Dvar Torah for Parshas Pekudei-Shabbos Shekalim

       This week’s parshah, Parshas Pekudei, brings Sefer Shemos and the story of the Mishkan to a close. The Mishkan was used throughout Bnei Yisrael’s journey to Eretz Yisrael. Once they arrived in Eretz Yisrael, the Mishkan was used for another several hundred years before the Beis Hamikdash was built in the times of Shlomo HaMelech. Even though it lasted nearly as long as both Batei Mikdash and served the spiritual needs of the nation for centuries, its’ legacy is overshadowed by the two Batei Mikdash. What exactly is the legacy of the Mishkan?

       The parshah begins, “אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדת אשר פקד על פי משה עבדת הלוים ביד איתמר בן אהרן הכהן . ובצלאל בן אורי בן חור למטה יהודה עשה את כל אשר צוה יהוה את משה “ “These are the numbers of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony, which were counted at Moshe’s command; the work of the Levites, under the direction of Itamar, the son of Aharon the Kohen. Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Yehuda, had made all that Hashem commanded Moshe.” (Shemos 38:21-22) The Seforno explains that these pesukim are listing a number of properties that the Mishkan possessed which the Beis Hamikdash did not.

       The pasuk begins by calling the Mishkan, “the Mishkan of the Testimony”. This refers to the original set of Luchos that Moshe broke that were stored in the Ark while in the Mishkan. These Luchos were not present in the second Beis Hamikdash. The pesukim continue that the construction of the Mishkan was under the leadership of Moshe, the Levi’im acted as caretakers under the leadership of Aharon’s son, Itamar, and Betzalel was in charge of the construction. All facets of the Mishkan, its design, construction, and caretakers were all under the leadership of these great people, and therefore, the Shechinah was present in every move made by it.

       Such standards were not always true in the Beis Hamikdash. Neither the first nor second Beis Hamikdash was built and maintained entirely by Jews. The first Beis Hamikdash used workers from Tzur in its construction and the construction of the Second Beis Hamikdash was undertaken almost entirely by non-Jews. Additionally, in the Second Beis Hamikdash, there were no Levi’im (See Ezra 8:15). The holy connection through leadership was missing in all aspects.

       For these reasons, both Batei Mikdash were lacking the influence of the Shechinah (in a certain sense) and were able to fall into the hands of non-Jews and be destroyed. However, the Mishkan did possess all these properties, and therefore, could never be destroyed. Because of these amazing properties, which even the Beis Hamikdash could not claim, the Mishkan never fell into enemy hands.  It was merely “retired” when the Beis Hamikdash was built and it was no longer needed.        

       This is not to say that the Mishkan was a more important structure than the Beis Hamikdash was. The Beis Hamikdash was greater than it in many ways. It was a more beautiful structure, containing more utensils and overall beauty, items which made it a higher honor to Hashem. It was bigger and therefore contained more opportunities for people to perform acts of service to Hashem. And most importantly, it was permanent; a fact which made it so much more valuable than the Mishkan. So the point here is not to say what was better or holier, the point is to realize that beauty and spirituality can come in many shapes and sizes. We may not even realize that something that seems insignificant in comparison, may possess the most special piece of all.

Shabbat Shalom!    

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayakhel

       Parshas Vayakhel is essentially a repetition of Parshas Terumah. Then, Hashem told Moshe what to bring to the Mishkan and what utensils would be made, and now the Torah tells us how it was done. Next week’s parshah, Parshas Pekudei, is the same way as it repeats Parshas Tetzaveh. Many people ask why the Torah bothers to repeat everything that it already wrote down earlier instead of just saying that the job was done correctly and that’s the end of it! One answer that is given is in order to show the enthusiasm Bnei Yisrael had while donating to the Mishkan, as well as their carefulness to do everything exactly the way Hashem had commanded them. This week’s Dvar Torah is an example of this.

       Immediately after Moshe instructed Bnei Yisrael in the requirements of the Mishkan, they immediately set to gathering everything that was needed. The pasuk explains how every man came with generous donations, all given whole-heartedly. The next pasuk reads, “וַיָּבֹאוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים עַל הַנָּשִׁים כֹּל | נְדִיב לֵב הֵבִיאוּ חָח וָנֶזֶם וְטַבַּעַת וְכוּמָז כָּל כְּלִי זָהָב” “And the men came with the women…”(Shemos 35:22); the pasuk goes on to explain that both men and women, brought a tremendous amount of jewelry with them. The Meforshim explain that the word “עַל”, while usually translated as “on”, is translated here as “with”, to show us that the men came together with the women. Why does the pasuk need to tell us that the men and women donated their jewelry together?

