Vayakhel/Pkudei 2009

This week we read a double portion, two short פרשיות. Vayakhel and P’kudei. With these two books we come to the end of the book of Exodus, שמות. This story of redemption, from slavery to freedom, from idolatry to worship of the true Gd, from a people wandering aimlessly in the desert to a people in covenant with the Holy One, a covenant written in stone and carried to the Holy Land--- this story is, all due apologies to other religions, the greatest story ever told. And from the heights of Sinai, from thunder and lightning, from the miracle at the sea and the ten plagues, how does this grand story end?

It ends with a repetition of the instructions for building the Mishkan, and then a third repetition as the people actually build  and complete the Tabernacle.

Why does this story, so grand and exciting as it is, end with this driest of subjects, specifics of construction? Why do we need to know that the altar was five cubits long and five cubits wide and three cubits high? Why do we need to hear that there were 29 talents and 730 shekels of gold used, and 100 talents and 1, 775 shekels of silver? Why do we need to hear how many hooks hung how many cubits of curtain? Why is this important?

Scholars point out that the creation of the משקן parallels the creation of the universe. There are many similarities between the beginning of בראשית and the end of שמות. But that begs the question. בראשית doesn’t say “And then Gd made a tree, and then He made another tree, and then He made another one...” Why then, in Exodus, do we spend so much time on the details of the building of the Mishkan?

I can answer that question very easily. I don’t know. But I can tell you this: Life is not made up of the grand events that we remember. Life is made up of repetitive every day activities. The events on Mount Sinai may have been like the wedding ceremony between Gd and Israel. It is nice to have a big fancy wedding, with fireworks and music. But the wedding doesn’t guarantee that the marriage will work out. No marriage fails because the band at the reception wasn’t big enough, and no marriage is saved because they went with the more expensive flower arrangement. What makes a marriage work is daily commitment. 

The actions we repeat, the boring everyday habits of daily life, on this a marriage will survive or fail. To give another metaphor, you can buy a big fancy house. It is wonderful to have it. You still have to come home every day and sweep the floor. 

The book of Exodus has both of these elements, the amazing but rare highlights and things that are repetitious and down to earth. Gd described our rescue from Egypt as being on eagle’s wings, and we did soar, with miracles all around us. But it was our actions, the slow, incremental steps of building the Mishkan, that brought Gd to us.  וַיְכַל מֹשֶׁה אֶת־הַמְּלָאכָה:    וַיְכַס הֶעָנָן אֶת־אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וּכְבוֹד יי מָלֵא אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן

When Moses had finished the work, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of the Eternal filled the Tent of Meeting.

This is true also in our lives. It is wonderful to go to seek Gd on the peaks of mountains, during wonderful religious celebrations, or in spiritual retreats. But unless our every day actions bring Gd to us here, we have missed the point. You may have heard the expression ‘The devil is in the details.’ Turns out, so is Gd. 

Shabbat shalom.