(א) בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּ֒שָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה:
(1) Blessed are You, Adonoy our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who sanctified us with commandments and commanded us to be engrossed in the words of Torah.
(10) And let all among you who are skilled come and make all that יהוה has commanded: (11) the Tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its clasps and its planks, its bars, its posts, and its sockets; (12) the ark and its poles, the cover, and the curtain for the screen; (13) the table, and its poles and all its utensils; and the bread of display; (14) the lampstand for lighting, its furnishings and its lamps, and the oil for lighting; (15) the altar of incense and its poles; the anointing oil and the aromatic incense; and the entrance screen for the entrance of the Tabernacle; (16) the altar of burnt offering, its copper grating, its poles, and all its furnishings; the laver and its stand; (17) the hangings of the enclosure, its posts and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; (18) the pegs for the Tabernacle, the pegs for the enclosure, and their cords; (19) the service vestments for officiating in the sanctuary, the sacral vestments of Aaron the priest and the vestments of his sons for priestly service. (20) So the whole community of the Israelites left Moses’ presence. (21) And everyone who excelled in ability and everyone whose spirit was moved came, bringing to יהוה an offering for the work of the Tent of Meeting and for all its service and for the sacral vestments. (22) Men and women, all whose hearts moved them, all who would make an elevation offering of gold to יהוה, came bringing brooches, earrings, rings, and pendants —gold objects of all kinds. (23) And everyone who possessed blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, goats’ hair, tanned ram skins, and dolphin skins, brought them; (24) everyone who would make gifts of silver or copper brought them as gifts for יהוה; and everyone who possessed acacia wood for any work of the service brought that. (25) And all the skilled women spun with their own hands, and brought what they had spun, in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen. (26) And all the women who excelled in that skill spun the goats’ hair. (27) And the chieftains brought lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece; (28) and spices and oil for lighting, for the anointing oil, and for the aromatic incense. (29) Thus the Israelites, all the men and women whose hearts moved them to bring anything for the work that יהוה, through Moses, had commanded to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to יהוה.
(ז) והמלאכה היתה דים ומלאכת המתנדבים בכל דבר שהתנדבו היתה די לעושי מלאכת המשכן:
(7) והמלאכה היתה דים, the work performed by volunteers for all spheres of the artisanship and craftsmanship required was adequate for the needs of the project
AND THEY CAME, EVERY ONE WHOSE HEART STIRRED HIM UP. This is said with reference to the wise men who did the work, for we do not find the use of this phrase, “the stirring up of the heart,” in connection with those who merely brought the donations; Scripture rather mentions “generosity of heart” with reference to them. Now the reason for using such a phrase, whose heart stirred him up, is because they undertook to do the work, although there was no one amongst them who had learned these crafts from an instructor, or had trained his hands at all to do them. Rather, a person who felt in his nature that he knew how to do such skills, his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Eternal to come before Moses and say to him, “I will do all that my lord speaks.” I have already mentioned this in another section. Thus Scripture is stating that there came before Moses every one whose heart stirred him up to undertake the work, and every one whom his spirit made willing brought the offering. Then Moses said to all of them that G-d had called by name Bezalel, and Oholiab. Afterwards Moses called them and every wise-hearted man to come before him, and he gave them the whole donation [brought by the people so that they could proceed to do the work].
Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen, "Fulfilling Our Potential," https://www.aish.com/tp/i/gl/Fulfilling_Our_Potential.html
There is a well-known principle that God grants us a unique set of talents with which they can fulfill their potential in life. Whilst this is certainly true it seems that it can be somewhat misapplied: As we grow up we naturally become aware of our strengths and weaknesses - there is the tendency that we can limit our activities to areas in which our strengths lie and ignore those fields in which we fell less able. For example, a person may feel that he is adept at speaking in front of small groups but that he cannot speak in front of large audiences. Thus, even when there is a necessity for someone to speak in such a setting, he will shy away from the responsibility because he has 'pigeon-holed' himself as being unable to speak in front of many people.
We learn from the Ramban that this is an erroneous attitude - the people who stepped forward to work in the Mishkan had no awareness that they were able to perform such skilled crafts - however, as a result of their devotion to Hashem they found hitherto untapped talents that could be used to fulfill God's will. So too, in our own lives there may be times when there is a need for a certain task to be performed and we may feel that we are unable to perform it. [...] If we dedicate ourselves to doing God's will then surely God will bring out in us hidden talents.
Rabbi Shefa Gold, "VaYakhel," https://www.rabbishefagold.com/vayakhel/
VaYakhel blesses us with the awareness of the true nature of the heart that is unconstrained by fear. Even though the disaster of the Golden Calf is still a fresh memory, Moses can look out at us and see that our true nature is ruled by a generous heart. When he calls on the gifts and talents and generosity of the people, he does not do so only for what they come to offer to the communal project. He is calling the people to know their own gifts and to experience the blessing of a generous heart.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "The Spirit of Community," https://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/vayakhel/the-spirit-of-community/
What Moses had to do after the Golden Calf was Vayakhel – turn the Israelites into a kehillah, a community. He did this in the obvious sense of restoring order. When Moses came down the mountain and saw the Calf, the Torah says the people were pru’ah, meaning “wild,” “disorderly,” “chaotic,” “unruly,” “tumultuous.” He “saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies." They were not a community but a crowd. He did it in a more fundamental sense as we see in the rest of the parsha. He began by reminding the people of the laws of Shabbat. Then he instructed them to build the Mishkan, the Sanctuary, as a symbolic home for God.
Why these two commands rather than any others? Because Shabbat and the Mishkan are the two most powerful ways of building community. The best way of turning a diverse, disconnected group into a team is to get them to build something together. Hence the Mishkan. The best way of strengthening relationships is to set aside dedicated time when we focus not on the pursuit of individual self interest but on the things we share, by praying together, studying Torah together, and celebrating together – in other words, Shabbat. Shabbat and the Mishkan were the two great community-building experiences of the Israelites in the desert.
Marisa Elana James, "Building God’s Beautiful Bayit; or Queer Eye for the Desert Mishkan," https://www.keshetonline.org/resources/building-gods-beautiful-bayit-or-queer-eye-for-the-desert-mishkan-parashat-vayakhel-and-parashat-pekudei/
In the building of the Mishkan, the children of Israel become artists. Yes, there are specific instructions for how to build it, but each member of the community, we are told, gives what they can: their goods, their effort, and their talent. And we are privileged to read about the results in loving, careful, artistic detail. Beauty is a necessity, both for Moses and the Israelites then, and for us now.
And in our work towards social justice and equal treatment, it can be hard to raise our heads from the struggle and appreciate the sheer beauty of the communities we have created. Just as the Isarelites found beauty in the creation of the Mishkan, it’s also necessary for us to move beyond our painful interactions with the world and take delight in the places where we are accepted and loved for all of our different aspects.
How do we do this in our daily lives? I live in New York City, where I’m constantly so inundated by my surroundings that it’s easy to block it all out. But sometimes, I need to stop and listen to a street performer with a beautiful voice. Watch my friends’ sleeping newborn children and imagine their dreams. Delight in the amazing diversity of the communities that have welcomed me, and in the beautiful visions we share of the world we’re trying to create. It isn’t enough to simply notice the beauty of the world—it’s necessary that we each bring our diverse talents and gifts to continue the work of making our world into a Mishkan where God can reside.