Daniella Salomonis Project coordinator at Torah MiTzion.
Torah MiTzion stands in the forefront of the battle for the future of the Jewish people in the Diaspora, offering religious-Zionist Torah scholarship to Jewish communities throughout the world and strengthening the bond between the Jewish people in the Diaspora and in Israel via the study of Torah.
Parashat Pekudei closes the book of Exodus and concludes with finishing building the Mishkan. It opens with a detailed list of all the donations that the People of Israel donated towards building it and what exactly was done with all the funds. It is detailed throughout 43 verses thus teaching us the importance of transparency regarding public funds and how they are handled, continues with the detailed list of all the special garments that were prepared for the priests, all the Tabernacle vessels and concludes with the inauguration of the Tabernacle.
Once everything is in order and Moses goes over the checklist he received from G-d and concludes that it was done the way G-d instructed, he shows his appreciation by blessing the people who built it, thus acknowledging that their work was done correctly, another important point that sometimes gets left out.
כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר-צִוָּה ה', אֶת-מֹשֶׁה: כֵּן עָשׂוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֵת כָּל-הָעֲבֹדָה.
.וַיַּרְא מֹשֶׁה אֶת-כָּל-הַמְּלָאכָה, וְהִנֵּה עָשׂוּ אֹתָהּ--כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה', כֵּן עָשׂוּ; וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם, מֹשֶׁה. (Exodus 39, 42-43)
The connection between the parasha & the haftorah
Our Sages tried to select a haftorah that deals with similar topics as the parasha. In the case of Pekudei, the similarity between the inauguration of the Tabernacle and the inauguration of the Temple (Beit Hamikdash) seems most appropriate, but if we dive into the text, we can see a few more reasons.
The parasha says: וַתֵּכֶל--כָּל-עֲבֹדַת, מִשְׁכַּן אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד (Exodus 39, 32)
The haftorah says: וַתִּשְׁלַם כָּל-הַמְּלָאכָה... בֵּית ה' (Kings A, 7, 51)
Rabbi Yehuda Shaviv notes that despite the similarity between the verses, there are some differences: the word ותכל which is used in the first verse and means completed, is also from the root כלה, meaning to come to an end, cease to exist, just like the temporary Tabernacle, which served as a mobile tent but did not last forever. Whereas the word ותשלם used in the haftarah is from the root שלם, whole, peace and also refers to King Solomon, Shlomo, who built the Temple as a permanent temple.
Signing the Book of exile & redemption
Nachmanides in his introduction to the book of Exodus explains that after G-d completed the first book… He dedicated the Book of Exodus to the first exile and the redemption from it, but states that the exile is not over until they get back to their place, and once they received the Torah and made the Tabernacle, G-d dwelt between them and they were considered redeemed and that is the reason for ending the book of Exodus with the completion of the Tabernacle and G-d dwelling within it.
But the last two verses of the parasha mention the ongoing travels of the Israelites and the glory of the Lord escorting them during their travels wherever they go, they have yet to reach their destination. The real redemption will only occur when they build the Temple in Jerusalem.
The whole process of building the tabernacle is only a stage in reaching the real thing, building the Temple in the place G-d will choose and therefore the inauguration of the Temple is the completion of the tabernacle.
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