As I listened to podcasts and read commentary this week, many of them focused on generosity. It is a very important part of this parsha and teaches us a very important lesson. In Exodus 35:5 Moses told the people that HaShem commanded a donation from (using the Richard Elliott Friedman translation) "everyone whose heart is moved". He then gave a list of the required items. The list goes on until Exodus 35:20, when the "congregation of the children" came to Moses and brought a contribution.
Verse 22 is interesting, "and the men came together with the women". Friedman's commentary notes that Torah commentators have found this intriguing since the beginning of Torah commenatary. One of the sources of this intrigue is that the Hebrew usually just uses the masculine plural to refer to a mixed group. But here, the writer uses both the masculine plural and the feminine plural, indicating that there should be emphasis on the women. This has to mean something. According to Friedman, there are several traditonal answers.
- Ibn Ezra says that it's just a grammatical thing, and the Torah is pointing out that the ladies were simply present with the men.
- Rashi gives the women a little more credit. He says that the verse is saying that the women were already there, giving their gifts, when the men arrived to give theirs.
- Sforno gives the women no credit. He says that it means the men accompanied the women in order to agree with their gifts, because they would not be accepted otherwise.
- Ramban has still a different take, one that increases the merit of the Israelite women. He notes that the women are given significance. He also notes that the donated items include jewelry. Since the men gave their jewelry to make the Golden Calf, these donations must have come from the women.
I think Ibn Ezra oversimplifies. It is a relatively rare occurrance for the Torah to mention women, so mentioning them must be significant and not just grammar. The other three ideas make more sense, logically. I think that the real reasons are probably a combination of all three. The women might well have arrived before the men, offering their jewelry since it wasn't destroyed with the Golden Calf, and the men followed along since the women had no right of ownership to almost anything. Logical. Reasonable. But also very generous and a sign of great virtue.
More generous and more virtuous than the men? I don't know about that. The fact of the matter is, the gifts were still given, and in vast quantities. One of the things that we've been marvelling about in Torah study at my synagogue is just how much gold, silver, and bronze were required. In Exodus 36:5, the amounts become even more mind-boggling.
In fact, Exodus 36:5 has become a central command in Judaism. Friedman translates it this way: "and they [the artisans working on the Tabernacle] said to Moses, saying 'The people are bringing more than enough for the construction, for the work that HaShem has commanded, to do it!'" If it's even possible, the people were too generous, but that's not even the most significant lesson of this story.What we really learn is that, even though we're commanded to give back to our communities and we therefore have no choice about it, we must do it because we've made the choice to do so. In the Friedman translation, the text says things like "everyone whose heart is moved" and "everyone whose heart inspired him". There's nothing obligatory or perfunctory in either of those phrases. The other thing that I notice is that the Israelites have limited resources, they've been asked for donations before, and yet, they still give very freely.
This is an important lesson for us today. In our current economic climate, our neighbors are struggling. There are a great many organizations that depend on donations, from public radio to food banks. Some help the public in general, others help only those with specific needs, but all need donations right now. We owe it to our fellow community members to share what we have, but we also have to remember that it is our commandment to give, and HaShem words that commandment to include inspiration toward generousity. I think that a good way to ensure that we are giving because our hearts are moved to give is to choose to support organizations whose goals allign with our own. It is our duty.
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