Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 5 Adar II, 5784
Parsha Pekudei: (Exodus 38:21 – 40:38)
Sixth Portion: Exodus 40:16 – 40:27

Good morning! We are shifting closer to Purim! We have two more portions to finish out Exodus. It is interesting to me how this book shifted from freedom and power, to slavery, to grief, to freedom, to wilderness, to despair (the golden calf) to forgiveness to direction, to structure.  We are closing the book out with structure.

For a book about freedom and liberation, we are seeing structure built. Responsibility. What is the purpose of freedom? What do we DO with our freedom? How are we to BE free? This seems to be where we are ending up.

Let’s dig in:

16Thus Moses did; according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

17It came to pass in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the Mishkan was set up.

So we know. Moses did everything according to plan. And a year AFTER leaving Egypt. On the first day – the DAY AFTER the anniversary of their freedom – they set up the Mishkan. The tabernacle.

18Moses set up the Mishkan, placed its sockets, put up its planks, put in its bars, and set up its pillars.

He started with the pillars. To me this represents solidity in the temporary.  It started with the framework. What is the framework we’ve built?

19He spread the tent over the Mishkan, and he placed the cover of the tent over it from above, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Once the structure was built? He covered it. It was protected.

20He took and placed the testimony into the ark, put the poles upon the ark, and placed the ark cover on the ark from above.

Then – OUTSIDE of the Mishkan – Moses set up the ark. In a sense the heart of the entire process. He put everything that mattered into the ark. He covered it. And got ready to carry it.

21He brought the ark into the Mishkan and placed the screening dividing curtain so that it formed a protective covering before the Ark of the Testimony as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then, we brought the ark WITHIN. Into the heart. And within the Mishkan, the Ark was divided and covered.

22He placed the table in the Tent of Meeting on the northern side of the Mishkan, outside the dividing curtain.

Then outside the heart, there was a table. Solid. I think these are the senses.

23He set upon it an arrangement of bread before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses.

An arrangement of bread is something you could taste and touch. Two of our senses.

24He placed the menorah in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the southern side of the Mishkan.

The Menorah was something you could see.

25He kindled the lamps before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then lit a fire. You could FEEL the warmth of the fire and see the FLAMES in the darkness. You could see a menorah in the light, but if it was dark, you would not see it. When kindled? You could SEE the menorah once again. And you could HEAR the flames of the lamps.

26He placed the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the dividing curtain.

Then, finally, he placed a place for sacrifice in the Tent.

27He made the incense go up in smoke upon it as the Lord had commanded Moses.

And then burned incense. A smell. An aroma.

What is our takeaway here?

When we are struggling. When we are upset. When we are anxious?

• Step 1: Focus on structure. Is the structure solid? Is it set up properly?
• Step 2: Is the structure safe? Is it covered? Is it protected?
• Step 3: What matters? What is stored in our Ark? What is the testimony of our life that goes into the ark? Are we protecting this?
• Step 4: Is our heart? Our Identity? Our Core? Is that WITHIN us? Or are we looking for someone else externally to identify with? A job? A career? A significant other?
• Step 5: Solidify our senses:
  • What can I touch? Can we be mindful of our skin? Touching the socks/shoes into the ground? Our butt in a chair? What can we touch?
  • What can I taste? What sensations are on my tongue? Is there anything abnormal? Right now? I taste coffee. Mmmm. That is yummy.
  • What can I see in the light? What vision do I have? What is CLEAR? What is murky?
  • What can I FEEL? Like touch, do I feel warm? Do I feel cold?
  • What can I see in the darkness? What flames need to be kindled to create light in dark/murky spaces?
  • What can I hear? What faint flickering do I hear?
• Step 6: Boundaries.
  • Take what is clear. Protect that.
  • Kindle fires in the darkness. Gather data you need to clarify the murkiness.

And this just might be the lesson of the book of Exodus.  We may be free, but freedom may feel REALLY unstable. Unsolid. Yay for freedom! But when we were slaves? We had everything laid out for us.  We didn’t get to think and feel for ourselves.

When I was teaching a class this past week, we discussed freedom. The freedom that comes from unlocking the love within us. And. Learning. That with freedom? Comes responsibility. Because I can NO LONGER blame anyone else – because if I accept my true freedom, everything I am? Has impact. Has consequences.

