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In this week’s parsha, Parshat Vayakhel, we learn, “See, the Lord has called by name Betzalel” (Shemot 35:30). Betzalel was charged with the enormous task of constructing the Mishkan, the Tabernacle of God in the wilderness. Never before had a person been tasked with such a monumental mission. While there are many explanations as to why and how Betzalel was chosen, the question remains, “How did Betzalel know how to make the Mishkan beautiful? How did he know how to take all of the materials – the hides and the linens; the gold, silver and copper, the wood and the jewels and fashion them into something extraordinary?” In other words, “How did Betzalel know how to create art?” If one gave a person all of the finest, freshest, most expensive ingredients to make a five-star dinner, could they? Even if they read the recipe or watched Youtube?
To help answer this question, I would like to turn to the words of Rav Yosef B. Soloveitchik, who explains, “When God exiled the Jewish people, the dispersion took place within the most technologically and culturally sophisticated nations of those times: Egypt, Babylonia and Rome. Betzalel learned the art of building and aesthetics from the Egyptians. Similarly, when the Israelites entered Egypt, they were a nomadic tribe with no agricultural experience. Only after their sojourn in Egypt were they prepared to build an agrarian society.” This is a powerful idea. Betzalel learned art and the technical aspects of beauty from Egypt and brought that esthetic awareness to bear upon the Mishkan. Not only that, Egypt taught the Jewish people how to farm and live in an agricultural society – something foreign to the Jews until they dwelt in Egypt. In other words, had it not been for Egypt, not only would the Mishkan not have been built with the glory and the grandeur that it was, but all of the mitzvot dealing with agriculture – Shemita, Leket, Shichecha and Pe’ah, just to name a few, would not have been understood and fulfilled.
Indeed, Egypt taught the Jewish people a great deal. But the people were able to separate the profane aspects of those physical practices and forms from their deeper spiritual and moral meanings, and harness the good aspects, so as to elevate themselves and in so doing, our relationship with the Divine. There is holiness in art, but not all art is holy. There is some art which elevates the human mind and soul and brings the person closer to spirituality, but there is some art which does the opposite. Also, there are some economic practices which elevate the individual and society, but there are some which enslave, humiliate, diminish and destroy human dignity. The Jewish people always took from the good and left the bad. This is a tight-rope walk of sorts, but one we have always dared to cross. Betzalel teaches us that great things can come from learning from one’s surroundings. But we have to be sure that instead of our surroundings influencing us, we must influence our surroundings. We have to be sure that we take the good and not the bad. We have to be sure that anything we learn from the nations of our dispersion is used for holy purposes. Betzalel took from the good – he knew how to make beauty, and he did it for the sake of heaven. This too, is our challenge: To take from the nations that which is good and use it for the sake of heaven.
So, at the end of the day, what did the Egyptians do for us? Well, they gave us an aesthetic and they gave us an agricultural model, but they did not give us our faith, our morality or our sense of peoplehood. These come from God. We must always be aware of our surroundings. We must always know why we do what we do and understand that very well. Jews do not copy, Jews improve. This is what Betzalel did, and this is the model which we should apply to ourselves. Know who you are. Take the good from the bad. Learn, listen, inspire and improve. And maybe, one day, we will all build a Mishkan together!
Shabbat Shalom!
-Rabbi Dan
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