Pekudei 5771

Parshah Pekudei
Exodus 38:21-40:38 I Kings 7:51-8:21 (I Kings 7:40-7:50)

Pekudei refers to the counting of materials brought to be used in the construction of the Mishkan.

This list is like a real invoice; recording financial details as well as those of design. When reading it, I kept hoping that there was some hidden acrostic or code in it. The most striking detail for me was reported earlier in (36:7) that they gave willingly and more than was needed. In my study, I perceived that this "accounting" is emphasized because it is absolutely unthinkable to use what is given and set aside for G*d for other purposes. Extraordinary emphasis on this is express and necessary. Fraud in general like false witness makes a mockery of the world we share. It makes it impossible for us to come together.

Oh how true of the world we live in with its endless points of view! G*d have mercy.

G*d is absolute. We can not fathom but we can reject the endlessly relative and the forms that must be filled. The Miskhan was for G*d to dwell among them. What could we fail to give for such an end? What do we possess that is not G*ds?

The Miskhan is a microcosm of the universe, some say of the perfected universe. It is manifest here to a people who were just worshipping a golden calf. This implies to me that the will to worship was there but they lacked understanding and confidence like a child. The Mishakhan to me symbolizes comfort, hope, and forgiveness. It is a pattern reflecting the greater pattern. It is the landscape for ritual which can connect us.

And they had completed it:

39:42-43 "According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it. And Moses blessed them."

Commandments for the Miskan fill the Torah portion. Then concluding the Book of Shemot and parsha Pekudei are five verses that fill my heart with a sense of holiness.

40:34 "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle."
40:35 "And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
40:36 "And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys.
40:37 "But if the cloud was not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up."
40:38 "For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys."

The Haftorah refers again to the completion of the second temple. This parallels the completion of the Miskan and G*d's presence also alighted there as King Solomon and
the elders of Israel were assembled before the Ark,

"There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD." (Kings I 7:9-10)

Again this is supreme grandeur to which mankind aspires and glory of which all writing fails to communicate.

That G*d is everywhere and infinite is not perceivable by man though it is understood. Yet when man is united in purpose we may describe it as the presence revealed. It is however, that we cease to fail in seeing- the true glory. Blessed is the L*rd our G*d King of the Universe.

It is interesting to consider that when the Book of Shemot began G*d was incredibly hard to see in all the toil and oppression of slavery. Yet, here in the final chapter G*d is indelibly present. This speaks to me because what lies between absolutely slavery under the rule of a man who would be a God and the truest freedom is faith, endurance, and the Torah. This is the same journey we face spiritually everyday, every moment, and is the totality of the challenge to the world at large.

I want to add that even among those who are devoted to G*d, there is constant injustice over religious beliefs. This is one reason why the Israelites allow no image and form for G*d.

G*d is greater than our greatest, smaller than our smallest. Blessed is he forever. May we end in triumph like the book of Exodus moving from greatest toil to greatest glory through G*d's will and our commitment.