The twenty-second and twenty-third portions of Torah are read in a single week as part of our need to compress an occasionally cumbersome Bible into a calendar year. This won't be last time we have to make this accomodation, but fortunately most are pairs that work as menaingful and insightful couples. Here at the end of Exodus, Torah is mostly concerned with the final stages of completing the Tabernacle. The fixtures and fittings, the construction and overlays, the garments and decorations, and how they shold be produced. But at the heart of the story is the idea that 'all Israelites whose heart so moves them' should contribute to this project. We can never lose sight of this essential truth at the heart of Jewish religious practice - it is, and always was, an entirely voluntary undertaking. In so many faiths throughout the world's history, identification and custom were demanded, not suggested, and the consequences of non-participation were grave. In fact, that social construction continues in many parts of the world even now. In essence, more than a place of worship and devotion, Moses and the Israelites were building a place of light - a beautiful, if occasionally blinding, beacon that would ward these early Jews from shoals, and guide them towards their destination in the Promised Land.