The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Pekudei

The Rebbe says:

Part one:

1. This week’s Torah portion, as well as last week’s Torah portion (Parshas Vayakhel), discusses at length exactly how all the elements of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) were made.

2. The Rebbe now questions this:

Three and four Torah portions earlier, in Parshas Terumah and Tetzaveh, the Torah told us exactly how Hashem (G-d) told Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) to make the Mishkan. Now, in this week’s and last week’s Torah portions, the Torah tells us exactly how the Mishkan was actually made by the Yidin (the Jewish people).

If we consider that the Torah’s general style of composition is to write everything in the shortest possible manner, and indeed many laws are learned out from one extra word or letter, we will be puzzled at the Torah’s repetition of every single detail of the Mishkan. Wouldn’t it have been more fitting for the Torah to simply state in this week’s Torah portion, “And the Jewish people constructed the Mishkan in accordance with all that Hashem had commanded Moshe Rabbeinu”? Why does the Torah belabor the point in this week’s and last week’s Torah portions (Vayakhel and Pekudei)?

3. The Rebbe now refers to a similar question and recalls its answer so that we can apply it here as well:

The Torah tells us in Chumash Bamidbar (the Book of Numbers) that the Nassi (prince) of each of the Twelve Tribes brought offerings to Hashem. The Torah does not suffice with describing the offering of the first Nassi and then simply stating, “And so was the offering of the other eleven Nesi’im (princes)”. Instead, the Torah repeats every detail of the offering given by every Nassi. Again, why does the Torah deviate from its usual practice of being as brief as possible?

Our Sages explain that the Torah needed to repeat each Nassi’s (prince’s) offering because they were actually not the same; even though the physical offerings were the same, “One silver bowl…one gold ladle…one young bull…”, their accomplishments were different. In other words, each tribal leader succeeded in bringing down a different energy from Hashem into the world.

4. The Rebbe now applies this same explanation to our query as well:

The Mishkan spoken about earlier in Parshas Terumah and Tetzaveh is actually a different Mishkan than the Mishkan which the Torah tells us about now in Parshas Vayakhel and Pekudei. In the words of our Sages, there was “A Mishkan down here in this world and a Mishkan up in the spiritual worlds”.

5. The Rebbe now gets more specific and explains the difference between the two Mishkans (Tabernacles):

The Mishkan which the Torah discusses earlier (in Parshas Terumah and Tetzaveh) was when Hashem spoke to Moshe Rabbeinu concerning the Mishkan. The advantage of this is threefold:

1) Moshe Rabbeinu had a Soul from the spiritual world of Atzilut and experienced this world through the “glasses” of Atzilut.

2) The Torah states, “Never again has there arisen a prophet like Moses, whom Hashem has known face to face”. In other words, Moshe Rabbeinu’s level of prophecy will never be paralleled by any other prophet.

3) Hashem spoke to Moshe Rabbeinu when he was on Har Sinai (Mount Sinai), not while he was in this physical world. As the Torah testifies, while Moshe Rabbeinu was on Har Sinai “He did not eat bread and he did not drink water”; he was on a higher, more spiritual, level than when he was in this physical world eating and drinking (even though his eating and drinking was obviously different than other people).

From all of this we can understand that this sort of Mishkan was not made with gold and silver.

On the other hand, the Mishkan discussed now in the Torah (in Parshas Vayakhel and Pekudei) is when the Yidin (Jewish people) actually constructed it. This means that:

1) The Torah is discussing the Mishkan as it was made by people who do not experience this world in a spiritual sense, at the level of Atzilut (unlike Moshe Rabbeinu who had a Soul of Atzilut).

2) The Torah is discussing the Mishkan as it was made down here in this physical world (unlike when Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu earlier concerning the Mishkan when he was on Har Sinai).

3) The Torah is discussing a Mishkan which was built out of physical things- gold and silver.

6. The Rebbe now points out that even though the first Mishkan was the spiritual Mishkan, the second Mishkan is what fulfills Hashem’s desire:

Even though this world is physical and coarse, which experiences a darkness which is doubled and then doubled again, this is exactly what Hashem wants- to make a dwelling place for Him specifically here. As our Sages confirm, “Hashem desired to have a dwelling place here in this physical world” . Thus, when Hashem told the Jewish people, “Make for Me a dwelling place and I will dwell in them”, He was surely referring to the physical Mishkan discussed now in Parshas Vayakhel and Pekudei.

7. The Rebbe now finishes off with the lesson for us:

The message that we should walk away with is that we should never be downhearted or feel dejected because of the state we may find ourselves in. Even if one considers himself to be in a sorry state spiritually or physically, not to mention the darkness of the world, he should know that as long as he is “generous of heart”, which means that he puts in effort to please Hashem with a Jewish warmth and “heartzikait” (full of heart), Hashem promises to “rest in them” – in every single Jew.

