"These are the records of the Tabernacle" (Exodus 38:21) - "These", the amounts that will be detailed subsequently, they are "the records of the Tabernacle" - the details of the materials from which the Tabernacle was constructed, and the details of their quantities: a lot of gold, silver, and copper, cloth of expensive material of different colours, and precious jewels; all of them crafted - from the menorah, the basin and the altar and even to the loops and hooks, along with the ritual clothing of the priests, detailed to the level of the thread.
All the people brought their offerings from their money for the making of the Tabernacle, and each soul had a part in the Tabernacle - the men, the women, the people, and their leaders.
And, so, it was in practice clear how all parts of the people, with the inherent differences amongst them because of their plurality, did not disperse throughout the land but rather all of them envisioned a common goal and strived together to build it.
According to the Biblical chronology, I would like to now skip ahead about a thousand years, and to reach the days of the "return to Zion" (Shivat Zion). Then, too, many of the returning olim were idealists, even though they had lived well in Babylon and Persia, a comfortable life profiting from their labours, they chose to return and re-establish a presence in the Land - the centre of which was the Temple in Jerusalem.
Those returnees either remembered the Temple as they had seen it with their own eyes, or from first-hand descriptions, and they were nurtured on the narrative of the people's unity in the building of the Tabernacle. They arrived full of enthusiasm and eager to participate in the building and renewal.
However, the situation in the Land was characterized by great poverty, as Haggai the prophet describes: "You have sowed much and brought in little; you eat without being satisfied; you drink without getting your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one gets warm; and he who earns anything earns it for a leaky purse." (Haggai 1:6). There is just enough to live on, but not much more than that. Furthermore, we learned in the books of Ezra and Nehemia just how divided and disparate the people were: An insular leadership separated between the people who had remained in the land and not been exiled to Babylon and those returning from Babylon; families in which there were foreign women not from the people of Israel had to choose between "the people" according to the separatist definition of the religious leadership and these women. Each section of the people accused the other of not belonging. Where had the unity, the collective vision and common purpose gone?! Who in such circumstances would want to build a public structure?! And if they did find the energy to do so – from whence the materials? It was unrealistic to expect that they would build something at all like that which was destroyed in the days of Tzidkiyahu.
Now is not the time! "The time has not yet come for rebuilding the House of GOD" (Haggai 1:2).
This message sinks in and it is depressing, takes the wind out of their sails and throws them into desperation and a sense of abandonment. "It will never be the right time. We tried."
Fortunately for the "Shavei Zion" (the returnees), another voice is raised - the voice of Haggai the prophet, who pronounced words of encouragement that should be taught anywhere leadership is being trained, so that it might reverberate amongst us all:
"Consider your ways!" (Haggai 1:5)
Remember your purpose, it is that which will determine your direction and approach. Do not be disturbed, or be unsettled, by divisiveness and incitement. Remember what it was you want.
Just start, and success will come:
"Now, thus said GOD of Hosts: Consider your ways [...] Now, thus said GOD of Hosts: Consider your ways Go up to the hills and get timber and rebuild the House; then I will look on it with favor and I will be glorified -- said GOD" (Haggai 1:5, 7-8). The gap between the glory of the Temple and the present distress weakens determination. God tells us – start with small things – with what you can do at present. Wood, a house, not a palace. That would be enough for Me – "I will honour it", the wood and the house. The gold isn't needed now. The people don't have the necessary unity for prosperity at present, but from the moment that there will be a house of wood the pilgrims will begin coming again, slowly the economy will grow, those in the people with similar vision will come, and you will in future unite. Prosperity and mutual responsibility will be renewed.
If you want Israel to be a good country that our children will want to live in, a secure country that doesn't abandon its citizens, a country that invests in the well-being of its citizens, their prosperity and equality, that encourages self-realization of its individuals – then you must act to do what is needed for that purpose. Don't just sit at home passively, begin to act.
