Bezalel

Exodus 31:2 “See, I have called by the name: Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with a divine spirit, with wisdom, insight, and knowledge, and with every craft; to weave designs, to work with gold, silver and copper; stone-cutting for setting, and wood carving – to perform every craft.”

Exodus 35:25 Every wise-hearted woman spun with her hands; and they brought the spun yarn of turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool, and the linen. 36:8 The wise-hearted among those doing the work made the Tabernacle: ten curtains of linen, twisted with turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool; they made them with a woven design of cherubs…36:35 He made the Partition of turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool, and linen, twisted; he made it with a woven design of cherubs… 36:37 For the entrance of the Tent he mad a Screen of turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool, and linen, twisted; work of an embroiderer…

 

I had a dream of Bezalel, standing between the curtains, billowing in the wind, surrounded by color - turquoise, purple and scarlet, the warm wind caressing his face, the colors twirling and twisting, the world of rainbow and light, his long fingers working with fabrics and yarn, attaching the curtains together, five and five, a long row of pictures lining up in his mind, blueprints of the Ark, the Cover over the Ark, the Altar, the Crown over the Altar, the faces of Cherubs watching over the Ark.  He is waking up at the crack of dawn drawing the designs in his mind, reluctantly laying in bed at night, dreaming up new designs of gold, cedar and acacia wood, and precious stones of every color.  I see an olive-skinned face with deep dark eyes, long hair tied back, slender arms with long fingers of an artist.  The Tabernacle is a burst of color in the desert, a mirage of turquoise, purple and scarlet red.  G-d breathed his spirit into the human being a second time, giving him creativity, endowing the man with ability to create objects of beauty, transferring some of the spirit to the objects in an act of magic.  In the world of impermanence, in the life fleeting like the passing wind, like the grass withering in the sun, Bezalel was creating something lasting, the Tabernacle filled with gold and bright colors, the sanctuary of the living G-d, and even if we don't know where is now the Mishkan and the Ark and the vessels - hidden, buried, scattered or destroyed - his work lives on in the words of Torah and in the minds of those whose heart seeks wisdom.

 

Exodus 35:26 All the women whose hearts inspired them with wisdom spun the goat hair.

36:14 He made curtains of goat hair for a Tent over the Tabernacle; he made them eleven curtains…

Song of Songs 1:5 I am black yet comely…like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Shlomo

The true mystery is behind the black curtains made of goat hair.  The place where there is no pain, no anxiety, no desires, but pure joy, where the artist’s face becomes radiant and no frown crosses the brow, where there is no obstacle, no stumbling block between the soul and its source, ki mei hashamayim al haarez (like the days of heaven upon the earth).

I think about the colorful curtains when walking in the Midwest fall and everything looks golden with some orange and red on the background of the bright blue sky.  The weather changes from summer to deep fall in a flash of bright color in the course of one week of Sukkot, just like the human life passes in a flash, catching a glimpse of beauty in a moment of respite.