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Orchard of Delights
find ourselves touching upon the paradox of paradoxes: how can
God’s Omniscience and Divine Providence operate simultaneously
with human free will. The Tabernacle is the meeting place between
humanity and God, between His will and our will; the convergence of
the two-way street discussed above. It is the place where we struggle
to resolve this paradox by ideally learning to make His will our will.
When doing so Omniscience and Divine Providence dovetail with
human free will and the upper worlds and the lower worlds truly
unite. This will ultimately occur when the eternal Third Temple is
constructed. May it be built speedily in our days.
Accountings
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The name of this portion, Pekudei, means “accountings” as it
provides a detailed account of exactly how much gold, silver, and
copper were used in the Tabernacle’s various ritual objects, vessels,
sockets, pegs, and hooks, as well as how the wool, linen, stones, and
gold were used in the cohanim’s garments. The first lesson we learn
from this portion is that even a great leader, such as Moses, must
provide an accounting of how he or she disperses public funds; no
one is above the law nor can anyone deal lightly with the communal
treasury.
Since the Torah’s lessons apply to each person directly, we may
extrapolate and conclude that this lesson applies not only to leaders
but to each and every person. The Torah is teaching us that each and
every person is held accountable for his or her thoughts, speech, and
action. This is a fundamental notion intrinsic to all Jewish thought.
Just as the Jewish nation’s ability to erect a Tabernacle and keep it
functioning is predicated upon its maintaining appropriate communal
levels of righteousness and accountability, so too accountability is a
prerequisite for an individual fulfilling his or her life’s mission.
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Ki Tisa
Usually Ki Tisa is read on a Shabbat in close proximity to
the holiday of Purim. This confluence alludes to the many deep
comparisons between the Jewish people worshipping the Golden Calf
and their attending King Achashverosh’s feast (Esther 1). Firstly,
at the time of the Purim story, even the non-Jews apparently knew
of Jeremiah’s prophecy that after seventy years in Babylonian
exile the Jews’ captivity would end (Jeremiah 25:11-12). The only
question was when this count had begun. Three years into his reign,
Achashverosh became convinced that the seventy years had passed;
therefore, he threw an enormous feast celebrating his ascendancy and
the Jews’ failure to be redeemed and invited the Jews to celebrate
with him. According to the Talmud, Haman was granted the power
from on High to destroy the Jews because they attended and enjoyed
this feast (Megillah 12a). Only Mordecai and Esther’s self-sacrifice
and bravery foiled Haman’s wicked schemes. Likewise, after the sin
of the Golden Calf, God declares His readiness to destroy the Jewish
people and begin anew with Moses as the patriarch. Only Moses’
willingness to risk his own life by saying to God – “And now if You
would forgive their sin – but if not erase me from Your book that
You have written” (Exodus 32:32) – and his fervent prayers that the
decree against the people be averted appeased God’s anger.
Parenthetically, the commentaries inform us that God never
intended to allow either decree to be carried out, despite the Jews’
shameful behavior. Rather, like all tests, the purpose of these decrees
was to awaken the Jewish people’s inner potential, which could only
be revealed in crisis situations. In these cases, Moses, Mordecai, and
Esther’s latent qualities of self-sacrifice and leadership needed to be
uncovered to pave the way for future Jewish leaders.
The second link between Achashverosh’s feast and the Golden
Calf is the gold mentioned in both. Achashverosh’s feast reached its
lowest spiritual point when the golden vessels and garments looted
from the Temple were used in the orgiastic festivities. The vessels
were drunken from and Achashverosh went so far as to dress in the
golden garments of the High Priest. This audacious act publicly
affirmed the king’s belief that the seventy years had passed and the
Jews would never be redeemed. Since gold was used extensively in
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