Vayakhel- A knowing heart
For this year of Parsha Lesson, I will be focusing on one area of character growth, to think about in the week ahead and the benefits that a person would have from becoming better in that area.
Background
In this week’s Parsha we have the long awaited construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle, or temporary temple) by the Jewish people in the desert. Hashem instructs Moshe to gather together all of the men and women who had ‘chochmas lev’ (wise hearts) in order to make all of the various things for the Mishkan.
The Mishkan was built of amazing construction which needed a tremendous degree of skill. The embroideries that were prepared for the Mishkan were incredibly unique and complicated to make. For some of the curtains, the weavers were required to weave them straight off of the backs of the animals! For a group of talented artisans the construction of the Mishkan would have been an accomplishment, for a nation of former slaves this was almost miraculous.
The one who oversaw the construction was a special young man by the name of Betzalel, who the Torah tells us was similarly filled with ‘wisdom of the heart.’ Betzalel not only knew how to do all of the complex and difficult tasks required to construct the Mishkan, he had the further ‘chochmas lev’ required to teach others how to do their jobs properly.
And, in fact, the Torah tells us, all of the people who had ‘chochmas lev’ gathered together and built the incredible building called the Mishkan. The Mishkan would serve as the place for the Jewish people to serve Hashem, until the construction of the Beis Hamikdash hundreds of years later by Shlomo Hamelech (King Solomon).
Question
Why are all of these people referred to as those who have ‘chochmas lev’, wise hearts? Isn’t knowledge or wisdom, especially that which is needed to construct the Mishkan, the realm of the brain? The heart is the seat of emotion, of feeling. The brain is the seat of the intellect. It would seem to be very clear that their brains were where the necessary knowledge to do such construction was located.
Why then would the Torah require that these people have ‘chochmas lev’ and refer to their ability to do such construction as being people who have ‘wisdom of the heart’?
Answer
R’ Leib Chasman answers that there is a difference between a person who has knowledge, or wisdom, and someone who is knowledgeable or wise. The necessary requirement in order to build the Mishkan was not to be someone who had the necessary knowledge, but rather for the person to be knowledgeable.
Someone who is knowledgeable senses in their heart all of that which they know. They therefore act consistently and in accordance with their knowledge. Someone who merely ‘carries’ knowledge, their knowledge does not become part of them and therefore is not manifest in their actions.
The key difference between these two people is whether or not their heart has been drawn into this knowledge through emotion or not. If the person had joy, or other intense feeling, when acquiring this knowledge or skill, that would communicate this knowledge to the heart and one’s heart would now ‘know’ this wisdom. If, however, the person went about the acquisition of the knowledge or skill in a more cerebral way, the result would be someone whose brain may know a lot, but one whose heart remains ignorant.
But why is this significant? What is the practical difference for a worker in the Mishkan whether or not they had the more cerebral and intellectual knowledge as to how to do the various tasks for the building of the Mishkan or if they had this deeper, more profound ‘wisdom of the heart’ for the task they were asked to do?
I believe the answer is that it is one’s heart which is really in control of the brain and therefore the person’s actions. Therefore, if one’s heart is not ‘onboard’ and is not knowledgeable of what needs to be done, this will lead to the heart influencing the brain to think that the job is really done properly when it is really not. It is only when the heart is fully ‘onboard’, and when one’s heart has a standard of knowledge and excellence which the heart will not budge from, that is when the person will not move on or be satisfied until the job is done right.
In order for the Mishkan to be made perfectly and without any cutting of corners and without any effort spared in the perfect construction, it was necessary for the artisans knowledge to not only be in their brains, but to be in their hearts as well.
Furthermore, the workers having ‘chochmas lev’ enabled them to figure out how to do the job most properly- even if they had never done exactly this work before. When one’s knowledge is purely intellectual, a person is limited in their ability to solve new problems and situations that arise. When the knowledge is of the heart as well, the person can ‘feel out’ a solution to a situation that is not 'in the textbook.'
Lesson
How important it is to make sure our hearts are in the right place! With the commitment of the heart and the dedication to do the job right, a person can be assured that they will not ‘flake’ and move on before the job is done right. When one’s heart is ‘not into it’, that is when the heart will compel the brain to come up with all sorts of rationalizations as to why an incomplete and shoddy job is really the right thing to do.
Additionally, a person’s ability to figure out new solutions is dependent not on their head, but on their heart. When a person is doing what their intellect dictates, absent an emotional compulsion and dedication, the person will be limited in their ability to overcome obstacles and figure out solutions. On the other hand, when a person's smarts have become part of them, the person will be committed to the task, and figure out how to get the job done.
Benefits of this…
When we realize how much we are controlled and driven by what is in our hearts and not by what is in our brains, we will be motivated to draw our hearts into that which we do and know.
When we realize further that the communication mechanism of the heart is emotion- this will empower us to take control of ourselves. A person can choose to mold themselves into being not only, as the Rabbis refer to, a ‘donkey carrying many books’ (a reference to a person of only cerebral knowledge), but rather people who are smart and wise.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Shabbos!
