Parshas Pekudei: God's Ultimate Dwelling Place is Within a Human Being

We again have two Torah readings this week, our regular reading, Parshas Pekudei, Shemot (Exodus) 38:21-40:38 and because of the new month of Nissan falling this Sunday, Parshas Hachodesh: Shemot (Exodus) 12:1-20. Pekudei means 'tallies,' referring to the individual contributions of precious metals made to the Tabernacle Fund to fashion the elaborate furnishings and ornaments described in the portion. Everyone donates something.

On the first day of the new month of Nissan in the year 1312 BCE, Moses dedicates the newly finished Mishkan in service to Almighty God. Moses places the ark, the menorah, the altar, and other holy items in their appointed places inside the Mishkan. Sacrifices and incense are offered up to Heaven. Aaron and his sons assume their priestly obligations. The presence of God, manifested as a glorious cloud, settles upon the structure. This must have been an absolutely astonishing and awesome sight to see!

Our regular Haftarah portion this week, I Melachim (Kings) 7:51-8:21, describes similar events surrounding King Solomon's temple. In 827 BCE with construction recently completed, the priests transfer the Ark to the Holy of Holies in the new Temple. Again, the presence of God manifests as a glorious cloud settles upon the structure.

Our special Haftarah readings due to Rosh Chodesh this Sunday and Passover in two weeks are Shabbat Hachodesh Machar Chodesh: Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 45:18 - 46:15; Shmuel I (Samuel) 20:18 and Samuel I 20:42. The Ezekiel reading begins by detailing a week of required temple sacrificial rituals to prepare for the Passover holy days. This preparation includes sin offerings to God to cleanse the Temple for the actions and words of 'mistaken and simple-minded men.' The Ezekiel reading ends with complex worship guidelines for people during Shabbat and Festivals, including Rosh Chodesh, the new moon celebrations. The first Samuel reading refers to David's upcoming absence at the Rosh Chodesh celebrations due to his flight from Saul's intention to kill him. The second Samuel reading is a generational pact of friendship between the two men and their families.

The heart of Judaism resides in the building, consecrating, and purifying the place where God dwells. The temples, though major events in Jewish history, provide temporary physical repositories for God's indwelling. The Mishkan lasted 40 years. King Solomon's temple lasted 400 years. The second temple lasted 280 years, and biblical records disclose that a cloud of glory was not present there. So, most of the time, Jews are without a central location where God dwells and where His Divine will is revealed. This lack of a physically constructed place of religious integrity explains in part the lack of moral clarity within Jewish communities today. Many religious Jews who long for the restoration of such a center, support the work of the Temple Institute, a group planning to build a Third Temple in Israel according to biblical prophecy.

The ultimate place of Divine indwelling is the human being, a repository built upon the Intelligent Design of the human person, co-created with a mother and a father here on earth. To house the Divine will and carry it out is the reason we are given life, so we must protect and support human life from the moment of conception to natural death.

To create a Heaven on Earth we fulfill our duty to '“choose life, that you and your children will live..'  We provide safe passage out of the womb for our babies. We teach our children moral and ethical principles rooted in Torah, guaranteeing generational understanding revealed at Sinai. We need not depend on a long lost three dimensional ark housed in a non existent physical temple. We need not be led astray by the words and actions of 'mistaken and simple-minded men.' We ourselves can be places for the indwelling of Divine will.

God Himself constructs this place, as noted by the psalmist David in Psalm 139. "For you created my inmost being: you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made... My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to me.“

We adorn our temple not with precious metals and gems, but with gratitude for the gift of life, genuine humility and sincere pursuit of God's will for us. When each of us donates our heart and mind to this inner sanctuary, a glorious cloud of peace will dwell among us again, without interruption and for eternity.

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Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. She envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.