Pekudei (Exodus 38:21 – 40:38)
Pekudei is one of the more challenging parashot for a sermon. It has no story line to speak of. There is no plot, no character descriptions, and no human drama. Pekudei presents an inventory of the metals used for building the Tabernacle. It treats us to a description of the manufacture of the Priestly vestments, and summarizes the construction of the Tabernacle.
Some midrashim and commentators use the inventory as a springboard for discussing transparency in government and the accountability of public figures. It’s a tempting subject, particularly when tied to the haftarah (II Kings 12), which shows King Jehoash’s distrust of the Priests, and juxtaposes that suspicion with the statement: “No check was kept on the men to whom the money was delivered to pay the workers, for they dealt honestly.”
Another source for a sermon can be found in the symbolic connection between the building of the Tabernacle and the creation of the world. Much of the exegetical material that one finds is concerned with the various linguistic and stylistic similarities between Pekudei and the creation story in Genesis.
First, and not surprisingly, the description we are given in Pekudei is divided into seven portions that each end “as the Lord had commanded Moses,” just as the creation of the world is divided in to seven parts that God said were good.
At the end of the process, we are told: vateichel kol avodat mishkan ohel mo’ed – “Thus all the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting was finished”. Just like: vayechulu hashamayim veha’arets – “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished.”
That is followed by: vayechal moshe et hamelacha – “And Moses finished the work,” like vayechal elohim bayom hashevi’i melachto – “And on the seventh day God finished his work.”
And just as at the end of creation, God sees that all he has made is good, and he blesses the Sabbath – vayevarech elohim et yom hashevi’i, - so we are told: vayar moshe et kol hamelacha vehinei asu ota ka’asher tziva elohim ken asu, vayevarech otam moshe – “Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks as the Lord had commanded, and Moses blessed them.”
It is interesting, but I think not exceptional that what God creates is described as “good,” but what we manufacture is not described as good, but as being “as the Lord had commanded.” Our work is not inherently good. It is cannot be perfect. Human beings can only strive toward perfection. The only way that we can try to be like God is by following His example – by walking in His path.
That is both the implicit and the explicit message of the building of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is compared to creation because the Tabernacle is a representation of the universe, and in building it we symbolically reenact Creation. We reflect God’s actions in our own conduct, and in following God’s instructions, God becomes part of us. We bring God into our lives and He dwells among us. In building the Tabernacle – as in building a synagogue or a congregation – we create a space for the divine presence in our world, just as God created a world to provide a space for us in his presence.
Although the linguistic features that tie the Tabernacle to Creation seem self-evident, one stands out. The twice-repeated term for finishing or completing – vateichel and vayechal in Pekudei, derive from the same root as vayechulu and vayechal in Genesis. The connection is obvious. The symbolic parallel is also obvious. Rabbi Jacob Ben Asher – Ba’al HaTurim – takes the symbolism a step further. Noting the similarity between vateichel and vayechulu, he writes: it lomar ki ata kala melechet kol ha’olam – “It can now be said that the creation of the entire world is ended.” The building of the Tabernacle is more than just a symbol of creation. In building the Tabernacle, man completes God’s work of creation. It is an observation that can be understood in a variety of ways.
A very different interpretation can be found in the Aramaic translation of the Bible called Targum Onkelos. Onkelos makes what I believe to be a subtle point in his choice of terminology for translating the term vateichel. In Genesis, Onkelos translates vayechulu as ishtachlalu. In other words, the heavens and the earth were perfected or completed. In Pekudei, the term vateichel is rendered ushleimat, meaning made shalem, which is another way of saying that it was made whole, perfected or completed.
But Onkelos employs a different term, and a very different conceptual picture, for translating vayechal, the term used to tell us that God finished creating and that Moses finished building. Although vayechal derives from the same root as vateichal and vayechulu, Onkelos does not translate them with a word meaning to perfect or complete, but employs the term vesheitzei.
Vesheitzei means he finished. It means to bring to an end. It also means to destroy. When I noticed that, I wondered why Onkelos would have chosen an ambiguous term to translate vayechal? What was Onkelos trying to imply? Every translation is also a commentary. Was Onkelos translating, or was commenting?
On reflection, I think Onkelos was trying to capture and preserve a linguistic nicety, and perhaps in doing that – in making us aware of the nuance – he hoped to deliver a message.
The word vayechal conveys the idea of completion in the context of creation and of building the Tabernacle. But that is not the only meaning of the term. We run across the term in other contexts as well: baherev ubara’av uvadever anokhi mechaleh ‘otam – “By the sword, by famine, and by pestilence I will destroy them.” (Jeremiah 14:12). In the Book of Job the term is used to means to consume or destroy. In Genesis, it is the term employed to tell us that Hagar has run out of water - that it has been consumed. In the midrash Bereshit Raba, it is used to refer to God’s promise to Noah never again to destroy all of mankind. Like the word sheitzei, the word yechal can mean to complete or to end, to perfect or destroy, to finish or to finish off.
In employing the term vesheitzei, Onkelos emphasizes the ambiguity of the term that the Torah uses to describe the completion of Creation and of the Tabernacle. Rather than say that God perfected the heavens and the earth, and that Moses completed the tabernacle, he makes us aware of the possibility that the end of Creation is not the achievement of perfection, and that the building of the Tabernacle may not be an ultimate moment of accomplishment. Neither is an ultimate goal. Both are starting points, and both are challenges that present us with the potential for good and for evil.
