2.11 Parshas Pekudei Review: Shemos Finale
You are listening to Rabbi Aria Wolby of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:And we're back, my dear friends. Welcome back to the weekly Parsha Review. This week's parsha is Parsha as mentioned previously, in 5, 7, 8, 3, the year that we're in right currently right now, we have a combined two portions of Ayakel and pekude that come together. This is not every year. But in this week's parsha, in this week, it is going to be combined, and the second portion is going to be the portion of pikuday, the 11th portion, 11th and final portion in the book of Exodus, and the 23rd portion since the beginning of the Torah.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:There are 92 verses, 1182 words, and 4,432 letters. There are no mitzvahs commanded in this week's parsha. And this portion, as we mentioned, is the final of the 5 portions discussing the Mishkan and its construction, and the final portion in the book of Shemos, the book of Exodus. A reckoning and accountability is taken for the work of the temple and its construction. The gold that was donated 29 kikar, the kikar is 3,000 shekel and 7 and 7130 shekels, which totaled in 87,630 shekels total of gold.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Silver, the silver that was donated, a 100 kikara of silver and 1,775 shekels, a total of 301,775,775 shekels total. A 100 keycars for a 100 adanim are the sockets that were used to hold the pillars, and the other 1,775 shekels were made into hooks and ornaments. The hooks for the pillars in the courtyard to hold up the screens that fence in the mishkan. The ornaments decorate the same pillars. Then we had 70 kikkar and 2,400 shekels, which a total of a 170,400 shekels in total of copper.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:And this is the copper that was donated. And the copper was used to build the copper altar, the utensils, and the sockets of the entrance for the courtyard. The walls were used to make the covers, the big day surrounds, to wrap the utensils for travels. Everything that was that was created also had a wrapping that was a casing for whenever they traveled. The turquoise, purple, and scarlet wools crafted the priestly garments, the ephod, the apron, the hoshe, and the breastplate, the me'il, the robe or the coat that sits the crown on the forehead, the mechasayim, the pants, the ketones, the tunic, the avnate, the sash or belt, and the mitznafes, the turban or hats, were all created with those wool donations, the turquoise, the purple, and scarlet wools.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Moshe inspects and approves the work, and he says, behold that they have done it exactly as Hashem commanded. And Moshe then blessed the Jewish people. Hashem tells Moshe to erect the Mishkan on the 1st day of the 1st month of Nisan, which is going to be this coming week, the month of Nisan. Hashem instructs Moshe on the order of assembly for the Mishkan and its vessels. When the Mishkan is complete with every vessel in its proper place, the heavenly presence descends upon it, indicating that Hashem's glory was resting there.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:The Jewish people would only travel when the clouds of glory moved. The cloud of Hashem would be on the tabernacle by day and a fire at night throughout their journeys. This cloud showed everybody that Hashem's presence had come to dwell within the temple within their midst. Some important lessons on this week's parsha. The first is a lesson of accountability.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Every single penny every single penny that was donated to the tabernacle was accounted for. The laborers were accountable for their work. And every donation with tremendous scrutiny was accounted for. This is important, I think, in every one of our lives to have an accountability not only for our money, but also an accountability for our time. What's more valuable, time or money?
