CHOCHMAS NASHIM: VAYAKHEL: ASSEMBLIES
By: Suri Davis
There are numerous times throughout this torah portion where the term Chacham Lev Ladaat/wise of the heart, to know. The term is jam packed with deep meaning of the world reality.
We think of wisdom stemming from our minds and not our hearts. A wise heart is a deep concept. One would take it for granted that one wants wisdom so that she can know.
So let’s break it down to components of what I experienced this week.
I experienced two unique assemblies this week. One was a worldwide assembly of righteous women from diverse walks of life, who gathered to take affirmative action to bring the final redemption. The second was the fortunate opportunity provided to me by New York State Assemblywoman Missy Miller, who brought me to her office in the NYS assembly in Albany, the essence of diversity.
My granddaughter had an art fair in school this week. He made a copy of a famous painting out of teeny, tiny dots, each dot unlike any other dot in size, placement or color. It is the neo-impressionist genre, of Georges Seurat, called pointillism. The dots come together in the eye to form a beautiful coherent picture.
After thousands of years of Jewish persecution at the hands of their host countries, it might seem logically unreasonable to continue to hope for redemption. But that logic is tempered with a soulful/heartfelt knowledge that if we continue our faith and our observance and prayer, G-d will send the Messiah to redeem us, so that we could fully realize our religious practice. It is not chachmah/wisdom from the head, pure rational logic, but it is insightful knowledged, tempered by the knowledge in our soul.
To know what? To know that all wisdom which is tempered by the soul is given this insight by G-d, to know, is to know that G-d is at the core of all knowledge, insight, activities and events. Our efforts/hishtadlut is the effort put into making the dots, the overall picture is G-d driven and directed. What we see is experiential tempered by the glasses or perspective we have, which should always be faith-driven.
The current war in Israel has brought Jews from all walks of life together in an unprecedented manner. Instead of groups of Jews judging each other, we had the Chiloni open to praying and laying tefillin, and the Charedim reaching out to them with love, as brothers, to bring joy and food, and teach them the beauty of challah and prayer. If we can keep this unity together, we have a chance at the Messiah coming any day, to bring Jews from all over the world to rejoice in the rebuilding of the holy Temple in Jerusalem.
So what brought Israelis from all over the world, who were not on active to duty, nor on reserve to answer the call of war on October 7 and for women from all walks of life to unite? Chacham tempered by nediv lev/wisdom coupled with a giving and kind heart.
It takes the insight of those with soulful wisdom to couple it with a giving heart or nature to be part of a coming together of individuals, to make a community or assembly for the purpose of a giving to a united cause, like a holy temple and to gather at our Israel Chesed Center 1315 Peninsula Blvd and give of their time, love, energy and money to ship necessities and joy to our brethren in Israel.
Vayakhel, the key to redemption
Shabbat shalom.
-Suri