Translated by Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann
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Ofra Leibowitz Goldberg is a Bible teacher and Jewish thought at Hebrew University Secondary School (Leyada), Jerusalem, active in the campaign for a deal to return our sisters and brothers from captivity in Gaza.
All the people brought their offerings from their money for the making of the Tabernacle, and each soul had a part in the Tabernacle - the men, the women, the people, and their leaders.
And, so, it was in practice clear how all parts of the people, with the inherent differences amongst them because of their plurality, did not disperse throughout the land but rather all of them envisioned a common goal and strived together to build it.
According to the Biblical chronology, I would like to now skip ahead about a thousand years, and to reach the days of the "return to Zion" (Shivat Zion). Then, too, many of the returning olim were idealists, even though they had lived well in Babylon and Persia, a comfortable life profiting from their labours, they chose to return and re-establish a presence in the Land - the centre of which was the Temple in Jerusalem.
Those returnees either remembered the Temple as they had seen it with their own eyes, or from first-hand descriptions, and they were nurtured on the narrative of the people's unity in the building of the Tabernacle. They arrived full of enthusiasm and eager to participate in the building and renewal.
However, the situation in the Land was characterized by great poverty, as Haggai the prophet describes: "You have sowed much and brought in little; you eat without being satisfied; you drink without getting your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one gets warm; and he who earns anything earns it for a leaky purse." (Haggai 1:6). There is just enough to live on, but not much more than that. Furthermore, we learned in the books of Ezra and Nehemia just how divided and disparate the people were: An insular leadership separated between the people who had remained in the land and not been exiled to Babylon and those returning from Babylon; families in which there were foreign women not from the people of Israel had to choose between "the people" according to the separatist definition of the religious leadership and these women. Each section of the people accused the other of not belonging. Where had the unity, the collective vision and common purpose gone?! Who in such circumstances would want to build a public structure?! And if they did find the energy to do so – from whence the materials? It was unrealistic to expect that they would build something at all like that which was destroyed in the days of Tzidkiyahu.
Now is not the time! "The time has not yet come for rebuilding the House of GOD" (Haggai 1:2).
This message sinks in and it is depressing, takes the wind out of their sails and throws them into desperation and a sense of abandonment. "It will never be the right time. We tried."
Fortunately for the "Shavei Zion" (the returnees), another voice is raised - the voice of Haggai the prophet, who pronounced words of encouragement that should be taught anywhere leadership is being trained, so that it might reverberate amongst us all:
"Consider your ways!" (Haggai 1:5)
Remember your purpose, it is that which will determine your direction and approach. Do not be disturbed, or be unsettled, by divisiveness and incitement. Remember what it was you want.
Just start, and success will come:
"Now, thus said GOD of Hosts: Consider your ways [...] Now, thus said GOD of Hosts: Consider your ways Go up to the hills and get timber and rebuild the House; then I will look on it with favor and I will be glorified -- said GOD" (Haggai 1:5, 7-8). The gap between the glory of the Temple and the present distress weakens determination. God tells us – start with small things – with what you can do at present. Wood, a house, not a palace. That would be enough for Me – "I will honour it", the wood and the house. The gold isn't needed now. The people don't have the necessary unity for prosperity at present, but from the moment that there will be a house of wood the pilgrims will begin coming again, slowly the economy will grow, those in the people with similar vision will come, and you will in future unite. Prosperity and mutual responsibility will be renewed.
If you want Israel to be a good country that our children will want to live in, a secure country that doesn't abandon its citizens, a country that invests in the well-being of its citizens, their prosperity and equality, that encourages self-realization of its individuals – then you must act to do what is needed for that purpose. Don't just sit at home passively, begin to act.
Translated by Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann
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Ofra Leibowitz Goldberg is a Bible teacher and Jewish thought at Hebrew University Secondary School (Leyada), Jerusalem, active in the campaign for a deal to return our sisters and brothers from captivity in Gaza.