How
manifold are the blessings and favors that God has conferred upon us! Had God brought us out of Egypt, and not
divided the sea for us – it would have been enough for us- DAYEINU!
How God
divided the sea for us, and not sustained us for forty years in the desert –
DAYEINU!
Had God
sustained us for forty years in the desert and not fed us with manna – DAYEINU!
And the musical version has a very memorable
refrain: DA-DA YEINU!
The Hebrew
word “DAI” means “enough.” While its
most famous usage is that passage in the Passover Haggadah, there is a little
piece of DAYEINU that relates to holiness and to the realm of human community
in the Torah reading for this Shabbat.
The two combined portions for this week describe the making of the
Israelite house of worship in the wilderness, the Tabernacle. In the section I will read from the
beginning of Exodus Chapter 36, the artisans, led by Bezalel and Oholiab, received
a wide variety of gifts and donations from the people, tangible items that were
intended to be used to make their portable holy place. The people were contributing every
morning….until this happened.
4All the artisans who were engaged in the tasks of the
sanctuary came, each from the task upon which he was engaged, 5and
said to Moses, "The people are bringing more than is needed for the tasks
entailed in the work that the ETERNAL ONE has commanded to be done!"
6Moses thereupon had this proclamation made throughout the camp:
"Let no man or woman make further effort toward gifts for the
sanctuary!" So the people stopped bringing: 7their efforts had
been more than enough for all the tasks to be done.
Their
efforts had been more than enough – the words are DAYAM – there is that word
DAI again – V’HOTEIR – which means “and more.”
In this communal donation effort, there was no cajoling, no pressure and
no ad campaign. There was no need for
parlor meetings or one-on-one requests. The people just….gave. Perhaps this was like an antidote to the
tragic episode of the golden calf, when the people donated to a cause that led
them astray. In this case, they were
giving for a holy purpose from their hearts, and with a special generous
spirit, so much so that the message to STOP had to be given to them with
vigor. So how many congregational
building funds in the history of religious communities have had such an
experience when the people enthusiastically gave more than was needed? I don’t have the data to share, so I won’t
go there. In this case, the tangible
gifts given by the people expressed something intangible – a feeling of
connection with each other, and a sense of wanting to draw near to God in a
holy space. What they gave was more
than enough….but they were not yet done giving.
What
they still had to give after they made the Tabernacle, a holy place, was holy
action. And for this, please take out
your prayerbook and turn to page 88. The
“EILU D’VARIM” reading, which combines two ancient texts of the rabbis, lists
some of the positive acts we can perform that can strengthen the foundation of
any community. Please turn to page 88
and read with me:
These are
things that are limitless, of which a person enjoys the fruit of this world,
while the principal remains in the world to come. They are: honoring one’s
father and mother, engaging in deeds of compassion, arriving early for study,
morning and evening, dealing graciously with guests, visiting the sick,
providing for the wedding couple, accompanying the dead for burial, being
devoted in prayer, and making peace among people. But the study of Torah encompasses them all.
This
passage presents study as a path to the actions that are listed. When we engage in learning with each other,
we create partnerships and friendships that can keep us on a path that sets a
high standard for all that we do. When
the passage says, “these are things that are limitless,” we could understand it
to mean, “these are the things that you have to do enough….and more.” It is a counterpart in the realm of human
relationships to the Israelites who brought more-than-enough gifts for the
building of the tabernacle. This
passage calls on us to bring the best gifts of our character to create holy
spaces in our everyday lives.
When
we turn this reading into its opposites, it can bring home for us the message
of why the positive acts of the EILU D’VARIM prayer are so important. The opposite values to the ones reflected in
that passage are disrespect, cruelty, laziness, rejection of others who are
different, lack of concern for community members, arrogance, creating conflict
for the sake of conflict, and ignorance without a desire to learn something
new. This description of what some
people could do in a negative way may sound all too familiar because we can
readily think of examples of how people act based on those dark principles and
approaches to life. I believe the
rabbis knew that, too. And what they
said at the beginning of the reading really is this: “These are things that you
should practice and do enough…and more.
And even if it seems you aren’t making any headway, even if you feel
that there is no immediate reward for the good that you do, don’t stop. Have faith that what you do to help and
support others will lead to a greater good that you cannot even begin to
imagine.”
So may
the gifts we bring to our families and communities express our own sense of
purpose and enhance the lives of everyone around us. And may we not stop giving, because what our
world demands of us is, always, to do enough…and more. So may we do – and let us say amen.
Prayers texts from Mishkan T’filah, CCAR.
Haggadah
excerpt from Sharing the Journey, CCAR.
