PECUDEI
Exodus 38:21 - 40:38
Parasha Pekudei פקודי speaks of the summation, the accounting of the work done, just before the work is completed and the product is put into its function. It is essentially about the summation of different perspectives on a given situation, which is the only way to open the door to spiritual light.
Author: Dusan Kaluza.
VAJAKHEL, EX 35:1 - 38:20 VAJIKRA, LV 1:1 - 5:26 ALL PARASHOT TORAH-SLO TORAH-HBR
Transparency means that light is fluid. But this can only happen with commitment, with the establishment of a relationship. Transparency only applies to that and those who are part of the relationship. Transparency can determine who we have a relationship with and to what extent.
SUMMARY
Pekudei, the last parasha of Sefer Shemot, is read together with the preceding Vayakhel during normal years. However, during 'pregnant years', the two parashas are read separately.
We are dealing with a report of the work done; although the tabernacle has not yet been assembled. Bezalel is singled out, who did everything as Moses was commanded. It is described in detail how much silver was collected by donations of half a shekel from each. The report shows that many artisans participated in the construction.
The Mishkan and all its furnishings are brought to Moses, who blesses the builders.
The Creator instructs Moses to set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the second year of the Exodus from Egypt. Moses is given specific instructions on how to set it up. He is also instructed to consecrate Aaron and his sons to the priesthood.
Moses sets up the tabernacle and puts the testimony in it.
The Creator's cloud covers the tent of meeting, the Creator fills the tent so that Moses cannot enter it. When the cloud lifted, the Israelites could travel forward, but if it did not, they did not travel.
TOTAL
אֵ֣לֶּה פְקוּדֵ֤י הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙ מִשְׁכַּ֣ן הָעֵדֻ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר פֻּקַּ֖ד עַל־פִּ֣י מֹשֶׁ֑ה עֲבֹדַת֙ הַלְוִיִּ֔ם בְּיַיד֙ אִֽיתָמָ֔ר בֶּֽן־אָרֹ֖ן הַכֹּהֵֽן׃
Ex 38:21 These are the sums of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which were numbered according to the commandment of Moses, the work of the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
The words pekudei פקודי, which I translated as sum, and pukad פקד, which I translated as the above, are very difficult to translate with a single word that would correspond to all the uses of this word, or all the words that originate from the same core in the Hebrew original. They could also be translated: report, note, sum, calculation, calculation and even visit, control, insight. In Kabbalah, we claim that the creator is behind everything, therefore also for the problem of translating the word pekud. And here we already have the solution or the message of this time's parasha, which speaks of the sum, the calculation during the construction of the mishkan, which must occur just before it is erected and put into use. We can add up all the meanings of the word pekud - the sum is of course possible when we find a common denominator. This is the essence of the summation that Pekudei is talking about.
What is required to be counted at the Mishkan? Every product must go through a final inspection before it is given to the user, and so is the Mishkan. To understand what the Israelites counted, we must remember that Moses received instructions for the Mishkan, and then the sin of the golden calf occurred. Moses broke the golden calf, and he also broke the tablets of the testimony that were intended for the Mishkan. Because the golden calf was made, the construction of the Mishkan was stopped. In fact, the incident with the golden calf is a condition for the construction of the Mishkan, it cannot be otherwise.
The golden calf is synonymous with some apparent objectivity or truth that everyone likes to believe in. However, this material truth excludes an unknown creator, so such a truth cannot endure indefinitely.
Each of us is also an individual person with his own spiritual plan, who soon begins to experience the material objective truth in his own way. It is logical that such a truth, which he shared with his fellow man, then falls apart, just as the golden calf fell apart. When the golden calf fell apart, everyone recognized his unique idea of the world and the creator. The sum of all these impressions is only the true mishkan; the dwelling place for the creator within ourselves; in each person and in the collective.
BECCAEL
וּבְצַלְאֵ֛ל בֶּן־אוּרִ֥י בֶן־ח֖וּר לְמַטֵּ֣ה יְהוּדָ֑ה עָשָׂ֕ה אֵ֛ת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃
Ex 38:22 And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that יהוה commanded Moses.
Bezalel was the son of Uri and the grandson of Hur. To understand this verse and indeed the entire parashah, we need to know what these personal names mean. The entire Shemot speaks of names, which in Kabbalah are always descriptions of the stages of our progression towards the Creator.
Bezalel means "in the shadow of the creator", Uri comes from the word "light", Hur means "pale-faced", and Yehuda comes from "praise".
