Ki Tisa: Betzalel’s Inheritance from His Grandmother

I have endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability and knowledge in every kind of craft. To make designs for work in gold, silver and copper, to cut stones for settings and to carve wood…’ 

Parshat Ki Tisa, another in the series of the parshiot focusing on the Mishkan and its avoda, introduces us to the head of all the construction: Betzalel. Betzalel was barely a man, only 13 years of age, when he was appointed to this illustrious position. Yet, he is praised as being full of the G-dly wisdom enabling him to create the Divine artistry required for the Mishkan. Betzalel’s job was one that we are told Moshe was not even capable of. Where did this young teenager acquire the necessary skill and merit to oversee all the artistic labor of the Mishkan? His great grandmother: Miriam.

Hashem instructs Moshe to appoint Betzalel “son of Uri, son of Chur” as chief of the Mishkan’s construction. The Midrash focuses on the mention of Chur, and highlights that it was in Chur’s merit that the young bachur, Betzalel, was chosen for the job. It started in the desert, during the 40 days that Moshe ascended Har Sinai. On the final day, when Moshe had not yet returned, panic began to spread. The Jews grew increasingly despondent over Moshe’s delay and the frantic mob started preparing for the Eigel Hazahav: one of the most catastrophic sins of Jewish history. In all the hubbub, there was one man amongst the people who opposed the action and the hysteria. He stood up, risking his own life for Hashem’s name. That man was Chur. 

Chur protested against the terrible sin of the Golden Calf and as a result, he was killed. He sacrificed his life for the truth. Chur was a man who was not afraid of going against the grain, of choosing right over easy. For this reason, he was given a grandson who understood the deep divine artistry required for the Mishkan. The Jews were a band of ex-slaves, having worked with straw and mortar. What did they know of precious stones, gold and silver, embroidered threads? They lacked both knowledge and experience. The project required precision and expertise that a layman simply wouldn’t have. For the grandson of Chur, who had such mesirut nefesh for Hashem’s will, the proficiency came easily. 

In truth, Chur was not the first in his ancestral line to act in this way. It started with his righteous great grandmother, Miriam. Deeply entrenched into Egyptian persecution, the Jewish people were broken. Their spirit was subdued, their bodies bent over and their desire to continue bringing new life into the world shattered. Even the wise leader of the nation, Amram, advised Jewish couples to separate, despairing of hope for a salvation and praying that no more Jewish children be born into a life of eternal suffering. It was his courageous daughter Miriam who stood up against the decree. Miriam accused her father of actions worse than Pharaoh, because while Pharaoh killed all the baby boys, Amram would prevent the birth of both boys and girls. Miriam had a prophecy about the redemption of her nation and held complete conviction that she would live to see this salvation. Indeed, it was the reuniting of her parents which produced the savior of Miriam’s vision: Moshe Rabbeinu. 

We must gird ourselves with the strength, faith and fortitude to stand up for what is right for the sake of our daughters and granddaughters who will follow after us.

With her bravery and fortitude, Miriam became the eternal progenitor of mesirut nefesh. She would be the ancestor of the one who stood up against the Egel, and the one who had the artistic skill to construct the Mishkan. Against all odds, Miriam stood up with incredible courage, and against all odds, she equipped her descendants to do the same. The Medrash in Eshet Chayil aligns Miriam’s actions with the pasuk ‘chagra b’oz matneha’ which means ‘She girded her loins with strength and she strengthened her arms.’ Miriam’s entire essence embodied strength, she steadfastly clung to her prophecy, despite even her wise father questioning her. At the lowest time for the Jewish people, where physical labor was torturous and emotional turmoil was crippling, Miriam’s words of hope lit a spark. The spark of mesirut nefesh. Her strength lived on through Chur’s opposition to the Egel and in each stone carved by Betzalel. Such a woman merited to bring Jews into the world possessed of a unique inner strength. 

When we learn this piece of Torah, it simultaneously casts our eyes both to the past and the future. It compels us to look at the bold acts of courage we have undertaken to keep Torah even amidst difficulty, and see if we can find a righteous grandmother somewhere in whose merit we draw renewed strength. Often we find that our fierce desire to do what is right was gifted to us by a special ancestor who clung to Hashem in a great act of self-sacrifice. Yet, it is not sufficient to merely cast our eyes backward, and see how our grandmothers filled our spiritual buckets with strength. We must look ahead, to the generation that is to come. 

We must gird ourselves with the strength, faith and fortitude to stand up for what is right for the sake of our daughters and granddaughters who will follow after us. So that one day, they can say of us ‘chagra b’oz matneha.’ So that one day, when a challenge arises, they will have the strength to do what is right. So that we can be that righteous great-grandmother who creates a legacy of unbreakable spiritual strength. Let us re-commit to keeping Torah and mitzvot no matter what the waves of exile will bring upon us, and let us set a path in its waters of unwavering loyalty to Hashem so that all the Jewish people can follow our well-trodden path.