Rabbi Weill's Blog

Dear Friends,

Generations of bar mitzvah boys have proclaimed "Today I am a man." It is hard to imagine any 13-year-old boy as a real man. But in this week's Torah portion, God identifies Bezalel as the Israelite who will oversee the building of the tabernacle and, according to Talmud, he was only 13 years old!

When I was 13, I couldn't finish building a sturdy Lincoln Log cabin -- and Bezalel was the general contractor over the entire Mishkan project??

Torah explains that God endowed the fresh-faced teen with wisdom, insight and knowledge. Rashi elucidated that Bezalel's wisdom was that which he learned from others; his insight derived from his openness to new ideas; and his knowledge was straightforward divine inspiration.

We can learn from the lad. We are often stuck in our own opinions and bound by our own prejudices. If we could be more open to others' wisdom and willing to entertain new ideas that would be enough divine inspiration for most of us.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Jeffrey Weill

February 15th, 2024