Up close and meaningful

When people look back on an enjoyable holiday or a family gathering, they often forget the challenges that went with it. The suitcase that was lost, the child who fell ill, the jet lag, the long airport queues, moments that felt frustrating at the time somehow fade from memory. 

For others, the opposite happens. A wonderful holiday can be overshadowed by a single unpleasant experience at the end. Perhaps an argument just before leaving the airport or an encounter with a rude passenger on the flight home, it colours the memory of the entire trip. 

Why does this happen? 

Psychologist Daniel Kahneman explained that we should think of experience and memory as two different things. Experience is how we live through an event in real time. Memory is how we remember that event once it is over. 

Our memories aren’t perfect recordings of what actually happened. Instead, they’re shaped by emotion, perspective, and especially by the way an experience ends. The story we later tell ourselves about an event can become more powerful than the event itself. 

In life, everything has both an experience and a memory. Ideally, we want the two to align – that the experience itself is meaningful and that the memory we carry forward is positive too. 

This week’s Torah portion describes one of the most powerful collective experiences in Jewish history: the completion of the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary built by the Israelites in the desert. 

The Mishkan was far more than a construction project. It represented the Jewish people creating a space in this world for the Divine Presence. The entire nation participated. Men and women, artisans and donors, leaders and labourers, each person contributed something. 

Yet the Torah uses an intriguing phrase when describing those who actually did the work. The verse tells us that Moses called Betzalel, Oholiav, and every wise-hearted person “whose heart inspired him to come close to the work, to do it” (Exodus 36:2). 

Why does the Torah say their hearts inspired them to come close to the work? Why not simply say they were inspired to do it? 

Building the Mishkan required effort, skill, and dedication. Any meaningful project – whether spiritual, communal, or personal – demands the same. At times the task can seem overwhelming. 

The Torah teaches an important principle: before we can truly do something, we must first draw ourselves close to it. 

When we approach a task with curiosity, openness, and a sense of connection, the work no longer feels distant or burdensome. Instead, it becomes something we are part of. 

Sometimes the hardest step in an endeavour is simply getting started. But once we come close to the work, it often begins to pull us in. 

And when that happens, both the experience and the memory become meaningful.