Pekudei פָּרָשַׁת פְקוּדֵי

Our parsha Pekudei tells us...

“And Moshe did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. It came to pass in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the Mishkan was set up.” 

And the Talmud tells us:
“When (the month of) Adar enters we increase in joy!” 

So, there is clearly a connection between the building of the Mishkan, the moveable sanctuary, and the month of Adar, which includes the joyous holiday of Purim.

What is so significant about building the Mishkan that it takes up so much space in the Torah?

We have about 4½ chunky Torah portions packed with detailed descriptions of what was commanded and how it was executed with precision.  And every year we revisit this account of what was essentially a singular event in history for the plan for a Temple that we’ll never replicate.  And, throughout the rest of the year, we confront so many places in the Torah where the halachot are not clear, and the narratives of our ancestors are thin and full of missing details. 

• Why?
• How does that connect with Purim and the month of Adar?
• Why are the building of the Temple and the month of Adar intended to bring about an increase in joy?

To provide a possible answer, I want to tell two stories.  Here’s one:

A Jewish comedian (is that redundant?) once went to the airport to pick up his mother in-law. On the way home, he asked her, “How long are you staying?” She replied, “As long as you want.” He responded in amazement: “You’re not even coming in for a cup of coffee!?”

And here’s the other: 

When the Kotzker rebbe was a precocious child of three, his rabbi asked him, “Where can God be found?” The child answered: “Everywhere!” His Rebbe shook his head and made clear that that answer was incorrect. So, he asked the child again, only to get the same response. Finally, the Rabbi told him the RIGHT answer: “God can be found only where He is invited to enter.”

Here we are at the end of Exodus, and after so many parshiyot devoted to details, it’s easy to miss the big picture, to confuse the forest and the trees.  Here, at the end of Pekudei, we witness the completion of the Temple, and we see the manifestation of God’s presence in cloud and fire, a presence that it meant to protect us throughout the rest of our journey. But, even as we travel, and we need to travel, we have a building, a home, a sanctuary, a sacred space where we invite God into our lives.  Where we became a true people.

The name of the month ADAR in Hebrew is ALEPH-DALET-REISH! ALEPH stands for God, Adonai, Who is one. The first time ALEPH is used at the beginning of a word in Torah is ELOCHIM. DALET- REISH spells DAR, to reside. HASHEM finds residence with us in ADAR. It’s not just when we enter the time zone of Adar that we increase in joy but rather when ADAR enters and penetrates us, to that extent joy is multiplied.

Purim is packed with eating and drinking with gusto. Yet, in just such a setting, we joyously welcome God into our very midst, in complete fulfillment of the destiny of the Jews.

And we look forward to the Festival of Liberation, of Spring, Pesach!