God and Moses finished their work. Whether that work will lead to perfection or to destruction is up to us. The meaning of vayechal is what we choose to make of it.
Some midrashim and commentators use the inventory as a springboard for discussing transparency in government and the accountability of public figures. It’s a tempting subject, particularly when tied to the haftarah (II Kings 12), which shows King Jehoash’s distrust of the Priests, and juxtaposes that suspicion with the statement: “No check was kept on the men to whom the money was delivered to pay the workers, for they dealt honestly.”
Another source for a sermon can be found in the symbolic connection between the building of the Tabernacle and the creation of the world. Much of the exegetical material that one finds is concerned with the various linguistic and stylistic similarities between Pekudei and the creation story in Genesis.
First, and not surprisingly, the description we are given in Pekudei is divided into seven portions that each end “as the Lord had commanded Moses,” just as the creation of the world is divided in to seven parts that God said were good.
At the end of the process, we are told: vateichel kol avodat mishkan ohel mo’ed – “Thus all the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting was finished”. Just like: vayechulu hashamayim veha’arets – “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished.”
That is followed by: vayechal moshe et hamelacha – “And Moses finished the work,” like vayechal elohim bayom hashevi’i melachto – “And on the seventh day God finished his work.”
And just as at the end of creation, God sees that all he has made is good, and he blesses the Sabbath – vayevarech elohim et yom hashevi’i, - so we are told: vayar moshe et kol hamelacha vehinei asu ota ka’asher tziva elohim ken asu, vayevarech otam moshe – “Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks as the Lord had commanded, and Moses blessed them.”
It is interesting, but I think not exceptional that what God creates is described as “good,” but what we manufacture is not described as good, but as being “as the Lord had commanded.” Our work is not inherently good. It is cannot be perfect. Human beings can only strive toward perfection. The only way that we can try to be like God is by following His example – by walking in His path.
That is both the implicit and the explicit message of the building of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is compared to creation because the Tabernacle is a representation of the universe, and in building it we symbolically reenact Creation. We reflect God’s actions in our own conduct, and in following God’s instructions, God becomes part of us. We bring God into our lives and He dwells among us. In building the Tabernacle – as in building a synagogue or a congregation – we create a space for the divine presence in our world, just as God created a world to provide a space for us in his presence.
Although the linguistic features that tie the Tabernacle to Creation seem self-evident, one stands out. The twice-repeated term for finishing or completing – vateichel and vayechal in Pekudei, derive from the same root as vayechulu and vayechal in Genesis. The connection is obvious. The symbolic parallel is also obvious. Rabbi Jacob Ben Asher – Ba’al HaTurim – takes the symbolism a step further. Noting the similarity between vateichel and vayechulu, he writes: it lomar ki ata kala melechet kol ha’olam – “It can now be said that the creation of the entire world is ended.” The building of the Tabernacle is more than just a symbol of creation. In building the Tabernacle, man completes God’s work of creation. It is an observation that can be understood in a variety of ways.
A very different interpretation can be found in the Aramaic translation of the Bible called Targum Onkelos. Onkelos makes what I believe to be a subtle point in his choice of terminology for translating the term vateichel. In Genesis, Onkelos translates vayechulu as ishtachlalu. In other words, the heavens and the earth were perfected or completed. In Pekudei, the term vateichel is rendered ushleimat, meaning made shalem, which is another way of saying that it was made whole, perfected or completed.
But Onkelos employs a different term, and a very different conceptual picture, for translating vayechal, the term used to tell us that God finished creating and that Moses finished building. Although vayechal derives from the same root as vateichal and vayechulu, Onkelos does not translate them with a word meaning to perfect or complete, but employs the term vesheitzei.
Vesheitzei means he finished. It means to bring to an end. It also means to destroy. When I noticed that, I wondered why Onkelos would have chosen an ambiguous term to translate vayechal? What was Onkelos trying to imply? Every translation is also a commentary. Was Onkelos translating, or was commenting?
On reflection, I think Onkelos was trying to capture and preserve a linguistic nicety, and perhaps in doing that – in making us aware of the nuance – he hoped to deliver a message.
The word vayechal conveys the idea of completion in the context of creation and of building the Tabernacle. But that is not the only meaning of the term. We run across the term in other contexts as well: baherev ubara’av uvadever anokhi mechaleh ‘otam – “By the sword, by famine, and by pestilence I will destroy them.” (Jeremiah 14:12). In the Book of Job the term is used to means to consume or destroy. In Genesis, it is the term employed to tell us that Hagar has run out of water - that it has been consumed. In the midrash Bereshit Raba, it is used to refer to God’s promise to Noah never again to destroy all of mankind. Like the word sheitzei, the word yechal can mean to complete or to end, to perfect or destroy, to finish or to finish off.
In employing the term vesheitzei, Onkelos emphasizes the ambiguity of the term that the Torah uses to describe the completion of Creation and of the Tabernacle. Rather than say that God perfected the heavens and the earth, and that Moses completed the tabernacle, he makes us aware of the possibility that the end of Creation is not the achievement of perfection, and that the building of the Tabernacle may not be an ultimate moment of accomplishment. Neither is an ultimate goal. Both are starting points, and both are challenges that present us with the potential for good and for evil.
God and Moses finished their work. Whether that work will lead to perfection or to destruction is up to us. The meaning of vayechal is what we choose to make of it.
Avinoam Sharon
