Community and Individuality: A Five-Fold Lesson

To the cursory eye, the names by which the 54 sections ("Parshiot") of the annual Torah-reading cycle are called seem quite incidental: a Parshah is almost always named after the first distinctive word to appear in its text. Chassidic teaching, however, which sees every event and phenomenon as specifically determined by Divine Providence, rejects the very concept of "incidence." Furthermore, says the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Chassidism teaches that the name of an object in the Holy Tongue constitutes its soul and essence; the Rebbe also points out that the word torah means "instruction," implying that there is nothing in Torah that is not instructive. Hence, the Rebbe concludes, there certainly cannot be anything "incidental" about the name of a section in Torah.

At his weekly Shabbat farbrengens the Rebbe would often dwell on the name of the Parshah read that week, demonstrating how this single word or phrase indeed enfolds within it the entire breadth and variety of the Parshah's contents, and how this Parshah name, when its nuances are analyzed and set against the other components of the Jewish calendar with which it intersects, carries a wealth of information and instruction to our daily lives.

We have already had the occasion to present a portion of the Rebbe's analysis of the Parshah names Vayak'hel and Pikudei. That, however, was just one stratum of the many-layered lesson he derived from the meanings of these names and from their relation to the contents of their Parshiot and to each other.

Transposed Headings?

Vayak'hel means "assembly" and "community," while the word Pikudei connotes itemization and individuality. So these two Parshiot, which follow each other in the Torah and on certain years are even joined together to form a single reading, express the conflict, interaction and paradox of these two components of the human soul: a) our need and desire to bond together in a communal identity; b) our need and desire for an individual identity distinct and unique from our fellows.

But the most amazing thing about Vayak'hel and Pikudei is not that both are given equal prominence in the Torah; nor that they appear in the Torah in such proximity to each other; and not even that these seemingly dichotomous concepts are often fused to form a single reading called Vayak'hel-Pikudei. The most amazing thing about these two Parshah names is that they seem to have switched places! For if we look beyond these names to actual content their respective Parshiot, we discover that the content of the Parshah that carries the name Vayak'hel would seem to be most appropriately named Pikudei, while the content of the Parshah of Pikudei begs the name Vayak'hel!

Vayak'hel (Exodus 35:1-38:20)and Pikudei (38:21-40:38) describe the construction and assembly of the Mishkan—the portable Sanctuary built by the people of Israel as a "dwelling for G‑d in the physical world." Vayak'hel begins by telling how Moses assembled the people to command them on the observance of Shabbat and the making of the Sanctuary; this act of assembly gives the Parshah its name (vayak'hel means "and he assembled" and is a form of the word kahal, "congregation"). But the remainder of the Parshah is filled with the particulars of the Mishkan's construction. Each of the Sanctuary's dozens of components is individually listed and described: its roof coverings, wall panels, foundation sockets, pillars, braces, brackets and curtains; the Ark, the Table, the Menorah, the two Altars, even the washbasin and its pedestal. We are given the exact dimensions of these components, the materials out of which they were made, the details of their design.

Pikudei means "accounts," and the Parshah begins with the statement, "These are the accounts of the Mishkan..." The etymological root of Pikudei, pakod, means to count, to remember, and to appoint—all expressing the concept of itemization, of particular attention to detail (in modern Hebrew, a pakid is a bureaucrat). But while Pikudei also includes details of the Sanctuary's construction (specifically, those of the priestly garments), a major part of the Parshah is devoted to the Mishkan's assembly. In Pikudei the Torah relates how the components listed and described in Vayak'hel were fitted together to form the Sanctuary, and how the Divine Presence came to dwell in the completed structure. Indeed, the parts of the Mishkan, even as each was fashioned in perfect concurrence with its divine specifications, could not house the Divine Presence until they were assembled to collectively form the whole Mishkan.

In other words, Parshah of Vayak'hel is taken up with the individual natures of the Sanctuary's parts, while Pikudei describes how these combine to form the greater structure---the very opposite of what each Parshah's name means!

Five Lessons

In light of all the above, let us summarize the various ways in which the concepts of "community" and "individuality" are presented to us by the Torah via the Parshah names Vayak'hel and Pikudei:

Each of these nuances, says the Rebbe, is significant. Each illuminates the relationship between our individual and communal identities:

1) The fact that the Torah contains two Parshiot, one called Vayak'hel and the other called Pikudei, means that our need for communality and our striving for individual distinction are both important and desirable components of the human soul.

2) If, however, Vayak'hel and Pikudei were only to appear in the Torah as two separate Parshiot, this would imply that while both are necessary, each has its time and place: that there are times when our communality must be emphasized (to the negation of our individuality), and there are times when an assertion of individuality is called for (albeit disruptive to our communality). We would not know that the two could be integrated. The fact that, on certain years, Vayak'hel and Pikudei are joined to form a single reading, teaches us that we can, and should, achieve a synthesis of the two: a community that is not a faceless mass but a community of individuals, each contributing his or her distinct personality and capabilities toward the communal goal, with the community, in turn, providing the framework within which each can strive for his or her personal best.

3) On the other hand, if Vayak'hel and Pikudei were to appear only in their joint form, this would imply that the only desirable objective is the achievement of some sort of balance between these contrasting drives—a balance that may well entails a compromise of one or the other (or of both). Perhaps our individuality has value only in that it contributes in some way to the community; or perhaps the sole function of community is to provide a framework for the development of the individual. We would not know that each is also an end unto itself. The fact that Vayak'hel and Pikudei also appear in the Torah as two separate readings teaches us that—in addition to the objective of integrating the two— individuality and community are viable objectives in their own right as well. Individual perfection has value independently of how this contributes to the communal good; and the creation of a community is likewise an end unto itself, for it represents a state of being that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

4) We have seen how community ("Vayak'hel") and individuality ("Pikudei") each represent a desirable goal, and how they can be integrated to form a third model, a community of individuals ("Vayak'hel-Pikudei"). But the Torah goes even further. It tells us that even when each is considered as an end unto itself, the two are inexorably bound with each other. This is the lesson to be derived from the fact that the content of "Vayak'hel" is the nature of individual things, while "Pikudei" contains the description of how diverse parts are joined into a greater whole. The Torah is telling us even when the objective is solely the creation of a perfect community, the most perfect community is a community comprised of individuals who are fully in touch with and exercising of their individuality (as Vayak'hel, even as a Parshah on its own, is comprised of manifestly individual parts). And the Torah is telling us even when the objective is exclusively the realization of individual potential, an individual can optimally actualize his uniqueness only as a member of a community (as the Parshah of Pikudei includes the creation of community).

5) The question remaining is: Which should come first? Logic would seem to dictate that individual development ("Pikudei") should come before community building ("Vayak'hel"): first one needs the parts, and then one can assemble these parts into the greater organism. So the initial emphasis, it would seem, should be on the perfection of the individual, after which these perfected individuals could be knit into the ideal community. The Torah, however, places Vayak'hel before Pikudei, teaching us that the very opposite is the case: our very first objective must be to bring people together, regardless of their individual state. Personal perfection will follow, fostered by the love and fellowship we show towards each other.