Western Kingbird : From House to Home

This is a Western Kingbird. She’s tucked away into her nest, presumably the most important place in her life. The nest itself appears somewhat nondescript. To our eyes, it’s not the exquisite tea cup of a hummingbird nor the massive aerie of an eagle. Maybe we should focus less on the constituent twigs and bark and see this nest for what it holistically is: it’s a home. The structure itself is only a mechanism; this is the place that the next generation of her line will be born and raised. Focus on the function rather than the form, and you see the miraculous repetition of life itself playing out.

Tanakh is filled with fascinating characters. So many of them have been thought about, written about, and endlessly debated. But Betzalel? To many people - too many! - the name likely doesn’t ring a bell. Betzalel was the supreme craftsmen chosen directly by HaShem to build the Mishkan, the dwelling place for God’s presence as the Israelites journeyed through the wilderness. I would so love to read midrash, or even an historical novel, written from Betzalel’s point of view. What was it like to be commissioned to build that house? Did he have labor troubles or supply chain issues? There are projects, and then there are projects - how must this have felt?

Much of what we do in life can also be viewed through a builder’s lens. What is it that we’re building? Sometimes it’s a mundane task at work; sometimes we’re building a relationship; sometimes we’re crafting a foundational worldview to share with a child. Presumably much of what Betzalel did was just workaday cutting boards, sewing curtains, and forging sockets. But step back. As we focus less on the “thing” that we’re making and focus more on its purpose, we begin to see the emergence of the holy from the ordinary. When we build a home, like the Kingbird of twigs and bark, or like Betzalel, of gold and finest linen, we demonstrate the divine spark of creation within us all.