       The Kli Yakar explains that the pasuk is giving a special praise to the Jewish Women. As we saw during the episode of The Golden Calf, the women refused to donate any of their jewelry to its building because they did not want to have any part in it whatsoever. So instead, the men took from their own jewelry to build the Calf. The Kli Yakar explains that by bringing their jewelry now for the Mishkan, the men hoped to gain atonement for bringing it for the Calf. The women, however, not only did they not need this atonement, they didn’t even want Moshe to suspect that, similar to the men, they had taken part in the Calf and were bringing their jewelry now to make up for it!

       So the first praise that the women received was the fact that they brought their jewelry without needing an atonement; they brought it only in order to fulfill the commandment of Hashem and to beautify the Mishkan. In order that Moshe would, chas v’shalom, not confuse them with needing an atonement, the pasuk uses the term “ נְדִיב לֵב” “generous hearted”, only by the men. The women are credited with giving their jewelry, while the men are credited with donating it. Their donation, while given in a generous spirit, had an ulterior motive behind it. The women’s donation, however, was a pure gift with no other strings attached.

Shabbat Shalom!  

Click here for a previous Dvar Torah for Parshas Vayakhel

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Ki Sisa

       This week’s parshah contains the story of the Eigel HaZahav, the Golden Calf, one of the saddest events in Jewish History. When Bnei Yisrael built the eigel, the way Hashem dealt with them changed. These exact changes are documented in the pesukim and in Rashi with some of them still being felt today. The parshah ends happily with Moshe coming back down from Har Sinai with the second set of Luchos. And without even knowing it, Moshe brought something else down with him as well.

       “וַיְהִי בְּרֶדֶת משֶׁה מֵהַר …וּמשֶׁה לֹא יָדַע כִּי קָרַן עוֹר פָּנָיו בְּדַבְּרוֹ אִתּוֹ” “And it was when Moshe came down from the mountain…and Moshe did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while He had spoken with him.” (Shemos 34:29) The close association Moshe had shared with Hashem had left his face glowing with a spiritual light, the like of which had never been placed on man before. According to the Chizkuni, Aharon and the rest of the nation thought that he had turned into an angel, and as a result, the pasuk tells us they were afraid of approaching him. The pasuk also tells us that, amazingly, Moshe did even notice that his face was glowing! He was so used to being in that tremendous spiritual element where everything contained that spiritual glow, that he didn’t notice that it had stayed with him beyond the heavens.  

       So how exactly did this light wind up on Moshe’s face? There are several explanations given. The medrash explains that the first pasuk of Sefer Vayikra spells the word, “ויקרא” with a small aleph at the end. It explains that Hashem took the extra ink that was saved by not writing a big aleph and placed it on Moshe’s face, causing it to glow. Another medrash explains that while writing the Torah, Moshe would clean his pen with his hair and beard. This ink, given to him by Hashem Himself, shown brightly and caused Moshe’s entire face to light up. The Chizkuni gives a third explanation. Earlier in the parshah, Moshe was given the opportunity to “see” Hashem’s “back”. In order to make sure Moshe did not see any more than that, Hashem placed him inside a rock and covered it with his “palm”. The light from Hashem enveloped Moshe so that when he finally came down from Har Sinai, his whole face shown. The exact meaning of this story is very difficult, but one thing is clear, Moshe experienced a level of spirituality that has never been matched.

       As we said earlier, the pasuk says that the nation was afraid to approach Moshe, so Moshe placed a mask on his face to hide this glow. There are several explanations as to when Moshe would wear the mask, based on these three pesukim, “ויכל משה מדבר אתם ויתן על פניו מסוה . ובבא משה לפני יהוה לדבר אתו יסיר את המסוה עד צאתו ויצא ודבר אל בני ישראל את אשר יצוה. וראו בני ישראל את פני משה כי קרן עור פני משה והשיב משה את המסוה על פניו עד באו לדבר אתו” “When Moshe had finished speaking with them (Jewish People), he placed a covering over his face. When Moshe would come before Hashem to speak with Him, he would remove the covering until he left; then he would leave and speak to the children of Israel what he would be commanded. The children of Israel would see Moshe’s face, that the skin had become radiant, and Moshe would replace the covering over his face until he would come to speak with Him.” (Shemos 34:33-35).

