Vayakheil: portable

Vayakheil: portable

The various pieces of the Sanctuary are described. The ark and its cover, the table, the menorah, the spice alter, etc.  Every object has rings for staves, so it can be transported.  Portability is an important property of these sacred objects. 

This mishkan, described in the parsha, was to accompany the people in their wanderings, until they entered the land and ( centuries later) a permanent home was found. But the holy objects were the same.  The ark, housing  the tablets from Sinai, always had the staves in place, ready for transport.

In the Nature podcast this week, there was a report on "How do you know where you are when you’re not moving." The point was: the regions of the brain that remember how to get somewhere are understood better than the mechanisms involved in knowing that you are there and orienting to the arrival.  Perhaps this is reflected in the emphasis on transportability in the holy objects.  They are always, potentially, on the move, adapting to new circumstances

The State of Israel changes everything. It means that the people have arrived, wandering is now voluntary.  Do the wanderers adapt to the settlers?  Do the settlers wander further?

The mishkan was built by those who were Chacham lev: wise of heart. Wise with a heart.  Wise like the heart.  The heart pumps out measured potions of blood at regular intervals, about every second.  But the heart adapts to circumstances of demand and rest.   Perhaps the builders of te mishkan imbued the objects with these qualities: constancy and adaptability.