Whose Building Is It?
What is the test of true friendship? When small things that affect the other matter to you, even when they don’t matter very much when it comes to your own interests. PIKUDEI PIKUDEI
The Doublets
This week we read the twin parshiyos of Vayakhel-Pikudei, the first of several “doubleheaders” that are read to accommodate the 54 Torah portions in the course of a lunar year which has no more than 50 weeks (except in a Leap year when another four weeks are added). There are a total of seven such “doublets” chosen, most likely, because of a common thread that runs through them.
The second parsha entitled Pikudei begins with the following verse:
“These are the accounts of the Mishkan (the portable Sanctuary)…
PIKUDEI which were counted by Moses’ command.”
And the text continues to provide a detailed accounting of all the materials that went into the construction of the Sanctuary.
Rashi, in earlier comments, provided us with a ground rule concerning the word “Eilehthese are.” If the Torah places the letter vav before the word Eileh (“V’eileh-And these are”) it indicates that what follows is a continuation of the preceding section. If, however, the opening word of the parsha is “Eileh-these are” without the conjunctive letter vav, it means that the new paragraph is detached from, and even negates, the content of the preceding section.
This leads us to an obvious question: How is the content of Pikudei—which discusses the accounting for all of the materials used in the Mishkan—a negation of the preceding parsha which discusses, at length, the contributions made for the Mishkan and the instructions for its construction. These two Parshiyos appear quite complementary (for PIKUDEI which reason they were apparently chosen as twin readings, as opposed to most other parshiyos that do not enjoy such uniformity).
Obsession with Detail
To answer this question, we must preface another question about the need to put so much emphasis on the attention to detail we find here as is exemplified by the precise accounting of the materials of the Mishkan.
The Mishkan was not just a physical structure. It was a place where Jews would come to get close to G-d, why did it matter so much that its construction be so precise? Why was it so crucial that a very precise accounting of each and every bit of metal be made? Did it really matter if the boards of the Mishkan were one millimeter longer or shorter than the prescribed dimensions given in the Torah? Would it have mattered if they would have used one gram less silver?
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In truth, the same question has been asked concerning the details inherent in every Mitzvah. Why the obsession with the details?
The answer to this question will provide us with an important lesson in how we should deal with the needs of others, whether the “other” is G-d or other people. And because this lesson often goes contrary to the way society functions, it is imperative for the Torah to underscore the point.
Opposite Human Traits
As humans we are endowed by our Creator with two opposite attitudes. At times we are awfully rigid and demanding. And at other times we are extremely reasonable, flexible and willing to forego certain demands that we may have on ourselves or others. The challenge of life is to know when to apply them. When should I be rigid and unrelenting and when shall I become soft and flexible?
When it comes to our own possessions, we are so rigid in demanding that everything PIKUDEI conform to our preference and taste. Every detail thus becomes important.
How many of us would be happy if we were to discover that our house is missing a minor detail that is dictated by our sense of aesthetics?
Some people would be so upset if things were not perfect in their lives to the point of getting completely bent out of shape. How dare the furniture store sell us a couch that was slightly darker or lighter than the one we wanted! How dare the used car salesperson sell us a car that had 51,000 miles on its odometer when we clearly asked for one that had no more than 50,000? And the list goes on. We are often rigid and unforgiving when we someone else doesn’t get it right.
But, when it comes to the needs and requests of others we discover that we have another side to our personality. We are far less rigid. Indeed, we cannot comprehend why the other cares so much about the little PIKUDEI details. Why are they so petty and pedantic? Can’t they be more flexible?
Jewish Ethics: Reverse Your Attitudes!
In truth, Jewish ethics asks us to reverse our attitudes. When it comes to our own needs and interests we should be so much more flexible and forgiving. Big deal if things do not work out the way we wanted it. Is this or that detail so crucial? Looking at life’s bigger picture does it really make a difference what color our couch, car or house is? At a funeral do you expect the eulogizer to point out how perfectly matched your clothing was to your furniture?
To be sure, there is nothing wrong with external and physical beauty. There is nothing evil about appreciating the finer things in life, even if they are of an ephemeral nature. But that is because it is an expression of an inner spiritual and ethereal beauty. How beautiful can something be if in the pursuit of external PIKUDEI perfection we degrade the inner beauty of our souls? How beautiful are we when we explode in anger because someone was not sensitive to our aesthetic sensibilities? By getting angry we destroy the inner beauty of our souls while ostensibly being zealous about some superficial notion of beauty and perfection.
However, when we deal with the needs and wants of others we have to change our nonchalant attitude. We must respect and care for the needs and wants of others (provided, of course, they are not detrimental to them physically or spiritually) as if they were our own spiritual needs.
“The other’s physical needs are your spiritual needs.”
In the words of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (known as the “Alter Rebbe,” the founder of the Chabad Chassidic movement): “The other’s physical needs are your spiritual needs.” Every detail and nuance of the other person’s needs should PIKUDEI be sacred to us while the details of our own needs can be safely compromised.
The ultimate demonstration of respect for the other is when we respect their needs and choices (provided, of course, they do not conflict with the law and morality) even if they seem petty to us. In fact, whether our respect for the other is really only a social nicety or it is genuine is determined by the degree we go to fully accommodate the other, and not oneself.
To illustrate this point further:
When we give someone a gift, how much value is there when the choice of gift is what we like and not what the recipient of the gift likes? To send flowers to someone who does not care for them might be a nice gesture, but it is that much more meaningful when we research what the other person would like—no matter how idiosyncratic it may be—and give them that particular item. The former approach is really an expression of one’s own ego, the PIKUDEI latter is an expression of one’s sincere respect and concern for the other.
If this is true with regard to the temporal needs and wants of other people, it is surely true with respect to the “wants” (read: commandments) of G-d. (G-d, obviously has no needs, unless He chooses to have them). We cannot argue that the details do not matter because it’s not about what we think about the details; it’s what G-d thinks about them. Doing a Mitzvah or building a Sanctuary for G-d is not about us; it’s about bringing G-d into our lives. And only G-d can determine how He will enter our lives. If we truly respect G-d we will respect His preferences as well, even if we do not comprehend their deeper meaning.
Only Here are the Details Crucial
We can now understand why this week’s parsha begins with the exclusionary word “Eileh-these are”, without the conjunctive letter vav, which generally means that what follows is at variance with that which we PIKUDEI have read elsewhere. Only here—with regard to the construction of G-d’s Sanctuary—are the details so important. Only with respect to G-d’s “home” do we have to be so rigid and scrupulous in the way we build it.
By contrast, when dealing with material matters that affect our bodies and homes we should not be so obsessed with detail. There is no law that one must eat their dinner at a given time or that one must dress in accordance with the latest style or that one’s home must conform to a certain pattern. And while being organized, neat and looking good is a positive thing; it should not be etched in stone.
There are times when we have to be flexible with our time and external needs and preferences and override the emphasis on the particulars of our lives for the benefit of our souls’ interests, which include taking care of the needs of others or building G-d’s Sanctuary.
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One of the reasons we get our priorities confused is because we live in the period known as Galus-exile which has been likened to a dream because our perception of things in a dream is confused. Likewise, in exile we confuse night for day and day for night. We confuse the times when being rigid is called for, for the times that we ought to be flexible.
However, in the Age of Redemption (which we are poised to enter into imminently), we will be redeemed not only from the forces of evil that are responsible for war and hatred, but also from those conditions that take away clarity from our lives. In the Messianic Age we will have our priorities in order.
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From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Vayakhel-Pikudei by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
