FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 39

MAZEL TOV!

Sasha Edyth 
Shepherd, 
daughter of 
Melissa and 
Aaron Shepherd, 
will become a 
bat mitzvah on Saturday, 
Feb. 26, 2022, at a 
Havdalah service at Tam- 
O-Shanter Country Club. 
Rabbi Joseph Krakoff will 
lead the ceremony. She will 
be joined by her older sister 
Alexa. Sasha is the grand-
child of Helene and Edward 
Kaplan, and Susan and 
David Shepherd; she is the 
loving great-granddaughter 
of the late Betty and Sol 
Steinlauf, Evelyn and Ben 
Shepherd, Edyth and Adoph 
Lebovitz, and Hilda and 
Morris Kaplan. 
Sasha is a student at 
West Hills Middle School 
in Bloomfield Hills. For her 
mitzvah project she made 
and sold jewelry, then 
donated all the proceeds 
to American Diabetes 
Association’s Camp Midicha 
to help send diabetic kids 
to camp. Sasha found this 
rewarding because her sis-
ter is a Type 1 diabetic.

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SPIRIT

Honoring Teachers
A

fter the plans are all 
laid out, it is time to 
get to work. That’s 
what Parashat Vayakhel 
tells us. 
For several weeks, 
we’ve been hearing about 
the plans for building 
the mishkan, the portable 
sanctuary that the Jewish 
people will carry with 
them on the trip to the 
Land of Israel. Even the 
incident of the Golden 
Calf, which we read last 
week, couldn’t derail the 
plan. And now it is time 
to get building.
After the most successful 
fundraising campaign in his-
tory (check out the parasha 
for that), we learn that God 
has appointed two people to 
be the lead craftsmen and to 
work with the people. God has 
singled out Bezalel, “endowing 
him with a divine spirit, skill, 
ability and knowledge in every 
kind of craft.” Oholiab will be 
Betzalel’s assistant in leading 
the work.
Our tradition describes 
Betzalel’s skills as even super-
seding those of Moses when 
it comes to certain aspects of 

building the Tabernacle. His 
name, Bezalel, meaning “in the 
shadow of God” gives us a sense 
that he had special access 
to artistic inspiration. 
In particular, Moses 
seems to have had a diffi-
cult time envisioning how 
the Menorah should look. 
God even showed him a 
vision of the Menorah, 
but Moses still had trou-
ble. Eventually, God told 
Moses to go to Betzalel 
who made it with ease. 
Perhaps less noticed, 
but crucial nonetheless, 
is the fact that Bezalel 
is described as a person who 
can give direction and can 
teach. Bezalel was able to share 
his skill and ability with oth-
ers. This isn’t always the case. 
People with extraordinary skill 
can often create exquisite work, 
but not all of them have the 
ability or willingness to share 
their process with others so that 
they can also make the most of 
their own skills. 
Some might even wonder 
if teaching is the best use of 
Bezalel’s time and energy. 
After all, this is a person at the 
top of his field, so to speak. 

Wouldn’t it be better to leave 
Bezalel to his work so that he 
could focus on this project? 
After all, Bezalel wasn’t even 
working on his own behalf; 
this project was for the good 
of the entire people. 
Ultimately, the Torah tells us 
that part of Bezalel’s unique-
ness is his ability to teach oth-
ers how to create. Teaching is 
part of his greatness. 
These past few years have 
been extremely challenging 
ones for teachers. These people 
have shown great strength and 
creativity in sharing what they 
know with people of all ages 
under challenging conditions. 
We owe a great deal of gratitude 
for their teaching even under 
normal circumstances, but 
especially now. 
Ultimately, perhaps it wasn’t 
his artistic craft that informs 
Bezalel’s name as one who is 
“in the shadow of God,” but 
his ability as a teacher. Seen 
that way, all teachers learn 
their craft from God, the orig-
inal Teacher. 

Rabbi Steven Rubenstein is rabbi 

of Congregation Beth Ahm in West 

Bloomfield.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Steven 
Rubenstein

Parshat 

Vayakhel: 

Exodus 35:1-

38:20; I Kings 

7:40-50.

