Parashat Vayakhel, Exodus 35:1-38:20

Too many of us feel we do not have a role to play in the Jewish community.

Years ago, when I first came to Canada, there was a television program that I found to be quite novel. It was a home repair show hosted by a woman named Mag Ruffman. Here was a woman who was both an actress and a licensed contractor. She eagerly tackled all sorts of projects, faithfully recording obstacles as well as successes. In the decade or so since that show was on the air, there has been an increase in the number of women involved in home improvement projects. There are DIY ( do it yourself) websites for women. It is even possible to purchase tools designed specifically for women's hands.

The novelty of women involved in construction is one of the outstanding features of this week's portion, Vayakhel. Women are specifically mentioned as having contributed material for the building of the mishkan (tabernacle). Beyond that, women took part in constructing items for the tabernacle. And all the skilled women spun with their own hands, and brought what they had spun, in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen. And all the women who excelled in that skill spun the goats' hair. (Exodus 35:25-26)

Before we get overly excited, realize that spinning and weaving were traditionally women's work. Dr. Elizabeth Wayland Barber, an archeologist who specializes in textiles, relates that evidence of these activities is found in early human societies. Most of us know of arrowheads and flint knives and may have even seen such artifacts in museums. Unlike these stone implements, cloth deteriorates quickly, but impressions left by cloth in clay have been unearthed, providing tantalizing remains of complex weaving patterns.

Early on, because of the easy compatibility of clothmaking with child care, women had almost total responsibility for producing the cloth and clothing in their societies.

Elizabeth Wayland Barber, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years, p. 257

We know that spinning and weaving were traditionally women's work from a variety of pictorial sources such as on ancient pottery. There are ancient Greek and Roman murals showing women at looms while children play nearby. They might even have been the ancient equivalent of factory workers. The archeological evidence of loom weights and spindles – items that do not deteriorate – are a silent testimony to women’s work.

Other evidence speaks more loudly. Regarding the "Woman of Valor" (eshet chayil,) Proverbs 31:19 informs us that She sets her hands to the distaff;/ Her fingers work the spindle.

Producing and dyeing yarns, weaving, and embroidering textiles for the Tent of Meeting and officiating priests’ clothing thus provided an avenue for women of the Exodus account to participate in this public and communal religious practice. According to II Kings 23:7, women continued producing textiles as devotional service also during the time of the Jerusalem Temple: while working in a room within the Temple precinct…

Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, The Torah A Women's Commentary, p. 467

While we think of women's work as taking place in the home, spinning and weaving were very much communal, as artwork from ancient and medieval times attests. Women's role in general is traditionally defined as being in the private domain, but Vayakhel places women in the communal realm. Men and women, all whose hearts moved them (Exodus 35:22) donated items for the tabernacle and priestly vestments. The words men and women are constructed in an unusual manner in the Hebrew (anashim al nashim), which has come to the attention of a number of commentators. Sforno takes it to mean that the women bringing the gifts were accompanied by their husbands, who approved of their donation. Nachmanides says that the men were following the women's' example. Either way, it was a public act on the part of the women.

Too many of us feel we do not have a role to play in the Jewish community. Women feel alienated by particular traditions, Gays feel rejected by others. One group is too family-oriented, the other one is singles only, nobody is sensitive to those with special needs, or the elderly. We can all find an obstacle to set ourselves apart. Vayakhel is about what can be done achieved when the disparate elements come together.

The very name of the portion, Vayakhel, indicates a communal activity. The parasha begins by telling us that Moses then convoked (vayakhel) the whole Israelite community. (Exodus 35:1). The root of Vaykhel is khl, related to the word kehilla meaning community. Devoted people from both sexes and across all classes contribute to the creation of the tabernacle. Skilled individuals, men and women, transform the items into holy objects. Mundane tasks result in sacredness. Some of us have material goods to donate, others have skills, and still others contribute their presence. Everyone has a gift that can be put to God's service. Together these form the warp and weft of our modern Jewish tapestry.

I make pleasant songs and weave verses
because my soul longs for You.

Anim Zemirot (Shir HaKavod),
attributed to Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid of Regensburg

Shabbat shalom,
MS