More than any other, this week’s Torah portion emphasizes the role of women in building community.

Almost at the end of the book of Exodus, (chapters 35 to 38) it retells the story of God’s desire to have the Children of Israel build a place to worship, one that they could carry with them.

This in itself was an amazing innovation. Back then, gods were considered to be anchored in place. If you moved to a new city, you would find yourself worshipping a new god.

But the Israelites’ God made a promise to them — God said, build me a home and I will dwell among you. It was designed to be taken apart, carried in pieces, and reassembled at the next destination.

Women were included in every aspect of the process of building the portable tabernacle, from bringing donations from the heart, to helping craft the final project. Alongside their male counterparts, women were actively engaged.

No community is complete if half the population is excluded. It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes acknowledging and appreciating every member of that village for the community to be truly complete.

We humans seem to love nothing more than to compete, to clash with one another, to disagree, to go to war. It seems to be an inevitable element of the human condition.

I wonder: If we remember that God asked us to make a place for God to dwell among us, a place we could bring anywhere, would we be able to overcome that weakness?

And what if we each built that place in our own heart? Perhaps then, we could become who we were truly meant to be. Each person, knowingly carrying God in their heart, able to see God in everyone else.

We each have different gifts. Some are artists, some writers; some are planners, some dreamers. Working together, we can make the impossible become possible, and dreams become realities.

I know that seems like a distant dream, beyond our grasp. But I believe it is worthy goal, and I am willing to try.