Va’yakhel Moshe et kol edat bnei yisrael va’yomer ahleihem … Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them … (Shmot 35:1, JPS English translation).
What does it mean to congregate or convoke a group or community of people? Parashat Va’Yakhel begins with Moses calling the people together and reviewing the laws and commandments that God had just given on Mount Sinai, particularly the injunctions to observe Shabbat and the details of how to construct the mishkan, the portable desert sanctuary. In using the verb Va’yakhel, the Torah draws a direct connection to the narrative of the Golden Calf which appears prior to Moses assembling the people.
In Shmot 32:1, we read that “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron (Va’Yikahel ha’am al Aharon) and said to him, ‘Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt – we do not know what has happened to him.” In the Golden Calf narrative, the people gathered to make a symbol for God’s presence in their midst. Similarly, when Moses gathers the people at the beginning of this week’s Torah reading, it is for the purpose of instructing the people how to build the real sanctuary where God is to dwell among the people. The linguistic connection between the two narratives is reinforced by the similar purpose of each of these gatherings.
Rashi’s commentary on our verse in Shmot 35 is instructive for both a better understanding of the verb Va’yakhel and to strengthen the connection between Moses gathering the people and the narrative of the Golden Calf when the people gathered against Aaron. Rashi writes that Moses assembled the people on the day after Yom Kippur when he descended from the mountain. The Mizrachi, a supercommentary on Rashi, explains that Rashi’s view that Moses descended on the day after Yom Kippur stems from the use of the verb Va’yakhel in the two narratives. The central purpose of Moses’ congregating the people was to collect gold contributions to build the mishkan, the place where God has indicated that God will dwell among the people. This collection of gold atones for the collection of gold used in building the Golden Calf and therefore it makes sense why Moses would immediately congregate the people upon his descent from the mountain to make atonement for this sin.
The verb Va’yakhel, Rashi further indicates, is in the verbal form (Hiphil) that expresses the idea of causing a thing to be done, since one does not actually assemble or congregate people with one’s hands. Rashi’s intent here, again according to Mizrachi, is not just to point out the hiphil usage, but to give the reason why the root khl is used in that conjugation and not in the simple grammatical form when it would denote to collect people together. Khl is used only when referring to people, who are not collected together, but are brought together. Other roots, such as qbz and asph are used when referring to objects or animals, but only khl may be used when referring to people.
To congregate or convoke people then really means to bring them together around an idea. We are drawn to join others when a compelling idea or vision is offered, not when we are forced or collected as we do with objects or animals. This is why I believe the root word used in “congregation” is the same root as in the word “community.” We call our synagogues and communities, kehilah kadosha, sacred community, because they represent a coming together, unifying around a shared purpose or value. Of course, as with all things, coming together can be for both positive ends like constructing the mishkan or for destructive ends such as the Golden Calf. One of our tasks is to use the power of congregation for positive outcomes.