The following Divrei Torah were written and delivered in the Years 8 and 9 minyan and the Years 10 and 11 Minyan, respectively. Rabbi Daniel Siegel

From Liat Granot – Year 9

In this week’s double parashah, Vayakhel-Pekudei, all of the details of building the mishkan are repeated and a very important lesson is learnt. Moshe and the rest of Bnei Yisrael are being instructed on which items to donate to the building of the mishkan – items such as, acacia wood, red-dyed ram and seal skins, and gold and silver.

All these things require a lot of effort to retrieve and to prepare to put into the mishkan. But Bnei Yisrael provided everything with a “willing heart”. But what does this phrase mean? And should we strive to be “willing- hearted”? Let’s take a closer look into the context in which Bnei Yisrael were described as being “willing-hearted”.

‘And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought nose-rings, and earrings, and signet-rings, and girdles, all jewels of gold; even every man that brought an offering of gold unto the LORD’.

This is the first time in the parashah that this term is mentioned and in this context it means that Bnei Yisrael brought things very willingly. That’s cool and all, but considering how many times this phrase is mentioned throughout the parashah, does it mean something more?

The Biblical commentator, Rashi quotes a midrash that tells of some princes and how they promised to donate anything that Bnei Yisrael could not. And boy, did they underestimate the Jews! The only thing that was not provided was the precious stones that go on the Cohen Gadol’s breastplate and the reason for this was that these stones could not be found in the desert. And subsequently the princes did what they had promised, they donated the special stones. But these princes were far less enthusiastic about providing these gems for the mishkan even though they had done much in comparison to Bnei Yisrael’s efforts.

Even though the princes’ gifts were worth far more in money, Bnei Yisrael’s effort is what HaShem was looking for, they had “willing hearts”. HaShem doesn’t need our money, he is G-D! But what he does need is our effort to do things and be good people!

So I suppose that in modern terms “a willing heart” would be similar to a growth mindset; not that you do, but how you do it. Let’s say your parents or your teacher asked you to do something, a “willing-hearted” person would do it and try to learn something from the experience. They will be better off for it overall.

So let’s all have “willing hearts” this week and do good for our world and for G-D. Shavua Tov.

From Mia Shapiro – Year 10

‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of complete, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death’.

This week’s Parashah is quite interesting, it speaks about the building of the tabernacle and what materials to use and so forth. I found that the most interesting part of this Parashah was the first line: ‘Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath’.

Now this doesn’t sound too surprising, but after that it states, ‘Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death’. Now this doesn’t seem fair. I know almost everyone sitting in front of me does some type of work on Saturday, so why does God command that on the seventh day you shall do no work or face the consequence of death?

Furthermore, if we are to believe that God wrote the Torah and, therefore, we are required to keep His Mitzvot, why is it that we are all sitting here, alive, today?

Well, one reason offered is that Rabbis no longer have the power of a Beit Din (A Jewish Court) to rule on criminal cases, as they did in the days of the Temple. The Talmud also tries to get around this sticky subject by stipulating that the Sanhedrin, a halachic authority that is kind of like a Jewish Supreme Court, has to give you an official court warning before you commit an act that would result in capital punishment. Since the Sanhedrin hasn’t existed since the third century, the warning and punishment of death are no longer a possibility.

Rambam, one of the greatest halachic authorities in Jewish history said, “It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.”

So it would seem that we are safe from the death penalty in Judaism. But, before we start committing Jewish ‘capital crimes’ such as breaking Shabbat, let’s think about the question I asked at the beginning of this Devar Torah, why does God prescribe the death penalty and why don’t we enforce it?

Maybe the death penalty is in the Torah for the simple reason that we were never meant to enforce it. Maybe we were meant to consider these violations to be serious but value the sanctity of life above all else.