       The general explanation for these pesukim is that Moshe would take his mask off while talking with Hashem and teaching Torah to Bnei Yisrael, and wear it at all other times. Rashi explains that it was not right that people should stand and gawk at this incredible spiritual energy radiating around him, since it would cause it to lose its importance and effect, so he hid it. However, when he would learn and teach Torah, he would take it off. This, explains the Chizkuni, was to fulfill the pasuk, “והיו עיניך רואות את מוריך” And your eyes should see your teacher” (Yeshaya 30:20); when learning Torah, you should see your teacher. Therefore, when Hashem taught him, he took it off so he could see Hashem, and when he taught Bnei Yisrael, he took it off so they could see him.

       The Ibn Ezra gives a different explanation. While the medrash infers that this light never wore off, he explains that the light only lasted a little while. When Moshe spoke to Hashem, the light would “recharge” and would shine for another short period. However, if Bnei Yisrael would notice that this light wore off after a while, they might begin to think that Moshe was not as great as they had believed. They may even have stopped listening to his teachings! In order to prevent this, Moshe donned the mask.

         Let’s close with a question from the Ohr HaChaim. In Pasuk 35, it says that Bnei Yisrael saw that Moshe’s face was glowing; however the pasuk already states this same idea back in Pasuk 30! Why does the pasuk need to repeat that Bnei Yisrael noticed Moshe’s glowing face? He explains exactly the opposite from the Ibn Ezra. While the Ibn Ezra explained that the light wore off after a while, the Ohr HaChaim explains that the glow never wore off! The pasuk is telling us that Bnei Yisrael were constantly checking Moshe’s face to see if it was still glowing. But Moshe’s face never changed back; as the medrash explains, his very skin had changed into this spiritual light. Additionally, while Moshe made this mask to keep Bnei Yisrael from gazing excessively (for reasons stated earlier), it was not actually forbidden to gaze at his face. In fact, Hashem encouraged Bnei Yisrael to notice Moshe’s face so they could have a better understanding of what His light was so they would desire it and strive to achieve greater levels in order to experience it more clearly.

       May we reach this understanding soon, with the building of the Beis Hamikdash and the return of the Shechinah to our midst.

Shabbat Shalom!

Click here for last year's Dvar Torah for Parshas Ki Sisa

       

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Dvar Torah for Parshas Tetzaveh

         Last week, we briefly touched on the subject of the Mizbe’ach HaZahav (Golden Alter) and how it atones for the spiritual effect of sins on us. I would like to expound on this idea further this week.

         As we explained last week, the Mizbe’ach HaZahav atones for the spiritual effect of sins while the Mizbe’ach HaNechoshes (Copper Alter) atones for the physical effect. This is why we bring animal sacrifices on the Copper Mizbe’ach; the animal’s body takes the place of our own and takes away our sins. Since the average height of a person is three amos tall, the Copper Mizbe’ach was built to this height. Basically, every element of the mizbe’ach was meant to represent a physical aspect of a human, which is whom the mizbe’ach atones for.

       However, it is not only the physical body which needs atonement, the soul requires it as well. The human soul, to put it simply, is more complex than an animal’s soul and therefore requires something different from an animal sacrifice. So Hashem commanded Moshe to bring the Ketores  (incense) offering on the Golden Mizbe’ach, whose smoke and smell would rise up in front of Hashem, just as a person’s soul does, to atone for their sins.

       Similar to the Copper Mizbe’ach, the dimensions of the Mizbe’ach HaZahav are also significant to its purpose. The length and width are both a single amah, representing the soul, which is called singular. (This is because the soul is called “a part” of Hashem, who is also singular.) It is two amos high, representing how the soul rises above this world to its place beyond.

       The Ketores is brought twice a day, in the morning and at night, similar to the soul, which is returned to us in the morning when we wake, and taken back at night when we go to sleep. It is brought at the same time that the Menorah is lit at night and cleaned in the morning. Just as the Menorah is cleaned in the morning, we hope the Ketores will help bring our souls back “clean” to us at the start of the day, and just as the flames of the Menorah rise up at night, we hope our souls will be able to rise up high without any sins from the past day.

       The ideas we have discussed about the different utensils in the Mishkan seem esoteric. In fact, the exhaustive detail written both in this week’s and last week’s parshah seems unnecessary. Why is it important for us to know every single little detail? Why did Hashem deem it necessary to tell Moshe every little detail about the Mishkan’s construction, why not allow us a little creative freedom to determine how things should look? The answer lies in Divrei Torah like these. Really, every single detail of the Mishkan was extremely important, referencing important ideas on many different levels, ranging from simple to mystical. Whether we understand them or not, it is imperative of us to realize that none of these designs are only because of how nice they look. They all in some way affect us, the Jewish People, for our good.

Shabbat Shalom!

Click here for a previous year's Dvar Torah for Parshas Tetzaveh 

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