Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei: Preserving Human Life in the Womb Without Exception

We have a double Torah portion this week, Vayakhel, Shemot (Exodus) 35:1–38:20 and Pekudei, Shemot (Exodus) 38:21 - 40:38. Vayakhel means ‘to gather.’  Moses assembles all the people to convey God’s message that everyone should participate in the building of the Mishkan. Artisans are appointed, and the whole community provides special wood and metal building materials and precious decorative fabrics and gems. 

Sabbath Laws and Pikuach Nefesh

Contractors and artisans labor for 74 days to build the Mishkan. They work six days in a row. On the seventh day these activities cease for observance of the most holy day in the Jewish calendar, the weekly Sabbath celebration and rest. 

The 4th commandment, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, is so important at this time that failure to comply carries the death penalty. 

Today, opinions vary as to what constitutes Sabbath observance. Current day guidelines suggested by some rabbinic authorities resemble but differ from the restrictions originally enumerated in the 39 Melachot, the general categories of labor (creative work) required to build the Mishkan. Today, many Jews either prioritize Sabbath observance or strive to improve upon it within their unique personal circumstances.

Although abstaining from routine work and household chores is demanded, the Sabbath observance is meant to be life enhancing, not an exercise in deprivation. Hence, activities needed to save lives, and to care for children and the elderly and sick are required.

The Jewish principle of Pikuach Nefesh always applies. Pikuach Nefesh teaches us that all human life is sacred and belongs to God and that the preservation of human life overrides any other religious rule of Judaism, including all Sabbath restrictions. Everything we do should enhance life and human flourishing. 

Talmudic opinions give special emphasis to saving the life of an unborn child even on the Sabbath by caring for a pregnant woman and attempting to deliver a live baby whose mother has just died in childbirth. 

Pikuach Nefesh includes saving unborn babies from abortion homicide. The Torah contains no allowance for shedding innocent blood in the womb. Failing to support the right to life of human beings in the womb constitutes a serious breach of Jewish ethics and morals. Moreover, it enables ongoing spiritual and demographic suicide of the Jewish people.

Personal Sacrifice

Our second Torah reading this week is Parshas Pekudei, Shemot (Exodus) 38:21-40:38. Pekudei means 'tallies,' referring to an accounting for all the individual contributions of precious metals made to the Tabernacle Fund to fashion the elaborate furnishings, ornaments, and garments utilized in the service of God. 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. The Almighty now dwells amidst the people!

As Passover approaches, our Haftarah portion this week is Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 28:25-29:2, who recalls the troubles in Egypt and the Exodus. The prophet promises a redeemed Israel, a future nation impervious to invasion, secure under the grace of God,  Ezekiel also points out that Egypt's pagan worldview and arrogance will be its demise. The Babylonians will rise and replace Egypt as the most powerful empire on Earth. 

Modern leaders may want to understand the consequences of pagan practices within their borders if they want to avoid the same result as the Egyptians.

A Holy Dwelling Place Within Us

The heart of Judaism resides in the building, consecrating, and purifying the place where God dwells. Temple constructions, though major events in Jewish history, provide only temporary physical repositories for God's indwelling. The Mishkan lasts 40 years. King Solomon's temple lasts 400 years. The second temple lasts 280 years, and biblical records disclose that a cloud of glory is not present there. 

Except for these three episodes, Jews are without a central authority. This lack of a physically constructed place of religious integrity explains in part the lack of moral clarity within Jewish communities today. 

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. 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.

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. 

We adorn our inner 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. 

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 the ongoing indwelling place of God within our children.

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.“ 

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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. Cecily envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.

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