March 8, 2015 · 01:42:21
G-d Dwells in the Home We Construct from our Real Lives; The Secret Behind the Golden CalfThere is something very intriguing about Vaykhel-Pekudei. Anybody even slightly familiar with the Torah is aware of its unique conciseness. Complete sagas, rich, complex and profound, are often depicted in a few short biblical verses. Each word in the Bible literally contains layers upon layers of interpretation. For the sages and rabbis over the past 3,000 years, it was clear that there is nary a superfluous word or letter in the Bible, and large sections of the Talmud are based on this premise. If a verse is lyrically repetitive, if two words are used where one would suffice or a longer word is used when a shorter word would suffice, there is a message here, a new concept, another law. It is thus astonishing to observe that two entire sections in the Torah are seemingly superfluous! These are the final two sections of the book of Exodus—Vayakhel and Pekudei—telling the story of how the Jewish people constructed the portable Tabernacle (Mishkan) that would accompany them during their 40-year journey in the desert. In the previous sections of this book, Terumah and Tetzaveh, the Torah gives a detailed account of G-d's instructions to Moses regarding the construction of the Sanctuary. With meticulous description, G-d lays out to Moses every detail of the Tabernacle—every piece of furniture, item, article and vessel that should become part of the Sanctuary. Nothing is lef