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Time. Shouldn't we have an accountability for our time every day evaluating what did I do with my time? What did I do with my life? What did I do? What was I Hashem gave me this gift of life for 24 hours.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:What did I do? And plan what's gonna be with my next 24 hours. How am I holding up my part of the bargain that Hashem has gifted me with? Then we see the order of the assembly like the creation of the world. Our sages tell us that just like the light was created first, the curtains, which allowed the light in or out of the tabernacle, the curtains were assembled first.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Then separate the upper and lower waters, and we separated between the Kodish Hakadashim, the holy of holies, and the rest of the temple. The waters. And that was the kior, the laver. The sun, which was the menorah. The birds with wings, which was the Keruvim.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Adam, which was Aaron, and then Shabbos. Moshe blessed the Jews and anointed the vessels. He sanctified it. He made it holy. And I think this is an amazing comparison of how the assembly of the tabernacle was done in the exact order of creation of heaven and earth.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:The 7 days of creation are represented in the order with which the temple was erected. It's a very important thing because in in every single thing that we do, there's significance. Order is not random. We're going to head into the month of Nissan, next month. And in the 14th day of the month of Nissan, we're all gonna be celebrating the Pesach Seder.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:You know what's interesting about this Pesach Seder? What is a Seder? Seder is order. It's not random. The more we look at the into the order of Pesach, the more significance we will find in it.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:We see the order of the plagues. It's not random. We see the order of the 10 commandments. It's not random. There's tremendous symbolism.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:There's tremendous significance, and there's tremendous importance placed on this in our Torah. Now Moersha feels badly that he isn't selected to craft tabernacle, so Hashem rewards him with constructing items that no others could. When they ran into trouble, who would they go to? They'd go to Moshe. And that was a gift that Hashem gave Moshe because Moshe said, I wanna I wanna be part of this.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:But he wasn't asked to be part of it. Hashem, because he saw that his heart was there, Hashem gave him the opportunity and the privilege to take part in the construction of various items when there was a struggle, when there was a challenge. And, additionally, our sages teach us that Mishkan, the word Mishkan, which means tabernacle, comes from the word which means to rest upon. Where Hashem's presence or Shechinah comes from the same word as Mishkan, where the essence of it all is about the closeness to Hashem. And that's the purpose of the tabernacle.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:The purpose and by the way, about my recent trip to Israel, what's the purpose of going to the Holy Land? The purpose to elevate ourselves. The purpose to get closer to Hashem. Yeah. There's good food, but there's good food everywhere.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Yeah. Someone told me, you know, I was like, oh, I think I'm gonna go visit Tel Aviv. Well, Tel Aviv, you have in every country. Tel Aviv, you have in every city. Every place has a Tel Aviv.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:You wanna go for holiness. You wanna sanctify the land, sanctify your souls, sanctify your body. Now Hanukkah, contrary to what many people may think or say that Hanukkah is made up by a bunch of rabbis. That's incorrect. I had once 2 students who came to the class here, and they were livid.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:They said the rabbi in their congregation spoke and said, cover the children's ears. I'm going to tell you something that's gonna shock you. Hanukkah is a made up holiday. It's just as fake as any of the non Jewish holidays, and there's no source for it. And they were very, very upset, obviously.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:So we pulled out the Talmud, and we taught that rabbi through our class that there is very, very deep roots for the holiday of Hanukkah. I'm gonna share it with you right here. And that is when did the construction of these items for the tabernacle conclude? When did the construction conclude? I say, just tell us.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:It was on the 25th day of Kislev, which is the day we start lighting the menorah. The 25th day of Kislev. Is that a random day? No. That day was destined to be a day where the menorah lighting will be instituted later on in Jewish history.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:So it's sourced in the Torah. It's hinted to in the Torah, and our sages give us the incredible insight through these dates. That it's not just random. It's given on a specific date to teach us something. Lastly, my dear friends, an important lesson.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Why is it important for us to learn about the Mishkan, about the tabernacle? Now we don't have a temple. Our temple in Jerusalem was destroyed over 2000 years ago, and we're in exile since. So now what? What are we what is the offerings?
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:What is the we're gonna see soon in the coming weeks in Parsha's Vayikra, in Sab, and Shamini. We're gonna see about all the offerings that were brought. What does that have to do with us today? I mean, we're living here in 2,023. We're living here in Houston, Texas.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:Last I checked, we don't have any altars. We don't have any sacrifices. So why is it important for us to study this? In fact, part of our prayers has the carbonaut, the actual offerings that we read, the verses of the offerings that were brought. Our sages tell us something so critically important.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:And that is, although the actual performance of the offerings isn't available sadly today in Jerusalem, But by reading it, by learning it, by discussing it, it's as if we've observed those laws. So my dear friends, don't be dissuaded and lose hope. On the contrary, the temple, the 3rd temple will be rebuilt. We believe this every single day. We say it in an an imam and mashiach will come, and our temple will be rebuilt.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:And we will be back in Jerusalem bringing those offerings just like we did once in the past. But what do we do till then? We relive that experience every day. We bring our own offerings by the words that we recite about the offerings. When we learn these portions, talking about the offerings, about the temple, we are rebuilding that temple in our lives.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe:So my dear friends, have a magnificent Shabbos and May we go from strength to strength and have the strength to review these portions again and again. Hashem should give us the opportunity and the privilege to serve him in the greatest way possible. Shabbat shalom.
