The people were wandering through the desert with their unicorns, and stopped to create the ancient equivalent of Burning Man. So many people contributed materials and craftsmanship that they were told to stop giving. You’re being too generous!
And a backstory about women being praised for seducing men.
Bonus feature: Lauren addresses the violence in the Torah. Why can’t we all just get along? Why are people killed, or threatened to be killed if they violate the most important communal rules?
In the audio, I compared the current track record of non-war-related killings of co-religionists and outsiders between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. (I didn’t even mention gang warfare, mafia, or drug cartels, which sometimes involve religious people killing each other.) Listeners who are atheist or non-religious tend to pat themselves on the back going, “Atheists never kill anyone. Go us!”
Well… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in the 20th century more people were murdered by atheist regimes than religious ones. The biggest death toll, by far, comes from Communists. Perhaps Communism will follow the same trajectory as I theorized religions do: bloody for the first thousand years or so, then calm down and stop killing people so much. But unfortunately, for now, Communists are still in that kill-everyone-who-opposes-us phase.
Shabbat shalom!
Va-Yakhel: Gather for a Massive Community Arts Project