March 8, 2024 /28 Adar 1 5784
Building and rebuilding are very much on my mind. In December I saw the destroyed homes of Kfar Aza with my own eyes. And each day you and I get to see pictures of Gaza’s destroyed cities and towns. There is much to build and rebuild on both sides of the Israel Gaza border. And not just physical structures; also shattered lives and communities, along with trust, hope, and the very possibility of peace between and for Palestinians and Israelis. All of it in desperate need of building and rebuilding.
Parashat Vayakhel profiles Bezalel ben Uri, the designer and builder of the mishkan – the portable sanctuary that journeyed with our ancestors during their forty year foray in the wilderness. Of Bezalel the Torah says: “God has filled him with the Divine spirit in practical-wisdom, in discernment and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship.” בְּחׇכְמָ֛ה בִּתְבוּנָ֥ה וּבְדַ֖עַת – b’hokhma bit’vuna u’v’da’at – wisdom, discernment and knowledge.
Abraham ibn Ezra, the great 12th century commentator, expands on the Torah’s description: “Knowledge is called al takyil in Arabic. Understanding is called al fakrah and wisdom al hakhmah. Now Bezalel was endowed with every wisdom. He mastered the science of mathematics, geometry, proportions, astronomy, biology, and the secret of the human soul.”
Sod ha-n’shama – ‘the secret of the human soul’ intrigues me. What might that secret consist of? I like to think that the deep content of our souls involves empathy for and identification with the suffering of others and a recognition that people – all people – deserve to live in dignity and peace. I choose to believe that that’s what Bezalel understood; I choose to believe that that’s what we understand as well.
Two recent articles have highlighted these points for me. I commend them to you. Professor Sidra deKoven Ezrahi writes movingly about the death of a seven year Palestinian girl named Sidra Hassouna: “Are there really different chambers of the heart that ache for Shiri Bibas and her little children Ariel and Kfir — aged 4 and 9 months old at the time of their kidnapping — who remain in Gaza, and for Hassouna and all the Palestinian children in Gaza?”
And Gershon Baskin writes movingly about a Palestinian friend of his, Samer Sinjilawi, who also visited Kfar Aza after the horrors of October 7th, and has this to say: “’I have to take responsibility for this because it was done in my name as a Palestinian, by my own people, and we are all responsible.’ He also now says that he hopes that someday Israelis will be able to go to Gaza and stand up and say ‘I take responsibility as an Israeli because the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza were done in my name.'”
Along with Bezalel, Sidra Ezrahi and Gershon Baskin seem to understand sod ha-n’shama – the secret of the soul. Can we?
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David
