishkan. But they haven’t! It’s all new to them.

Why? Because the Israelites are doing the work! As readers, we get a diagram-free list of numbers. We strain our intellects to visualize a finished product. But they are working in real 3-D space and can see, feel, hear and smell what they are doing!

Why? Because they are living the events in real time. We are reading about them, in bite-sized weekly chunks. We forget that the instructions radiate from a luminous Moses — for us, the radiance is so last week. But the Israelites are touched by the light, and they flash into action.

Image: curiousweaver.id.au