Genesis or Sefer Beresheet as a whole is a constitutive view of creation. It tells how the receiver of light emerged from light; it presents spiritual archetypes. Sefer Shemot is the beginning of correction on a collective level. Therefore, we can parallel all the events in the Torah with the book of Beresheet and especially with Parasha Beresheet, as well as with Noah. Within Parasha Beresheet, the message is even more concentrated in the seven-day story, where the central idea is that the creator created man "in his shadow". There, we could also translate it "in his image", as non-Kabbalists usually translate. Image and shadow can be synonyms or antonyms, depending on how we look at it. In Kabbalah, we must be able to add up opposing views. By adding up opposites, we make room for the creator. Creation or. recognition of opposites and their connection, adding up is the essence of Kabbalah.
Let us return to Pekudei. To be in the shadow of the Creator, or in the image of the Creator, means to act in accordance with the law of equivalence of form; to prepare a suitable vessel that has the same properties as the light with which this vessel, the kli, will be filled. The Mishkan must be made according to the model of the Creator if we want Him to dwell in it. We must make it ourselves if we are to deserve the light.
Let's see how the names in this verse are listed in reverse order: thanks, pale, light, the creator's shadow (image). We notice a progression that begins with gratitude and ends with the creator's shadow, which is more than light. If it were just an ordinary shadow, it would mean the end, because instead of the creator, they would choose the golden calf.
Bezalel is the sum of the experiences of his ancestors, or the sum of previous spiritual levels, and therefore he has within him the understanding of the instructions for building the Mishkan. The levels that Bezalel unites within him are the spiritual worlds: asiya (praise), yetzira (pale), beriya (light) and azilut (the shadow, image of the creator), or on a micro level: malkut, ZA-tifferet, bina, chokma.
That Bezalel is in the shadow of the creator also means that the sum at his disposal is incalculable. He has knowledge, experience, but he completely surrenders to the creator (he is literally in his shadow); he performs the task of making a mouse with intuition and aesthetic guidance. Each of us must reach the level of Bezalel, but this happens gradually. In reality, we already have all these levels within us, we just need to activate them, because we are created "in the shadow of the creator", "in the image of the creator".
COMMENT
I have shown before that the making of the golden calf and its destruction are the conditions for the proper making of the Mishkan. Does this mean that we must first make an effort to build the golden calf? No! The golden calf builds itself. And that is precisely the problem. Our task is to break it. When the Israelites left Egypt, they borrowed valuable things from the Egyptians, from which the calf was created, despite the Creator's revelation on Mount Sinai. After the experience on Sinai, the need to organize impressions logically followed, and the golden calf was created, which was more understandable and imaginable than the abstract experience of the Creator on Sinai.
In reality, it is a problem of the first impression we form about the creator, or the first impression we form about anything. This impression is the golden calf. It must be broken, and not just once; but every time we feel the need to materialize spirituality. Breaking the golden calf is a rebellion against the illusion we have talked about so much. We resist the representation of the world that is depicted to us by the five senses and the classic way of connecting independent perceptions that call for connection.
Light reaches us through interpersonal relationships. It is understandable that we create a material image of every person that the light sends us. This can be good, bad, neutral, whatever. We almost always project some of our past experiences, intentionally or unintentionally. On the one hand, this stems from our need for the familiar, and on the other hand, projections are important for recognizing situations that hinder us from progressing. In essence, the entire world around us is a projection of our inner state. If we want to discover the light in these images, we must allow ourselves to be corrected through the Kabbalistic study of the Torah.
Parasha Pekudei, and thus Sefer Shemot, concludes with the message that when the Creator settles in the tabernacle with the cloud, the Israelites do not travel. If the Creator is not in the tabernacle, we must travel - we must go on, to a new level. Of course, it is right to understand the concluding verses as well, that when the Creator is in the mishkan, correction is taking place, and therefore we cannot travel on to the next level until the light has done its work on the current level. This is already, in a way, an introduction to Sefer Vayikra.
LAST BILLING
Our task is to build a mishkan - interpersonal relationships, where we will recognize our best task, with which we will satisfy ourselves and others. When we make the final reckoning, we ask ourselves whether we brought all the gold, silver, bronze, etc. from Egypt. We ask ourselves whether we have gone to Egypt as many times as necessary. Every time we want to reach a new spiritual level, we go to Egypt. At the new level, the left side appears first - this is what we bring from Egypt. Next comes the right, which we develop in the desert. And the middle is a piece of the promised land, when we receive with the intention of giving.
This final reckoning is actually about checking whether a part of us has been left behind. Have we managed to integrate all our bones? Did we make a mistake with the golden calf in the meantime? Have we now corrected that and feel completely free and deserving of pleasure?
When we put together our personal mouse, we feel like we have met ourselves. This is of course exactly what we have, for we have built a vessel from the parts of ourselves that were hidden in the confines of Egypt. When they were revealed to us, we first connected them incorrectly (the golden calf), then correctly (the mouse)!