It is far more comfortable to do something because a friend tells us what to do. A loved one gives an opinion and we listen to it. We lose our own sovereignty and intuition. And when things don’t work the way we WANT them to? We can BLAME them – because we listened to THEM. They are the ones who betrayed us. We can convince ourselves that we did not betray ourselves.

Instead, it’s a risk to LISTEN to the feedback. To get a sense – what do I hear, what do I see, what do I taste, touch, smell? To take the data within us – but then WE DECIDE the direction. WE DECIDE the structure. WE DECIDE to move or stay. WE DECIDE to remain or depart.

If WE DECIDE? And things don’t work out the way we want them to? We have to accept, they didn’t work the way we wanted them to.

And we canCHOOSE to decide – we failed. We made a mistake. We are the problem.

And recognize?  All of that? It’s bullshit.

We did NOT fail. We do NOT make a mistake. We are NOT the problem.

We just got clarity. We got more data. To live our moments.

We have opportunity.

To learn.

What met my expectations? What disappointed me? Why did it disappoint me? What parts can I be proud of? How can I be curious?

This is freedom.

We are not given a series of life tests to pass or fail. We are given a hypothesis in a moment – and ways to test that hypothesis – or the null hypothesis – and discover in the results new data that will help us when we arrive in the next moment. To run new tests. To change old paradigms. To form new hypothesis. To form new experiments and curiosities.

This is the message of the Torah. This is the meaning of our lives.

What do you think?

Here is my thought from two years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts 1 Adar II, 5782

Rosh Chodesh today! And it’s a special one as we are now in the SECOND month of Adar! May your day be full of blessing as we prepare for the Shabbat!

Are we loving Hashem, ourselves and each other out of a sense of obligation? Or are we loving ourselves, Hashem and others out of desire and wanting? That’s the reflection question I’ve been sitting with.

Todays portion has MOSES setting up the tabernacle – not the children of Israel! At the appointed time.

Todays portion has Moses constructing the walls and beams. Remembering that the beams were too heavy to lift before, Moses was now able to do it!

Then he put the coverings over the tent.

He next put the tablets into the ark. Then put the poles on the ark. Then the lid on the ark. He brought the ark into the tabernacle and placed the partition so it formed a protective covering in front of the ark.

Then he placed the table, put bread on it, then placed the candelabrum, and kindled the lamps.

Finally he placed the golden altar in front of the partition. He made incense go up in smoke on it.

All as Hashem commanded.

Some things written worth noting:

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch writes:

“On each of the seven days of inauguration, Moses erected and then dismantled the entire structure. Finally, on the eighth day, “the Tabernacle was set up” permanently.

This eerily foreshadowed the future fate of the Sanctuary, which was destined to be rebuilt a number of times: in Gilgal, Shiloh, Nob, and Gibeon, and twice in Jerusalem. There were seven structures in all.

Echoing Moses’ seven days of constructing and dismantling the Sanctuary in the desert, each of these structures was either dismantled (for relocation) or destroyed by enemies, forcing the construction of a replacement.

God promised, however, that corresponding to the efforts of Moses on the eighth day of inauguration, a final, eighth structure–the Third Temple in Jerusalem-will eventually be built, and it will never be demolished: “In the end of days, the mountain of God’s House will be firmly established at the top of mountains and will be exalted above peaks, and all the nations will stream to it. Many nations will go, saying, ‘Come, let us ascend to the Mount of God, to the House of God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His path’… nation will not lift up a sword against another nation and they will they no longer learn war” (Isaiah 2:2-4)

Rabbi Abraham Mordecai Alter of Gur writes:

For seven days, Moses set up the Tabernacle all over again single-handedly, for only Moses-a man of God-was able to “resurrect” a dismantled Sanctuary. Moses’ actions here empowered the nation to spiritually rehabilitate themselves and rebuild their Sanctuary seven times, after each was destroyed.

The same is true in our personal experience. God gives us the power to rebuild our spiritual lives and inner sanctuaries, time and again. Although we may stumble or even collapse, we are always able to rise again.

Let me say that again- “God gives us power to rebuild our spiritual lives and inner sanctuaries, time and again. Although we may stumble or even collapse, we are always able to rise again.” I feel like this is CRUCIAL in our spiritual walks.

How is the rebuilding of your spiritual life and inner sanctuary going today?

Thoughts?