THE DAILY BY SIVAN RAHAV-MEIR PORTION
Israel’s Pleasant Face ׁשה ַאל ָּ יש ו ְִא ׁ ֲביר ּו קוֹל ַּב ַּמ ֲחנֶה ֵלאמֹר ִא ִ ֹשה ַוַיּע ׁ ֶ ַוי ְַצו מ .ּמת ַה ּקֹ ֶדׁש ַו ִי ָּּכ ֵלא ָה ָעם ֵמ ָה ִביא ַ אכה ִל ְתרו ָ ׂ ּו עוֹד ְמ ָל ַעש ֲי And Moses commanded, and they announced in the camp, saying, “Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the Holy.” And the people stopped bringing. (Ex. 36:6) During Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, I interviewed the spokesman of the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheba. He came on air with an unusual request: “Please do not come to the hospital to bring food and drink, candy, and other goodies to the injured soldiers. We are being overrun with goodwill. Hundreds of people are coming to visit and the injured cannot eat all the marshmallows, even if the nurses help.” In the background, the television screen
showed masses of people entering the hospital with pots full of home-cooked food, and teenagers with their guitars and darbuka drums. Everyone was so keen to help, but at some point they had to be asked not to come anymore. This was both heartwarming and amusing, and it reminded me of the scene described in our parasha when the people were so enthusiastic about bringing things to the Mishkan that they had to be stopped. “And Moses commanded, and they announced in the camp, saying, ‘Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the Holy.’ And the people stopped bringing.” Moses simply had to put an end to this outpouring of generosity. After seeing the ugly side of the Jewish people as revealed at the Golden Calf, we have here a full turnaround, as the pleasant face of the nation was revealed with an outpouring of goodwill.
The public can easily be swayed to either positive or negative action, depending on what goal they are aiming for Was this always so? No. With one sentence, the parasha describes how
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TORAH TIDBITS / VAYAKHEL-PEKUDEI 5780
