Parashat Ki Tisa: A Modern-Day Mishkan?

For those of you who have had the chance to be in shul or even read the Torah portions over the last few weeks, you are aware that we are entrenched in a strange “Ikea-like” phenomenon! Whereas we teach students that the text is parsimonious and rarely repeats itself, here in Exodus we spend four to five weeks speaking of the instruction manual and building project of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) by Moshe and Bnai Yisrael. I use the Ikea reference because if you have been lucky enough to purchase or build any furniture item from Ikea, you may acknowledge that between the 272 parts, the three enclosed Allen wrenches, and the 14-page manual (offered in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Swedish), it is not so simple! For me, if I get it right the first time (which typically does not happen), I genuinely stand in radical amazement.

This week, I am told, we will celebrate the 100th day of the school year at Leffell, which reminded me of an informal conversation with a colleague back in September. The exchange went something like this:
“Ok. Let’s get this right. There will be one-way hallways and Fiddler on the Roof staircases.” 
“Yes, but also, we will have staggered dismissal times and there is a new English word called de-densification.”
“How do you say that in Hebrew?”
“No clue.”
“They are also implementing a new manual dexterity exercise program so that staff will learn how to spray a desk with the left hand while wiping down a chair with the right hand, while using both hands simultaneously to open and close Zoom rooms while taking attendance, right?”
“Correct! So, what could go wrong?”

Flipping back to this week’s portion of Ki Tisa, we read now of the laver, the anointment oil, and the incense which will be utilized in a structure surrounded by staves, nettings, rings, clasps, and boards. The word terumah, meaning offering, is used three times in the opening sentences. This repetition is to emphasize the collective participation of the entire community to achieve a national goal, and Rabbi Hirsch adds that the mission of Israel is ultimately dependent on the unity of the whole.

This year, as we have built our own modern Mishkan, a place of holiness, education, and Torah study, the successes of the school have similarly been achieved through collaboration, joint participation, and willingness of heart and mind. 

Students continue to flourish and take on new commitments. I reflect on one of my students, who has encouraged his family to observe Friday night Shabbat dinner and Torah study, while another has taken on the commandment of wearing tzitzit. 

In the words of Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. . . . get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”

This Shabbat, I hope that you will join me in a moment of radical amazement, as we stand in gratitude and awe, knowing that our community’s holy endeavor of building our Mishkan of learning is continuing in splendor. 

Yasher Koach and Shabbat Shalom!