PEKUDEI Exodus XXXVIII,21 – XL

The construction of the Mishkan, which is the tabernacle that was to serve our ancestors in their worship of the Creator, receives careful attention in our chapters. As we know from the previous readings, this is not the first time that our text details the different objects and works that were necessary for the Mishkan. Some biblical commentators and interpreters strive to find reasoning for this insistence and repetition. Before attempting to answer this question, it is important to note some modalities in the process of building this Mishkan.

The Mishkan was built with the participation of the entire society. Each member was encouraged to contribute Machtsit hashekel,which is an equal amount for all, to possibly prevent any person or group from taking over the operation of this Mishkan. In a way, the Kohanim who make up the priesthood of worship had no exclusivity of the sacred precinct, because the people, in their entirety, had participated in its construction and would continue to do so with its maintenance and contributions for the needs of this Mishkan.

The contribution of the different materials necessary for the construction of the Mishkan gave to each an additional way to express in a concrete way a religious concern and fervor. The Jew would feel, from then on, personally involved, and as an active factor in worship, a fact that is an essential characteristic and a fundamental pillar of the Jewish tradition.

Upon entering a synagogue, you immediately notice the difference with other sanctuaries. There is no symbolic office or sacrifice offered by a priest. The Chazan who conducts prayers in the synagogue, (albeit with a few exceptions) becomes largely the conductor who orders the recitation of prayers by the public, who, in turn, has to be an active participant in all aspects of religious service.

Initially, during the synagogue worship, each person called for an Aliyah, which is the reading of the Torah, effectively read, himself, the verses assigned to him. But when the Chachamim noticed that there were parishioners who could not fulfill this task and, therefore, were discriminated, they chose to delegate a specific person, appointed in advance (Baal keria),so that he would declaim and sing the reading on behalf of all.

Jewish teaching, therefore, is different from others, and even revolutionary, because it snatches the monopoly of the priesthood in religious worship. During the last stage of our history, prior to the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, which was the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, the rivalry between two of the existing currents was accentuated. On the one hand, were the Tsedukim, Sadducees, who basically represented the Kohanim who make up the priesthood, and on the other hand we find the Perushim, Pharisees, who represented the Chachamim, the teachers and scholars of tradition.

The destruction of the Beit HaMikdash accelerated this rivalry that culminated in the intellectual dominance of the Perushim. The latter interpreted the Holy Scriptures and stamped with their teachings the essence of Jewish practice and faith. Their magna work is the Talmud which captures the discussions and controversies of the great study academies of Babylon and Palestine. From a certain narrow but refined perspective, the Talmud reveals, to a great extent, the geist, the soul of Judaism.

The Talmud could never be incorporated into the life of another order unless this group did not previously abandon its former religious identity. The Bible, on the other hand, was adopted by Christianity, which, although similar in some respects, is very different and “another” from Judaism in a large number of fundamental propositions. The aforementioned joint participation in the construction of the tabernacle in the desert is, then, a first step to the “popular religious democratization” that will be a fundamental premise of Judaism. 

The Divine decision to order the construction of this Mishkan seems to be, as we noted in an earlier chapter, a commitment to the notion of the existence of a God who is not visible. The people demanded some tangible representation of a concept that is entirely abstract. It was not possible to quickly erase the memory of the hundreds of years of Egyptian experience. Therefore, the Mishkan and the Menorá and all the objects contained in this sacred enclosure are symbols of ideas that were revolutionary at the time, but represent, at the same time, permanent truths.

For centuries, including that of the glorious era of the construction of the Beit HaMikdash during the kingdom of Shlomoh, continuedthe struggle to banish the customs and pagan ideas out of the bosom of our people. Monotheism was not immediately understood with the extraordinary revelation on Mount Sinai. It was necessary to destroy numerous idols and false concepts, in this process of maturation and development of new ideas that would revolutionize the whole world.

The destruction of the Second Beit HaMikdash and the banishment of our ancestors caused a national trauma of enormous proportions. In exile there was no possibility of offering the sacrifices that constituted daily worship in the Beit HaMikdash. The stage of history that had begun with the Mishkan after the Exodus of Egypt had come to an end. The stability of faith in the one God that had finally taken root and became part of Jewish identity, was now at risk. The Beit HaMikdash is not portable and could not be incorporated into a new religious lifestyle outside the ancestral land.

At this moment in history, the perspective of the Perushim who took forthemselves the flag of study and the effort for a deeper understanding of the principles of religious tradition became essential. With the loss of the Kohanim service in Jerusalem, the academies and study become the bases of Judaism. The Synagogue emerges vigorously, the roots of which had been timidly constituted during the last period of the existence of Beit HaMikdash.

The figure of Rabi (rabbi) the teacher, the expert interpreter of tradition, acquires prominence in the religious hierarchy. At some point in the Middle Ages, we find the professionalization of this Rabi who receives remuneration from the community (equivalent to what he would have perceived in another endeavor, if he were to spend similar time) in order to give himself, to the study and spiritual chores of society full-time.

In this way, there is the transition from a faith whose physical center is in Jerusalem, to a tradition that can be transported and brought to the ends of the world. Sacrifice had to be offered in the Beit HaMikdash, but prayers and study are not confined to a geographical area. This new adaptation of faith, forced by exile, reinforced the determination for survival and established our creative ingenuity in the search for new ways to express the spiritual truths we had inherited. However, the current possibility of residing in Medinat Israel opens new perspectives to develop with the experience gained in exile, a deeper appreciation and understanding of the great discovery of Patriarch Avraham which is the existence of one God and consequently that of brotherhood among all human beings.