In this week's portion, parashat Vayekhel-Pekudei, we reach the end of the book of Exodus -- and, at long last, the construction of the mishkan, the portable home for God's presence which the Israelites will carry in their wanderings.

Here the details of ornament and construction reach a crescendo. What strikes me most this year, reading these verses, is that "everyone whose spirit moved him" participated in the construction. Women and men alike donated their gold and precious jewels; women and men alike labored on crafting the place where God's presence was understood to dwell.

That's what sparked this week's meditation over at Radical Torah:

People bring every kind of beautiful thing they have. Cloth and leather, polished wood and precious stones. On a metaphorical level, I imagine, people bring every kind of temperament and creative skill to the process. Those who are even-keeled bring their serenity; those who are hot-headed bring their fire. Woodworkers and weavers, careful introverts and spontaneous extroverts, bring what they have, and who they are, to this work -- work which, the text notes, is fueled by the entire community, each person giving as she or he feels called.

Read the post here: A home for God among us.

Technorati tags: religion, Judaism, Torah.