Dear TBZ community:
As I follow, with pain and distress, the news that comes from Ukraine, I recognize within myself the all too familiar feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness. What can we do? What can be our response?
I find it even more difficult as this is Shabbat Shekalim, a Shabbat that reminds us that Purim is coming, and that we increase our joy in celebration. How do we increase joy when we see so much devastation? How do we increase joy while witnessing the suffering of all people in Ukraine and of nearly 400,000 Ukrainian Jews.
I find inspiration in this week’s parasha, parshat Vayakhel. In this parsha we continue learning about the building of the Mishkan – the tabernacle that inhabits the camp of the Israelites. This parsha gives us insight and instructs us on what it means to build communities who have, at their center, God’s presence and holiness.
The Mishkan is built by the generosity of each and every member of the community.
Interestingly this week, as we read from two different Torah scrolls and two very different gift giving messages.
In our weekly Torah reading, Vayakhel, we are asked to bring what we are inspired to give:
קְחוּ מֵאִתְּכֶם תְּרוּמָה לַיהֹוָה כֹּל נְדִיב לִבּוֹ יְבִיאֶהָ אֵת תְּרוּמַת יְהֹוָה
Take from among you gifts to Adonai;
everyone whose heart is so moved shall bring them—gifts for Adonai
And in the special Torah reading for Shabbat Shekalim, we read that each and everyone must give half a shekel, a specific amount, as each and everyone has the same responsibility.
זֶה יִתְּנוּ כֹּל־הָעֹבֵר עַל־הַפְּקֻדִים מַחֲצִית הַשֶּׁקֶל בְּשֶׁקֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ
This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay: a half-shekel by the sanctuary weight
So which is it?
Do we bring a half-shekel, an obligatory amount – a specific amount that requires many halves in order to create the whole?
Or do we bring whatever our heart calls us? More or less? An amount that is individual and unique.
Perhaps by reading these two different responsibilities of creating the Mishkan, we learn something about the role of each of us – how we show up in our communities and how we show up in the world.
We are obligated. We each have a role. We are expected to participate. That is what the donation of a required half-shekel comes to teach us. We need each other in order to form a whole.
We are also people whose hearts are moved and inspired by what happens around us. Our hearts cry when seeing suffering and rejoice when seeing success and joy. Our hearts are not numb to what is around us.
Valerie Kaur, Sikh activist, documentary filmmaker, lawyer, educator and faith leader wrote the following on social media which inspired me:
To the people of Russia: We see you marching in the streets, risking arrest, bearing the cold, and holding your signs high: NO WAR. Your courage is a beacon. You show the world that Russia’s leadership is not Russia’s people. Only you have the power to stop this war at the source. Keep going!
To the people of Ukraine: We see you — waking to the sound of sirens, pulling your children from the windows, and preparing to protect all you love. We tremble with you, and wail with you. You are not alone. We are rising up in solidarity and sending you our prayers, our action, and our aid.
To the children of Ukraine: When I told my son about you, he wanted to send you our prayer Tati Vao Na Lagi. My grandfather sang this as a soldier in World War II. When German air raids came at night, he slept on the ground and imagined this Sikh prayer as his shield. So tonight, we closed our eyes and sang his prayer for you. We imagined a shimmering gold shield around your homes and your families and you. The prayer means: “The hot winds cannot touch you, you are shielded by Love.”
And so, I ask all of us:
What if we made a shield of love?
What if this was the moment an unprecedented number of people around the world stood against war? What if we shifted collective consciousness so that never again would any government win support to start a war? What if our voices and songs and actions flooded Russia and Ukraine now, bringing aid and courage and change?
We can choose to see no stranger — to see the people of Ukraine as our family, and the soldiers of Russia as lost ones who can be called home. We can let that sight shape how we grieve — and what we do. Each of us has a role.
Our Torah teaches us this week that our role is to allow our hearts to cry and then from that place to show up in the world, to build a world, a Mishkan, where God is at the center, where love, compassion and kindness are the center.
As Jews, our response comes in the forms of Tzedakah and Tefilah.
This Shabbat we will pray together during Shabbat service for Peace, for the people of Ukraine and for the end of bloodshed.
I also encourage you to give tzedakah and donate money for the people of Ukraine.
CJP launched the Ukraine Emergency Fund so that we can continue to show our solidarity and support for the Ukrainian Jewish community. 100% of your gift will provide direct support to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and CJP partners on the ground in Ukraine to help the most vulnerable. Assistance will include food, shelter, medicine, and other basic needs.
Here is a master document with places to donate that Valerie Kaur posted on her Facebook Page, if you are looking for other opportunities to donate.
The builders of the Mishkan were endowed with Chochmat Lev, Wisdom of the Heart. My blessing is that each and every one of us can tap into our own wisdom of heart to keep going, moving forward and recognizing that our actions of love and compassion matter.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
