The ancient text of the Torah can seem antiquated and out of date. Torah portions like this week’s, P’kudei, which details of the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) appear at first reading to be utterly useless. Who cares how a now destroyed building was put together? But as any rabbi will tell you, there is not even an extra letter in Torah. One must always ask, what can we learn from this text? Rabbi Nicki Greninger of Temple Isaiah offers an example of how in every age we can learn something appropriate to our lives. This is not just Jewish religion, it is Jewish culture. It is a way of being; always looking for meaning.
Read her drash below and ask yourself, am I learning something everyday? You should be. If nothing else, it will reduce the likelihood of getting dementia.
Taste of Torah from Rabbi Nicki Greninger
P’kudei: Exodus 38:21-40:38One of the biggest challenges of our time is a lack of trust. We live in a society of deep mistrust. There is a lack of trust in experts, in government, in leaders, in organizations, in news reports, in science, in one another, in truth itself. What is the truth? Who decides? Who can we trust?
One way to approach this week’s Torah portion, P’kudei, is through the lens of truth and trust. The Israelites completed the construction of the mishkan (tabernacle), and the Torah portion begins with a detailed accounting of what went into the project. “These are the records of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Pact, which were drawn up at Moses’ bidding – the work of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.” (Ex 38:21) The records are long, and frankly, boring. For example: “The 100 talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets for the curtain, 100 sockets to the 100 talents, a talent a socket. And of the 1,775 shekels he made hooks for the posts, overlay for their tops, and bands around them.” (Ex 38:27-28)
So why do we have this long, tedious accounting of the building of the mishkan? We just finished reading almost the exact same text – the building of the mishkan itself. It is now repeated and recorded in detail, at Moses’ bidding. As Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus explains, “Careful accounting keeps us honest. A tedious inventory is there so that no one suspects that valuables have gone missing. Public officials must earn the public trust by scrupulous honesty and transparent records.”
Humans are fallible and tempted toward wrongdoing. Perhaps by nature we are also suspicious. We wonder if other people are honest, if they are telling the truth, if they are trustworthy. As a result, our tradition teaches us about the importance of record-keeping. We must always maintain records and have an accounting of what transpired, so that we can trust the process, the people, and the results.
We are wrestling today with questions of honesty, transparency, and truth in so many facets of society. While we cannot control other people, we can do our best to maintain detailed records of projects we are involved in. On a societal level, we can demand record-keeping, we can demand transparency, and we can demand a public accounting when we think wrongdoing may have transpired. At the end of the Torah portion, when the mishkan is finally complete, God’s presence fills the space. Rabbi Dreyfus notes that “in order to create a society in which God’s Presence is evident,” we must have records that “rouse us out of our complacency and energize us to raise our voices.”
P’kudei marks not only the completion of the mishkan, but also the end of the Book of Exodus. The very last word of the Torah portion (and the Book of Exodus) is masai-hem, meaning “their journeys,” reminding us that although the Book of Exodus is complete (as is the building of the mishkan) the journey of the Israelite people is only just beginning. It will still be many years (and many Torah portions!) before the Israelites get to the Promised Land.
When we finish reading or chanting a Book of the Torah, it is customary in synagogues around the world to chant “chazak chazak v’nitchazek” – “be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another.” In these difficult times, with distrust everywhere and truth uncertain, we must continue to demand accountability, while staying strong and looking to one another for strength, for whatever journeys lay ahead of us.
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