This week’s Torah portion of Vayakhel singles out one of the thirty-nine melachos, [prohibitions of Shabbos], of mav’ir [burning]; “You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Shabbos day” (Shemos 35:3). Rabboseinu Baalei Tosfos (Daas Zekeinim) suggests why this specific prohibition was singled out: “The Torah warns us about kindling a fire more than all the other melachos because it doesn’t really look like work (melacha). And perhaps they will say I am not doing a melacha but I will light a fire and prepare everything so I can do things with gold and silver immediately after Shabbos, (for the building of the Mishkan) therefore it says ‘You shall not kindle’. And in Maseches Shabbos 70a, Chaza”l argue if this melacha is singled out to teach us that just as if one does this alone he transgresses Shabbos, so to if one does any other melacha by themselves he transgresses Shabbos and he does not need to transgress all 39 melachos at once to be liable. The other opinion holds this was singled out to teach us that only this melacha is liable for lashes but all others are a punishment of kares and stoning.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
What does the Daas Zekeinim mean when he says that kindling a fire doesn’t really look like a melacha, because it’s too easy to do so people will say it’s not really a thing and do it? What about the melacha of borer [separating what you don’t want from what you do want]; that’s pretty easy, it doesn’t take too much effort, and might even be easier than what is permissible, the act of taking what’s good from the bad with your hand for immediate use?
Rather, it must be that kindling a fire is the only melacha that does not look like a job. Think about it; if you go through the different kinds of melachos, they can each be attached to job categories like planting, cooking, sewing, hunting, etc. Even borer, one can choose things by separating merchandise to sell. But kindling a fire is just turning on a light, giving light to a room, or warming it up, heating up an oven; the molding of the silver and gold is many steps later. It could have nothing to do with any job or work, so one might misconstrue it as not a melacha and come to easily do it on Shabbos. But why is that true? If it’s listed as one of the thirty-nine melachos, then it is clearly forbidden, like any other melacha, with the severe consequence of either being cut off from the nation (kares) and potentially stoning, or even, according to the other opinion, getting up to thirty-nine lashes. So why would anyone misconstrue this melacha in particular as something permissible, if it’s clear that it’s forbidden like any other melacha? Why also would the person only light a fire towards the end of Shabbos and not beforehand if it’s not a real melacha?
Therefore, we must say that any knowledgeable, G-D fearing Jew would never think you can transgress anymelacha on purpose, no matter what it is. But, Hashem who created the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, with His infinite knowledge emphasizes, out of all the melachos, the prohibition of kindling a fire, in His Holy Torah, because He knows how the Yetzer Hara works. One of the ways the Yetzer Hara gets a person to sin is to make excuses, to confuse a person and in their state of confusion they will rationalize that it is no big deal to do. It might take a whole Shabbos to make a person rationalize away reality, but the evil inclination can get it done.
Excuses, excuses, excuses, the Torah warns us don’t fall for them, be on guard and ready to battle the weaponized Yetzer Hara!
Good Shabbos Para,
Rabbi Dovid Shmuel Milder
Vayakhel – Skillful Logic
Have you ever wondered why some successful sport coaches never played professional sports when they were younger, or tried and were bad at playing but were good at coaching? What’s the logic behind that? If they are so good why can’t they play?
We find a logical reason to this quandary in this week’s Torah portion of Vayakhel. Both men and women participated in the building of the Mishkan. The Torah states, “Every wise-hearted woman spun with her hands; and they brought the spun yarn of turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool and linen. All the women whose heart inspired them with wisdom spun goat hair” (Shemos 35:25, 26).
The Rokeach, one of the great Rishonim, asked, “How else do you spin thread if not with your hands? Rather because there are women who are wise-hearted that can teach others but can’t work with her hands to spin well, therefore [the Torah writes] ‘spun with her hands’. And then the men would bring the spun threads [to the ones in charge.]” We see that the Rokeach pointed out that not all women, even those that are experts at teaching spinning are good with their hands and are able to spin themselves even if they are wise-hearted. The Rokeach points out in the next pasuk, “[women] whose ‘heart inspired them’ is better than one who has a giving spirit for one whose heart inspired them is one whose heart is beating to be tested to see if she can do something great. They spun goat hair while it was still flowing from the live goat [as we find in Shabbos 74b].” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
We see in this pasuk that these women didn’t just want to give but they had a passion to put their heart and minds into going above and beyond the norm and do their skill in a unique way which obviously must have been more productive for the sake of building the Mishkan the most practical and efficient way possible. Why can’t the skillfully hearted lady who is an expert at teaching other ladies how to spin but doesn’t have the hands to do it herself use her inspired heart to go above and beyond her natural self and figure out how to use her hands to spin herself?
However, the truth of the matter is that Hashem creates each individual with their own purpose in life and with the tools to fulfill that purpose. So, this woman who is an expert teacher in teaching others how to spin thread and might have many practical tips and tricks on how to be creative, efficient, and practical at spinning but even if her heart is inspired, she will never be handy at spinning because that was not what Hashem meant for her to do. So, the inspired heart can only elevate her creativity and ideas to a new level with what she is able to work with but she cannot go beyond the means that Hashem gave her.
So to the sports coach or manager might have a very creative playbook and has the motivation, skill, and patience to run a winning team but he didn’t have the physical body to be a great player because that wasn’t Hashem’s purpose for him.
We see from here that we have to figure out what Hashem’s purpose for us is in life, which can be very subtle because a person might be an expert in a field in theory but can only teach it and not actually do it. There are others that can do it but aren’t made to teach it to others but once one knows his or her strengths then he or she can inspire him or herself to do things, that are above and beyond the normal realm if he or she is inspired to fulfill his or her full potential.
Inventors have to start from somewhere, but they aren’t successful without the motivation, inspiration, and patience to eventually succeed.