Rabbi Scott A. Hoffman
This week’s Torah portion is Vayakhel: Exodus 35:1 – 38:20
Suppose as a thought experiment, you imagined that you’d just won $1 million — tax free, as long as we’re dreaming. The money comes with a catch: You must spend it in the next year. What would you put on your shopping list, and what would you leave off?
Everyone has different needs and wants, but here’s a guideline to consider. Recent research consistently reveals that if you spend the money on “things,” such as a sports car or a designer suit, your enjoyment will begin to decline after a period of nine months. On the other hand, if you spend the money on experiences, like a trip to an exotic destination, the period of enjoyment will be much longer. In life, you should prioritize the value of experience over the value of material goods.
The Torah also prioritizes experience of sacred time. This week’s Torah portion, Vayakhel, focuses upon the building of the Tabernacle (Mishkan). Yet its opening verses contain a reminder that it is prohibited to kindle fire on Shabbat, and our Talmudic sages derived from this that the laws of Shabbat take precedence over the command to build the Tabernacle. In fact, the 39 principal categories of labor forbidden on Shabbat are derived from the labors needed to build the Tabernacle. In Heschel’s magnificent “The Sabbath,” among the greatest English language books of the 20th century, Shabbat is an “island in time” grander than any structure humans might complete.
In this spirit, an exchange is recorded between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah, a sage who lived in the waning days of the first century C.E., and the Roman emperor about the special nature of Shabbat:
“The Roman emperor said to R. Yehoshua b. Chananiah, ‘Why is the fragrance of a cooked Shabbat dish so wonderful?’ R. Yehoshua said to the emperor, ‘We have a particular spice called Shabbat that we add to cooked dishes and its fragrance wafts out.’ The emperor said to him, ‘Give us some of it.’ R. Yehoshua said to him, ‘It is effective for anyone who keeps Shabbat, but it is ineffective for one who does not keep Shabbat.’” (Shabbat 119a)
Anyone who has spent time in a Jewish home on Friday afternoon knows that the smells of preparing for Shabbat are extraordinary. Who doesn’t love the smell of soup, or kugel, or challah and feel the mouth water? And the food is lovingly and skillfully prepared, tasty by any accepted standard.
But what really makes these dishes special is that they are embedded within the experience of a family Shabbat dinner. It’s not the culinary delights alone that inspire us every Friday, but the recitation of Kiddush and Hamotzi, the relaxed conversation and the spirited singing that make the meal memorable. The same could be said for Rosh Hashanah meals and the Passover seder. And it’s the same reason hamantaschen always taste better on Purim and matzah ball soup has a superior flavor on Passover.
Rome was a culture focused on beauty and objects. Certainly, these have their place in life. We should have a beautiful tallit, an elegant Kiddush cup and a distinctive mezuzah. This fulfills the idea of “this is my G-d, and I will praise Him.” (Exodus 15:2)
Jewish culture prioritized experience because it understood sacred time, rather than sacred objects, as the framework of a life well-lived. Shabbat is, for the Jewish people, very much the spice of life.
Rabbi Scott A. Hoffman, Ph.D., is interim rabbi of Shaare Torah in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
