CHOCHMAS NASHIM: CREATING WITH G-D
By: Suri Davis
In this week’s torah portion, it discusses how G-d would bestow on Bezalel and Ahaliav chochmah/wisdom to build the vessels of the mishkan/travelling temple.
Juxtaposed to this giving of wisdom to create the vessels of the Mishkan, is the commandment to keep the Shabbos. What is the connection?
G-d imbues Bezalel and Ahaliav with insight so they can build the vessels with which man can serve G-d. G-d imparts of His own knowledge to bridge the gap between His greatness and man on Earth, so man can elevate himself in his service to G-d. Bridging the gap between the two worlds.
Then G-d asks man to stop work for the Sabbath. It is when G-d stops his own activity, that he can better see that the world continues functioning by G-d’s hand alone. Bridging, with faith and trust, that our service to G-d sometimes entails doing no work at all, other than sitting back and watching how He sustains us, as he did in the desert, which is a paradigm for how G-d truly provides for us always.
Then why not have a lifetime sitting back, perhaps learning torah all day, or doing acts of kindness all day, and let G-d put food at our door? In Shaar Habitachon, Rabbi Bachya Ibn Pekuda tells us that there are three reasons we have to put in hishtadlut. The first is to test us to determine whether we stay within the confines of Jewish law when pursuing our sustenance. The second is so that we are spending time wasting in on vanities and sinning with too much time on our hands. Lastly, G-d gave us the ability to feel G-dlike as a creator, so we attain more satisfaction from our sustenance because we literally had our hand in it, a pride.
Showing our dedication to G-d, as He gave us the wisdom to build vessels with which we could get closer to Him, it is our duty to use the wisdom and the vessels He provides us, to reciprocate the love to him, so show we want to get closer to him. To use the vessels only for the good, as a means of bonding with HKBH and refraining from work on the Sabbath, to reveal our faith that G-d continues sustaining the world without our physical input/output.
Shabbat shalom.
-Suri