Vayakhel and Pekudei are the ‘sister sedras’ of Terumah and Tetzaveh. In Terumah and Tetzaveh we are told about the call for donations to the Mishkan and the instructions for the making of the vessels, structure, and the items of clothing for the Mishkan service. The sedras of Vayakhel and Pekudei simply inform us that ‘mission accomplished;’ the vessels, clothes, and structure were built in accordance with those instructions. In fact, the only change is that (as Rashi points out), in the instructions, Moshe was first told about the vessels and then the building structure, whilst when it came to constructing he Mishkan, Moshe first went about building the structure and then saw to it that the vessels should be made. Finally, at the very end of Pekudei, we are told that HaShem’s Presence rested in the Mishkan; this fulfilled the aim of the project as laid down in parshas Terumah; ‘make for Me a Mikdash and I shall dwell within them’ (25:8). We are going to cite a relatively simple dvar Torah this week; no Talmudic gymnastics or disputes between the commentaries. Rather, we shall focus on an important question of the Beis HaLevi[1] which does wonders for understanding the pshat of the psukim, amongst other things.
When one reads through parshas Pekudei one notices a certain phrase crop up time and time again. After each vessel is made we are told that it was made ‘just like HaShem had commanded Moshe.’ Why, asks the Beis HaLevi, does the Torah keep emphasising that the builders followed HaShem’s instructions?
The Beis HaLevi answers via using Rashi’s[2] principle that the Mishkan acted as an atonement for chet ha’egel (the sin of the golden calf). Therefore, in order to understand the Mishkan, we need to go back and see what exactly the sin of chet ha’egel was. Thus, the Beis HaLevi proceeds to tackle the central question regarding chet ha’egel: how could such a spiritually lofty generation – one that had experienced HaShem’s revelation at the Red Sea and then more at Mattan Torah – have succumbed to making an idol and worshipping it? Can we seriously posit that Bnei Yisrael really thought that the work of their own hands was a god when they had witnessed HaShem take them out of Egypt?
The idea, says the Beis HaLevi, is that there are other spiritual worlds out there apart from our physical world. [We mention them from time to time in our davening; see the introductory paragraph to sefiras ha’omer and the part we say after we count the omer.] Actions that we perform in this world have the effect of causing changes or effects in these higher spiritual worlds. A great example of this concept is the Mishkan itself. In building the Mishkan, we managed to use materials of our world (gold, wood, etc.) to tap into the spiritual secrets of Creation and the various deep spiritual spheres/realms. This meant that the Mishkan was a fitting home for HaShem in this world, so to speak; He rested His Shechinah there. And remember, it was HaShem Himself who dictated all the dimensions and materials of the Mishkan; He made sure that the Mishkan would reflect the correct facets and intricacies of these upper spiritual realms. This, says the Beis HaLevi, is what Bnei Yisrael were trying to create when they made the golden calf. They were led to believe that Moshe Rabeinu had died, and as such, the people felt that they had no way of bringing HaShem to rest within them – they thought that Moshe would have been this conduit to bring HaShem into the Jewish People, so to speak, just as they had seen at kriyas yam suf, yetzias mitzrayim, and Mattan Torah. Therefore, the people set about collecting gold and making some form of structure which would affect the spiritual worlds and have the ultimate effect of bringing HaShem’s Presence within the people. That was the people’s aim in creating the egel; not to rebel against HaShem, but to get closer to Him. Indeed, this is why the people consulted Aharon before making the golden calf; for they felt that he had the greatest knowledge of these spiritual realms and so he could direct them as to which structure to make. The only question that remains is: what exactly was the sin? If the people had such noble intentions then where did they go wrong?
The Beis HaLevi continues that the mistake of those who built (and ‘worshipped’) the egel was an elementary one. This affecting and fixing up of the spiritual worlds/realms only occurs when one is fulfilling something that HaShem has commanded you to do. When there is no command, there are no such positive spiritual effects; and so the egel slipped back down into being any other idol – an intermediary between the people and HaShem which we are forbidden to serve in any way. The Kuzari echoes a similar principle. He asks what the difference between the Mishkan and the egel haza’hav was; both were structures which were intended to have the effect of bringing HaShem’s Presence within the people? He answers that the only difference is that HaShem commanded us to make the Mishkan, but not the egel. As we have explained, the depth of this answer is that since HaShem did not command the egel, there are no positive spiritual effects, and the result is that the egel becomes like an idol instead of a vehicle for HaShem’s Presence to ‘descend.’
Keeping all of this in mind, the Beis HaLevi goes back to answer his original question. Why is the phrase ‘just as HaShem commanded Moshe’ repeated so many times in parshas Pekudei? The answer is because the sin of chet ha’egel was that they did that which HaShem did not command, and the Mishkan was to atone for chet ha’egel, then the Torah is stressing and re-stressing that when it came to the Mishkan, each and every detail was done exactly as Hashem had commanded.
There is a very practical message to glean from this piece of the Beis HaLevi – a message which we have touched upon before. The message here is not defining one’s own spiritual path; not making up your own set of spiritual rules. HaShem has set out the ways which can lead a person closer to Him (Torah and mitzvos), and whilst there is room for individuality within mitzvos, one has to keep to the framework that HaShem has laid down. A good illustration is the fellow who hears about the sanctity of Shabbos, and decides that he will dedicate his entire Shabbos to writing divrei Torah – that way he will be serving HaShem (at least he thinks so). Unfortunately, since he has not stayed within the framework that HaShem has laid down, contrary to his expectations, he has strayed further from HaShem as opposed to coming closer to Him. In parshas Chukas,[3] Rashi writes that the parah adumah acted as an atonement for chet ha’egel. What is the connection between the two (other than both involving cows)? For as we’ve said, chet ha’egel was when we ‘made up our own rules’ without HaShem’s command. Thus, the parah adumah, which is the quintessential chok; something we cannot fathom, comes along to tell us that we cannot understand everything in the spiritual world – we must rely on HaShem when it comes to working out what is spiritually correct and what is not, as opposed to making up our own rules. This is the atonement for chet ha’egel.
Have a great Shabbos!
[1] Beis HaLevi parshas Ki Sissa[2] Rashi in several places, e.g. Shemos 29:1, Shir HaShirim 1:13. Last week we pointed out that the Ramban and Ibn Ezra seem to disagree with Rashi on this point.
[3] Rashi Bamidbar 19:22 ‘parah’
