Vayakhel: Motives for showing up
Shemot 35:1 - 38:20
Summary: When the Israelites made the mishkan, it seems they gave so generously to the ‘fund raiser’ because they felt bad about the whole gold cow incident. But there is another timeline in the Torah in which they know about - and show up for - the Mishkan before they make the gold cow. And these timelines represent two very different “motives for showing up.”
***
One of the formative conversations in my rabbinic life happened about 15 years ago, with a priest. At the time, the synagogue at which I had the pleasure of working would, in a good week, attract about 22 people to services, including kids. And at least some of those 22 came because I called and asked and sometimes pulled favors.
The priest worked at what they now call a mega-church (are there any mega-synagogues?). He said that, on an average week, they would attract at least 15,000 people to their services, which took place in a small stadium that featured thirteen Starbucks, enormous screens so people in the nosebleed seats could watch the action on the stage, its own subway station, and the like.
Due to equal parts insecurity, curiosity, and a deep misunderstanding of what it is, in fact, all about, I plied the priest for that secret piece of intel that would unleash the thousands of people who were waiting in the wings to attend our synagogue but whose absence was directly attributable to some slight tactical error, or my ignorance pertaining to some key marketing trick, or some fool-proof workaround that would smooth the path between their house and ours. I asked, quite simply, why so many people attend his services. “Well, there’s this thing everyone has to deal with, called sin. They are sinners. They need forgiveness. We’ve got forgiveness. So they need our church.”
In some alternate universe I went out, emboldened and suddenly clear on my message, to spread the word about how all those Jews out there were beset with sin, and needed to start coming to shul. But in our current universe, I did not. Even if it is in some way true that we all actually need to attend religious services in order to alleviate the unbearable burden of sin and error, it is not such a compelling message for most, and I imagine that, even if I’d spent every waking hour of the next week spreading the word, attendance on the next Shabbat would have hovered somewhere around 22.
But, looking back on that conversation about 15 years ago, I continue to wonder about different motives and which of them are strong enough to overcome resistance and get people to show up at the places and activities that they might want to attend. Guilt is one. What else is there? What makes people actually go to things - synagogue, but also other things that are beneficial but not easy, like the gym, or to volunteer?
Because so many people have a sudden realization that they should do some specific thing, and they make a first step - signing up for the gym, buying an instrument, googling therapists, etc. - but then don’t follow up. Why? What is it that actually gets people to keep going?
**
Maybe this will help shed some light on the parameters of that question: There are two alternate time lines available for the story of the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness, and the difference between them hinges on the question of whether or not the narratives of the Torah are assumed to be presented in the Torah in the order in which they occurred. There are some traditions and commentaries that claim “there is no before and after in the Torah” - meaning, you might find a paragraph or a story in Chapter 3 of the book of Exodus that describes something that happens after another thing that happens in Chapter 5 of the book of Exodus. On the other hand, there are some traditions and commentaries that insist that the Torah’s story is happening according to the order in which it is written.
If the events in the Torah do, in fact, occur according to their written order, then the timeline is as such: The Israelites show up at Sinai. They receive the 10 commandments. Then Moshe goes up onto the mountain and receives some additional laws and also the blueprints for the MIshkan, the traveling Temple that will accompany them in the wilderness. As that transmission is ending, the Israelites make and worship the gold cow, and then Moshe comes down the mountain, smashes the tablets, goes up the mountain again, gains forgiveness for his people, comes down the mountain again and tells the Jews about that Mishkan, the blueprints of which he received before the gold cow incident.
In the alternative version, in which “there is no before and after in the Torah,” the Israelites make and worship the gold cow, Moshe comes down the mountain, smashes the tablets, goes back up, gains forgiveness, and then he receives the blueprints for the Mishkan. In this version, he received and transmitted the blueprints for the Mishkan after the gold cow incident.
The essential implication of this difference is: was there meant to be a Mishkan, regardless of the gold cow incident, or did the Mishkan exist because of the gold cow incident? Was the Mishkan intended as a response to - and a way to deal with - their guilt, or was it in the cards even before their guilt was an issue?
Because we see that the Mishkan was a very successful fundraiser! Not only did people give the gold and silk and oil and wood generously, they gave it generously every day, until Moshe told them to stop giving. If the motive was guilt and sin, like the priest told me, then I get it. It is true that people often show up, and give, because they feel guilty. And that would make sense according to the view that the Mishkan comes along to deal with the guilt of the gold cow.
But what if the Mishkan is part of another story? What if the people could somehow work their way through their guilt to this other motive that moves them to give, and to show up, day after day?
Can we find a vision of our individual and shared lives that is compelling enough to get us out of bed in the morning, to show up time after time, to give even when it is inconvenient? Can we find a passion that gets us past the obstacles?
More than just a way to get more that 22 people to shul, it promising to know that people can be inspired by more than just guilt.