*Vayakhel, וַיַּקְהֵל  "And He Assembled" Exodus 35:1-38:20  |   Pekudei, פְקוּדֵי "Accountings" Exodus 38:21-40:38

Twelve Princes

Poetic notes on Parashat Vayakhel and Pekudei *

Oh Tabernacle, Tabernacle!

Eternal Pillar between quaking ground and eternal holy sky

Tabernacle, Tabernacle, world without end!

You are the very temple-heart, glowing ember-heart of beauty!

Your Ark is forever the Beauty of Beauties

And you, oh Tabernacle, are the heart that beats between

the lungs of wisdom and understanding

You are the divine kiss upon the forehead of the newborn of Adam,

a kiss pulsating between the mount of triumphant glory 

and the peak of the most humble servant’s honour

Some think that the realm of conversion, 

from the temporal to the eternal, is the realm of miracles

Others think conversion is found in the realm of deep genius and wisdom,

or inspired, rigorous reasoning in the original words of God

Others believe conversion is found in the realm of steel-hard earning,

the reward of merit in religious labour 

Still others that conversion is found in the realm of 

humble self-realization 

All of this, although the word of God

addresses itself to the simple of heart

and not to the heart that is a master in sophistication 

Be careful with everything easily broken

Be careful with everyone who is fragile 

For God is careful with this fragile world

The realm in which conversion to the Eternal takes place

itself speaks and says

that it is simply the moral realm, 

the realm of repentance from lust for the wild, foolish spirit

The Divine Holy One is a faithful and just 

and compassionate judge

There is no one but Jerusalem whom He has ever kissed

And you, you are kissed,

so long as the Mouth of the Holy One, dwells with you!

As said by the prophet, Zephaniah,

God will gather all things which he has created together 

for close examination

This he will do in the courtroom of Adam’s judgment

Upon his close examination,

that which he desires to see forever he will see

That which he sees will be redeemed and rectified and remain

“What should we do?

How can we have one mind?”

the Twelve Princes of Israel asked,

“We Twelve fall far short of the glory of the Divine Beauty

How shall we assure that the children of Israel

do not fall short of giving all they can,

to build the Tabernacle of the Divine Beauty?

Wonderful master crafters, men and women,

whose skills touch the heavens!

Givers of blue, purple, or crimson wool

Givers of linen, goat hair, or ram skins dyed red

Givers of tachash skins

Givers of silver and copper,

from fore-times and end-times,

with all their acacia wood

Givers with pure hearts, purer than refined gold

Wonderful wise-hearted women

whose hands spun blue, purple

and crimson wool and linen

With hearts continually uplifted,

they spun the goat hair

Just as God had spun the lightyears of the stars

Twelve Princes stood proud among their people

and desired for them even more joyous Godliness,

They desired Godliness even greater than in the home,

in order that the nations should fear God

and know that All Israel was a forgiven people,

a people whose heart was purer even than an ark of gold,

and whose mitzvot were the pillars of the world of worlds

In order that the nations

not circle above them in a dance like a vultures circle

over the body of the dying, the nearly dead

For through the eye of the Holy One,

they saw that there were Jews who were dead in Germany

and dying in Babylon, and they heard them crying,

Why didn’t we stand now as we stood

on that day before upon Mt. Sinai?

The Twelve Princes saw their children

 building of the Tabernacle of life

and the predators of death,

who saw them only as carcasses,

encircling them through the orbiting centuries

In the right environment, predators could be tamed

The twelve princes moved and spoke:

The children of Israel have brought enough

for a Tabernacle of Living Light,

enough for time and for eternity

You can only give what is yours to give

Bring no more from hearts that overflow!

What is left for us poor princes to do?

And the princes said to their people,

In the day of judgment,

out of the desert rocks you will grow

As a garden of divine onions you will erupt from the earth

Your Torah will turn the ground inside out

You will sprout up from barren soil with mitzvot!

Your Parshiyot will turn the skies upside down,

so that your arms will overflow with blessings

You will come bearing new sholam stones and filling stones

for the eternal breastplate of the Kohen Gadol

And you will bring ingredients for the spice

and for the lighting oil,

and for the anointing oil, and for the incense

And you will stand humbly in the honour of absolute service

In that day of the triumphant glory

When the Divine Beauty dwells in the Tabernacle of Beauty,

when there appears the cloud of fire and love,

the Testimony of His love for His people,

when first is last and last is first

Then Twelve Princes’ offerings

shall be repeated generation to generation,

from time to eternity

On Hanukkah will they be remembered with joy for atonement

The chieftains gave their souls

The people gave beyond themselves

When was there enough?

Have we learned from our mistake?

Shall we be last or shall we be first?

After Moshe we are all like lazy lion’s cubs

We are like a thorny path

Our strings have rusted, our keys have crusted

How shall we sing the Lord’s song?

How long will we hesitate?

Breathe upon the fire! Burn the ruins of Babylon!

Speak darkly to the heart of Babylon,

and lightly and deeply to the heart of Jerusalem

For Jerusalem is pregnant with salvation,

for her iniquity has been appeased

All the ingredients have been brought,

All is done in children’s joy

G-d's Tabernacle is finished!

There is no joy so deep, so rich

as the joy of the service of Hashem!

The service of Hashem is a spring flowing from the Tabernacle

"Now! All who thirst go to its water,

and whoever has no money go, buy and drink and eat

Go, buy without money and without a price, bread and wine 

and milk of the Mother of All Living for the young.”