Parashat Pekudei/Shabbat HaChodesh
Torah: Exodus 38:21 – 40:38 (Chazak!)
Maftir: Exodus 12:1-20
Haftarah: Ezekiel 45:16 - 46:18 (Ashkenazim); Ezekiel 45:18 - 46:15 (Sephardim)
Adar 29, 5785 / March 28-29, 2025
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My annual Pesach Resources Guide is now available. Check it out occasionally before Pesach as I do make edits and updates.
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This d’var torah is offered in memory of my father-in-law, Abe Kronzek, whose yahrzeit falls on Sunday, Rosh Chodesh Nisan. Y'hi zikhro liv'rakhah - May his memory be a blessing.
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for the hostages.
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have been wounded in the terrorist attacks and in fighting against the terrorists, as well as innocent non-combatants caught in the crossfire.
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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On March 31, we'll be at Ein Ya'akov Vol. 3, Yevamot, p. 32 (BT Yevamot 6a):
"...תניא איש אמו ואביו תיראו"
"We are taught in a Baraitha Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father ...'"
https://hebrewbooks.org/9632
A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria:
https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about our various programs and becoming a Member at: https://bnaihayim.org/
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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SOME BEAN COUNTER!
“These are the accountings (pekudei) of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of Testimony, which was accounted for (pukad) at the behest of Moses ... “Exodus 38:21
I must confess that, all too often, the subtleties of Hebrew grammar are lost on me. The Hebrew root "pkd" gives rise to words which, in various constructions, mean “account”, “count”, “command(er)”, “deposit”, “official”, and “bureaucrat”, among others. Some are laudatory, some are derogatory. How exactly was it used in our verse?
One could read this verse to mean that Moses was acting merely as a functionary, a bureaucrat, a pencil pushing bean counter - you get the idea. Somehow, I do not believe that this is the way that Moses would have liked to be remembered. Because of the passive voice, it's not clear what his motivation was.
Moses Beheld All the Work - Marc Chagall
The midrash suggests that Moses ordered the accounting because he did not want anybody to accuse him of stealing. This sort of self-protective mentality is laudable, in one respect, because it shows that Moses had nothing to hide. Everything that had been collected for the Tabernacle had actually been used in its construction. On the other hand, it is a bit unseemly, showing that he perhaps did not believe the people trusted him. Why should Moses have feared the Children of Israel? After all, they believed so strongly in him, that when he did not reappear after climbing Mount Sinai , they assumed that God had abandoned them!
A third possible way to look at this is that Moses ordered the accounting because he believed that the people had a right to know. He wasn't a drudge and he wasn't afraid. Rather, he was shedding light where there was potential for darkness; he was an early advocate for transparency. Note also that God did not command Moses to do this.
Lost in all this, and in our attitudes towards bureaucrats, is that ultimately, Moses' motivation is irrelevant. The bottom line is that the people were reassured. He was a good public servant. That is all that we can hope to expect from anybody that works on behalf of the community. And a job well done is something you can take to the bank!
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Richard Flom, Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent."
BT Yevamot 87b
Temple B'nai Hayim
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face of wrongdoing is consent."
BT Yevamot 87b
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