MicrobrewTorah
P'dukei, 21 March 2009
It's
in the Cloud
Wilderness.
Blazing sun.
Black nights.
Silence.
Isolation.
The Children of Israel had something we lack.
The Cloud.
The visible Presence of God.
The Cloud guided us as we fled Egypt.
The Cloud separated us from Pharaoh’s armies at the Red
Sea.
The Cloud was at Sinai at the giving of the Law.
The Cloud stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting when
Moses was inside.
Today’s portion ends with the completion of the Mishkan.
The text reads:
"When
Moses had finished the work, the Cloud covered the Tent of
Meeting, and the Presence of Adonai filled the Tabernacle.
Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the
Cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of Adonai filled
the Tabernacle. When the Cloud lifted from the Tabernacle,
the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys;
but if the Cloud did not lift, they would not set out until
such time as it did lift. For over the Tabernacle a Cloud
of Adonai rested by day, and fire would appear in it by
night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout
their journeys."
(Exodus 40:34-38, The Torah: A Women's Commentary, WRJ/URJ,
New York, 2008).
Rabbi Elana Zaiman explains
in The Women’s Torah Commentary
(Jewish
Lights) (pages 181-182) that by building the Mishkan,
the Children of Israel “became connected to . . . God in
a new way.”
Witnessing God’s Presence at Sinai “was frightening and
distant, too unreal to comprehend. The act of God handing
them an identity from above did not work for them. They had
to be part of the process."
The Clouds and Fire at Sinai is followed by God’s command
to build the Mishkan.
"By
giving birth the the Mishkan, the Children of Israel
experienced their identity as God’s people in a more
intimate and involved way. God understood that they needed
to be active participants in this process, for after the
Mishkan was built, God covered it with a cloud by day and a
fire by night. With the birth of the Mishkan, the
experience at Sinai became a daily revelation of God’s
presence. With the birth of the Mishkan, the experience of
Sinai in the heavens above moved to the earth
below."
As today’s text states, the Cloud and the Fire at the
Tabernacle “would be in the view of all the House of Israel
throughout their journeys.”
At the end of the journey, at the frontier of the Promised
Land, the Cloud is about to disappear. The people would
have to proceed on the basis of faith rather than vision.
Moses tells the people that he is about to die and that
Joshua will be their leader.
Moses says that God will travel before them and wipe out
the nations in their path.
Moses charges the people:
"Be
strong and resolute, be not in fear or in dread of them;
(meaning the Canaanites); for it is indeed your God Adonai
who marches with you; God will not fail you or forsake
you."
(Deuteronomy 31:6, The Torah: A Women's Commentary,
WRJ/URJ, New York, 2008)
The Visual Presence of God ended with the lifting of the
Cloud. However, the people still had a symbol of God’s
dwelling among them. This symbol was the Mishkan, and later
the Temple.
Rabbi Zaiman explains that with the destruction of the
Temple, the rabbis found a way to preserve God’s presence,
though not tied to a specific place.
The rabbis ceated a new name for God based on the word
Mishkan. They created Shechinah a feminine name,
"suggesting God’s presence in a very physical and imminent
way. The rabbis understood that the people of Israel still
needed to have a dwelling place for God. . . ."
Said the rabbis in Megilla 29a, “Every place to which they
(Israel) were exiled, the Shechina went with them.”
Rabbi Zaiman explains, “Through the name Shechinah, the
rabbis enabled God’s physical presence to exist in
exile.”
Eikev
Pinchas
P'dukei
Shoftim
Miketz
Bechukotai
Terumah
Tazriah-Metzora
Lech Lecha
Va-era
Re'eh
RH2
Vayeira