Part two:

1. We explained in part one that the Torah discusses two different Mishkanot (Tabernacles) – a spiritual Mishkan (Tabernacle) and a physical Mishkan- at two different times. In this week’s and last week’s Torah portions (Parshas Vayakhel and Pekudei) the Torah discusses the physical Mishkan, and in the previous Torah portions (Parshas Terumah and Tetzaveh) the Torah discusses the spiritual Mishkan.

2. The Rebbe now shows how both of these Mishkanot are presented in this week’s Torah portion:

The first verse of this week’s Torah portion reads, “These are the accountings of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony…”

Why does the Torah repeat the word “Mishkan” twice? Why doesn’t the verse simply read, “These are the accountings of the Mishkan of the Testimony…”?

According to our previous explanation, however, this verse becomes clear. The word “Mishkan” is repeated twice to teach us that there are two Mishkanot.

3. The Rebbe now explains and proves which word means the spiritual Mishkan and which one means the physical Mishkan:

The first time the verse says the word, “Mishkan”, the Torah refers to the spiritual Mishkan, and the second time the verse says, “Mishkan”, the Torah refers to the physical Mishkan.

We know this because the second time the verse says the word, “Mishkan”, it says, “the Mishkan of the Testimony”, and surely testimony/proof is only needed when something is not clear and evident, like the physical Mishkan where the holiness and spirituality was not apparent to the naked eye.

4. The Rebbe now quotes and questions the Jerusalemite Talmud who touches upon the idea of the Tabernacle:

The Jerusalemite Talmud writes, “A Jew should recite a prayer every day which consists of eighteen blessings, correspondent to the eighteen times the Torah says, ‘As Hashem commanded
us’, when discussing the second Tabernacle”.

The Jerusalemite Talmud then continues and answers a question we might have. “Even though the Torah actually says, ‘As Hashem commanded us’, nineteen times regarding the second Tabernacle, we only acknowledge eighteen of them because these eighteen were said to both Betzalel and Oholiav (the builders of the Mishkan), unlike the nineteenth one which was said only to Betzalel”.

Question one: What is the connection between the eighteen times the Torah states, ‘As Hashem commanded us’, regarding the Mishkan, to the eighteen blessings we should recite in our prayers?

Question two: Why is this particularly connected to the second Mishkan and not the first Mishkan?

Question three: Why is it that for prayer we only acknowledge the commandments which Hashem gave to both Betzalel and Oholiav concerning the Mishkan and not the commandment which Hashem gave to Betzalel alone?

5. The Rebbe now answers the first two questions:

When Yakov Avinu (Jacob our forefather) was on his way to his uncle Lavan he had a dream, “And behold! A ladder was set earthward and its top reached heavenward”. Our Sages in the Zohar explain that this ladder which is in the earth but reaches heavenward is the ladder of prayer.

Chassidus explains that when we pray we have the strength to elevate the crudest physicality to the highest heights of spirituality. This being the case, we can understand the connection between prayer to the Mishkan, and to the second Mishkan specifically:

As we explained earlier, the purpose of the physical Mishkan, the second Mishkan, was to make a perfect dwelling place for Hashem in this world where every single bolt and nail, every single nook and cranny, was filled with Hashem’s presence. So too when we pray, we can bring Hashem into every aspect of our lives.

Therefore, when our Sages instituted our prayers they wanted them to correspond to the Mishkan’s setup and design because prayer is the substitute for the Mishkan now that we don’t have a physical Mishkan. Furthermore, they linked our prayers to the amount of times the Torah says, “As Hashem commanded us”, because the Hebrew word for “commanded” (“Tzafsa”) also means “connected”; thus the Torah was saying concerning the Mishkan, “As Hashem connected to us”.

6. The Rebbe continues this explanation and answers the third question:

Our Sages in the Midrash explain that the Mishkan had to be built by both Betzalel and Oholiav because Betzalel was from the highest of the Twelve Tribes (the Tribe of Judah) and Oholiav was from the lowest type of Tribe (the Tribe of Dan, who’s mother was a maidservant).

Bearing this in mind we can understand why with regards to prayer we only acknowledge the commandments which Hashem gave to both Betzalel and Oholiav concerning the Mishkan and not the commandment which Hashem gave to Betzalel alone:

As we just explained, during prayer we have the strength to elevate the very lowest levels of our personality and the world as a whole. Therefore, when our Sages instituted our prayers, which are correspondent to design of the Mishkan, they only included the eighteen times Hashem “commanded=connected” to the highest and lowest type of Jew- Betzalel and Oholiav.

Translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos volume one, first Sicha.