Daily Bitachon

Vayakhel Spiritual vs Religious

Lectured by Rabbi David Sutton

Published: March 17, 2023
Duration: 05:05

Mitzvot and God’s Presence

Rabbi David Sutton teaches that performing Mitzvot exactly as prescribed brings God’s Shechina and Hashgacha Pratit into our lives. Good intentions alone are not enough; the Mitzvot must be done properly.
The Kuzari wrote an entire safer to explain that wanting to come close to God and doing what one personally thinks is right is insufficient. Spirituality follows a precise system: just as a seed grows only when the proper ingredients are present, spiritual results depend on following the conditions God established.

Spirituality, Religion, and Taking Matters into Our Own Hands

Rabbi David Sutton distinguishes spirituality from religion: spirituality does not necessarily involve rules and regulations, while religion does. The Kuzari’s point is that a person cannot simply be spiritual; one must be religious and follow God’s prescribed rules.
He identifies this as the mistake of the Golden Calf: the people took religion into their own hands and made the calf despite God’s prohibition, believing it would help them come close to Hashem without Moshe Rabbenu.
He connects this mistake to Adam HaRishon, who thought that eating from the Eitz HaDaat and then overcoming his desire would bring greater honor to God. Adam, too, took religion into his own hands.

The Mishkan and Shabbat

Our task is to humble ourselves and recognize that we are setting up a receptacle through our actions for God to enter our lives.
In Vayakhel/Pekudei, the building of the Mishkan is described with the phrase “Ka’asher Tziva Hashem Et Moshe/Exactly as God prescribed” 18 times. The Bet Halevi says that the sin of the Golden Calf was failing to follow those exact rules; following them exactly repairs that failure and brings the Shechina.
Although we no longer have a Mishkan or Bet Hamikdash, Vayakhel/Pekudei also discusses Shabbat, which Rabbi David Sutton describes as a sanctuary in time and a day of the Shechina and spirituality.
Shabbat, too, must be observed according to its rules and regulations, rather than according to how a person feels. Some requirements may seem mundane or practical, such as separating peas from carrots or making tea or coffee, but Rabbi David Sutton says the issue is not whether God “cares” about those details: the spiritual world, like the physical world, has a nature whose workings are known only to the Creator.

Pesach and Matzah

Rabbi David Sutton says this principle is important as Pesach approaches. Rav Yerucham Levovitz and a student of Rov Wolbe also discussed it.
Matzah must be eaten according to the rules: one must lean on the left side, and if one leans on the right side, one must eat it again. Treating the difference as insignificant, he says, is like asking whether an intravenous should go into a vein or a muscle.
He describes Matzah as an intravenous, the bread of healing and the bread of Emunah; it must be eaten the right way in order to work.

Precision and the Closing Lesson

Rabbi David Sutton recalls people building transistor radios: components had to be placed and soldered correctly, or the radio would not play or receive radio waves. Their precise placement mattered even if it was not obvious why.
He applies the analogy to Tefilin: if they are not in the middle of the head, or hang down on the forehead, “the radio waves don’t come down.”
His concluding lesson is that spirituality alone is not enough: one must be religious and follow the rules and regulations that bring God’s Presence.

One of the important things that we have to believe in is that with the Mitzvot that we do, following the rules exactly brings God’s Shechina, brings His divine presence upon us, and brings His Hashgacha Pratit upon us. Everything that we do is in order to bring Hashem's Presence into our lives. But it has nothing to do with just good intentions. One must do the Mitzvot as they are properly prescribed.

The Kuzari wrote an entire safer to explain that it's not enough just to say, “I want to come close to God and I'll do whatever I think is right.” There's an exact science. It is doesn't work based on logic. Just like he says, Logically, you put a seed in the ground and it grows? It's not logic. It's God that set into motion a certain nature, that when you put water in the proper ingredients, the seed grows. If you lack those ingredients, the seed won't grow. He says the same is true of spirituality. People often say they’re spiritual - a term used often today. They say, “I'm a spiritual person.” But the difference between being spiritual and religious is that religion comes with certain rules and regulations. Spirituality lacks that.

And that's the Kuzari’s point. You can't just be spiritual, you have to be religious. That was the mistake of the Golden Calf. They decided to take religion into their own hands. They made a Golden Calf, even though God said not to, because they felt that was the way to get close to Hashem without Moshe Rabbenu. This even goes back to Adam HaRishon. Adam thought, “If I eat from the Eitz HaDaat, and I have some desire, and then I I overcome my desire, it'll bring a greater honor for God's name.” And again, Adam took religion into his own hands.

Our job is to humble ourselves and realize that we're just going through the motions and setting up a receptacle to bring God down into our lives. That is why, in this week's Parasha, Vayakhel/Pekudei, is all about building the Mishkan, it says 18 times, “Ka’asher Tziva Hashem Et Moshe/Exactly as God prescribed.” The Bet Halevi says the whole sin of the Golden Calf was not following those exact rules.

And so, to fix it, we must follow the rules exactly. That brings the Shechina down. We don't have a Mishkan today. We don't have a Bet Hamikdash. But Vayakhel/ Peludei also talks about Shabbat. Shabbat is also a sanctuary, a sanctuary of time. Shabbat is

also a day of the Shechina, a day of spirituality. But spirituality alone does not work. You need religion. Shabbat must be followed exactly. It's not up to us to decide this is the way I feel. No, there are rules and regulations; things that might seem very mundane or very practical and not at all spiritual.

“Does God care,” people will say, “how I separate my peas from my carrots?”

“Does God care how I make my tea, or my coffee?”

That's like saying, “Does God care if I leave my roses out in the summertime without watering them?”

It's not about God caring. There’s a nature; just like there's a nature in the physical world, there's a nature in the spiritual world. And the only one that knows how that nature works is the Creator, and that's God. And that's our whole religion. It's important when it comes to the holiday of Pesach, which we're approaching. Rav Yerucham Levovitz discussed this, as well as a student of Rov Wolbe- there are lot of activities that come with the holidays.You have to eat the Matzah, but you can't just eat any old Matzah. There are certain rules and regulations… you have to lean on your left side. If you lean on your right side, you have to eat it again. ‘Come on. What's the difference?’ Well, that’s like saying, “What's the difference if the intravenous goes into the vein or it goes into the muscle?”

It's all the difference in the world! The intravenous has to get into your system. Matzah is intravenous. It's called the bread of healing. It's the bread of Emunah, but you have to eat it the right way in order for it to work.

This important lesson must be part of our belief system- a believe in the rules and regulations that bring down God's Presence. It doesn't just happen arbitrarily.

I remember, in the old days, people used to build their own transistor radios.

There was a board with holes in it, and you put in the different pieces and soldered them in, and then, lo and behold, it became an am/fm radio and you'd get all excited. But if you were one off, and you soldered something a little off, the radio wouldn’t play.

What's the difference where that transistor is placed or how you soldered it? Well, if it's not done right, it's not going to pick up the radio waves.

So too, if your Tefilin are not in the middle of your head, or if they're hanging down on your forehead, the radio waves don't come down.

This is important. You can't just be spiritual, you have to be religious. You have to follow the rules and regulations. And that's the important message in this week's Parasha.

I hope this message is clear.

Mitzvot and God’s Presence

Spirituality, Religion, and Taking Matters into Our Own Hands

The Mishkan and Shabbat

Pesach and Matzah

Precision and the Closing Lesson

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