“How are you intelligent? Knowing that intelligence is diverse, dynamic, and distinctive allows you to address that question in new ways. This is one of the core components of the Element. For when you explode your preconceived ideas about intelligence, you can begin to see your own intelligence in new ways. No person is a single intellectual score on a linear scale. And no two people with the same scores will do the same things, share all of the same passions, or accomplish the same amount with their lives. Discovering the Element is all about allowing yourself access to all of the ways in which you experience the world, and discovering where your own true strengths lie” (Ken Robinson, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, 51).
According to Robinson, the more we understand the expansive nature of the intelligence, the better we are able to uncover our own talents and the talents of others, a vision that we also find in this week’s parasha of Vayakhel-Pekudei, which recounts the conclusion of the construction of the mishkan.
In the two sections of the Torah which mentions Bezalel’s appointment to construct the mishkan, the Torah notes that Bezalel was appointed because he possessed specific intellectual qualities. The Torah states the following:
“And Moses said unto the children of Israel: See, the Lord called by the name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And he has filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom (hokhmah), in understanding (tevunah), and in knowledge (da’at), and in all manner of workmanship” (Shemot 35:30-31).
At first glance, it would appear that wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are redundant ways of saying that Bezalel was intelligent, yet our commentators argue that these three qualities each describe an essential aspect of what it means to acquire knowledge, and how God envisions that each of us might become a wise person in this world and in our spiritual callings.
Rashi glosses on the above verses by stating that each quality of Bezalel relates to three core aspects of study that begin with the personal and end with the divine. He writes:
“Hokhmah: What a person learns from others.
Tevunah: A wide understanding gained through intelligent application of what he has learned.
Da’at: The holy spirit.” (Rashi on Shemot 35:31)
Upon reading Rashi’s commentary, one notices two things. First, Rashi argues that each description of Bezalel’s intelligence relates to one’s ability to learn from others, for intelligence is not confined of what an individual can learn in a book, but rather emerges from learning in a spiritual community. Second, Rashi makes a linkage between Bezalel’s modes of intelligence and becoming joined to God on earth. For each quality, Rashi argues that the Torah deliberately specifies different types of intelligence because humanity’s quest for knowledge involves developing different skills and capacities, both human and divine.
In a late midrashic text, Pirke Rabbi Eliezer argues that the three types of intelligence mentioned in Sefer Shemot parallel the three qualities that formed the spiritual structure in which God created the world. The midrash states:
“In ten sayings the world was created...and in three it was finalized and these are they: Hokhmah, tevunah, and da’at as it is stated: “The Lord in hokhmah founded the earth, by tevunah established the heavens, by his da’at the depths were split asunder. With the same three the Mishkan was made, as it is stated: “I have filled with him the spirit of God, in hokhmah, tevunah, and da’at. With the same three was the Temple built, as it is stated: “...his father was a Tyrean worker in bronze. And he was filled with hokhmah, tevunah, and da’at. With the same three it is destined to be rebuilt, as it is stated, “With hokhmah shall the house be rebuilt, and in tevunah established and in da’at the rooms furnished” (Proverbs 24:3-4)” (Pirke Rabbi Eliezer 3).
The above midrash envisions a spiritual world in which our modes of intelligence are joined together in a cosmic fabric that makes God a part of each intellectual act. By extension, the Torah enumerates that Bezalel possessed wisdom, understanding and knowledge because the construction of the mishkan required a person whose intelligence reflected the holistic way in which God envisioned knowledge to exist in the world.
Finally, when modern Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn examined this passage from Shemot in his Biur, Mendelssohn argued that the triad of qualities possessed by Bezalel correspond to the various subjects and means by which a person can perfect their intellect. Mendelssohn writes:
“These three terms spell out what “the spirit of God” comprises. A knowledge of the technique by which we achieve our desires is termed hokhmah. Sometimes the desired goal is a theoretical one, at others a practical one. In this sense the sciences are divided into pure and applied...Tevunah refers to the ability to deduce one thing from another and achieve the unknown from the unknown...Da’at refers to the ability to perceive forms as they are whether they are sensory or extra-sensory” (Moses Mendelssohn, Biur on Exodus 35).
In this passage, Mendelssohn argues that just as there are multiple levels and modes of intelligence for every person, so too does the Torah argues that Bezalel was a perfect choice for constructing the mishkan because he possessed a multi-layered mind capable of the complex work required to construct a fitting spiritual place in which the Israelites could serve God.
Regardless of whether or not one finds more resonance in one of the three above commentaries, each commentary provides us an opportunity to expand our understanding of what intelligence means, and recognize that no form of intelligence operates independently, but rather each type feeds off other modes of intelligence. As a result, when building a learning community, each of us is challenged to help our students understanding the multi-layered nuances to what intelligence means, and help them develop a personal for how they engage with knowledge, Torah, and the Divine. In doing, we will ensure that our students have the opportunity to feel that every moment learning at Schechter is moment the student can be in their element.
Shabbat Shalom!
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