01 Mar PEKUDEI: A COVER-UP OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS

A Tribute to My Dear Student Nadiv

The Truth, the Whole Truth and…
Harry gets stopped by a police car.
When the police officer gets to his car,

Harry says, “What’s the problem of-
ficer?”

Officer: You were going at least 65 in
a 50mph zone.
Harry: No sir, I was going 50.
Wife: Oh Harry, You were going 70.
Harry gives his wife a dirty look.
Officer: I will also give you a ticket
for your broken brake light.
Harry: Broken brake light? I didn’t
know about a broken brake light!
Wife: Oh Harry, you’ve known about
that brake light for months.
Harry gives his wife a really dirty
look.
Officer: I am also going to book you
for not wearing your seat belt.
Harry: Oh, I just took it off when you
were walking up to the car.
Wife: Oh Harry, you never wear your
seat belt.
Harry turns to his wife and yells,
“Shut your mouth!”
The officer turns to the woman and
says, “Madam, does your husband
talk to you this way all the time?”
Wife: “No, only when he’s drunk…”
Smooth or Problematic?

In the Torah, the building of the Mish-
kan (Tabernacle)—culminated in the

Torah portion of this week Vayakhel-
Pekudei—is presented as a seamless

flow of command, collection, and
finally, construction. G-d commands
Moses, Moses presents the people
with the plans, the people respond
over-enthusiastically, donating more
than necessary (for the first and last

time in Jewish history…), and all Mo-
ses has to do is tell them when to stop.

The construction goes ahead accord-
ing to plan, and in no time at all—six

months in total (compare that with

construction nowadays)—the Mish-
kan is up and ready to function.

However, the student of Midrash—

the Talmudic and Midrashic commen-
tary to the Torah, transmitted orally

throughout the generations till tran-
scribed—makes aware of the “poli-
tics” behind the events. It was any-
thing but smooth. The Midrash tells

us, shockingly, that there were those
who suspected Moses of pocketing
funds and they insolently demanded
that Moses make an accounting for
every ounce of every item. Moses

conceded to their demands and hum-
bly presented a detailed account of

every “dollar” collected for the gran-
diose “building campaign.”

The Midrash also tells us that Moses

actually forgot what he did with some

of the silver, and the rumors began cir-
culating… The Rabbi is driving a new

BMW… Who paid for his cruise to
the Bahamas… How did he manage
to buy the two-million-dollar home
for his daughter? How can he afford
such a grandiose wedding?… Did you

see his new kitchen?… Till Moses re-
minded himself that he used them for

hooks on the pillars in the Tabernacle,
and the Jews calmed down.

There was another obstacle in the pro-
cess. There were times—the Midrash

tells us—when Moses struggled with
understanding G-d’s directions, and
G-d had to show him a detailed vision
of what He wanted. Once, during the
formation of the Menorah, the sages
relate, that too did not work. Moses
completely gave up and G-d had to
make the menorah Himself.
Then the Sanctuary was completed
much earlier than expected, and it had
to remain idle for three months.
When the time came for the actual
erection of the Mishkan, they again

ran into a glitch: No one could suc-
ceed in lifting the walls. Even col-
lectively, it was impossible. Imagine

the anti-climax, the fear that all was in
vain. At the end, Moses miraculously
lifted the beams alone.
Yet here is the astounding part in all
of this:

All of these parts of the story are com-
pletely ignored in the biblical text it-
self! There are a few tantalizing hints,

but overall, the story presented in the
Torah is one of a holistic, pure, and

ideal experience. No glitches, no poli-
tics, no accusations, no problems; a

perfectly smooth ride.
One wonders how do we reconcile
the biblical and oral traditions of the
narrative? If the Midrashic traditions
are presenting what happened, why

are these details ignored in the bibli-
cal text? Is the Torah trying to brush

over the disturbing truths? Is the Torah
teaching us to repress uncomfortable
facts; to ignore the real story, to make
believe everything is “perfect” when
in fact it’s far from it? And if so, why
did the Rabbis in the Midrash “ruin
the party” and “spill the beans”?
Creation Cover-Ups
This is not the only incident with this
birthmark. We find this tendency at
least twice more.

The opening of Genesis records elo-
quently but concisely the facts of cre-
ation and it sounds like pretty smooth

sailing. “In the beginning, G-d created
heaven and earth…” Over the next six

days, a universe is formed. The Tal-
mud and the Midrash, however, tell us

that even G-d ran into some seeming-
ly unexpected delays and had to make

some serious alterations. Each of the
six days presented another challenge.
For starters, the Midrash relates that

the attribute of Truth opposed cre-
ation, and G-d had to cast Truth

away in order to create our
universe. The sages also relate
that G-d attempted to create the

world with the quality of Judg-
ment and was forced to retract

to Mercy when He saw that the
world could not handle it.
Then: He created light on the
first day, hoping it would serve
all of creation, but it was too
great and luminescent and He
deemed it useless (and had to
stow it away as a reward for only the
truly meritorious.)

Next: On the second day, he con-
structed heaven and separated higher

waters from lower waters. Accord-
ing to the Midrash, the lower waters

“revolted” and are still weeping about
their rejection.
Next: On the third day, G-d designed
trees with edible branches, but the
trees disobeyed and produced only
edible fruit.
Next: On the fourth day, the sun and
the moon were created to be equals,
the moon complained that “two kings
cannot serve with one crown,” and
hence the moon was diminished.
Next: On Thursday, G-d created the
fish, including the Leviathan. Then,
realizing that if the Leviathan would
procreate, it would spell the end of the

planet, He killed the partner of the Le-
viathan.

Next: On Friday, when He wished to

create man, the angels in heaven com-
plained it would be a fatal mistake.

Indeed, shortly after Adam and Eve
were created they disobeyed G-d’s
commandment to refrain from eating
the Tree of knowledge.
Can you see a pattern? Not a single
day passed without some glitch or
crisis. Yet, none of these “glitches”
or “issues” are recorded explicitly in
the actual biblical text. There it is as
smooth a process as can be. How can

we make sense of this shocking dis-
crepancy?

Even more perplexing is the fact that
following the six days of creation, the

Torah sums it all up with these stun-
ning words:

וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת – כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה – וְהִנֵּה
טוֹב מְאֹד – וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי – בֹקֶר יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי.
And G-d saw all that He made and it
was very good.
Very good? Really? Each day brought
another headache, another meltdown,
and another crisis. What makes it so
good?
The Second Cover Up
The Tanach describes glowingly and

in minute detail the materials and con-
struction and dedication of the First

Temple built in Jerusalem without the
hint of a glitch. Yet the Midrash adds

the “problematic” information: Dur-
ing construction, they hit an under-
ground spring that threatened to flood

the entire world; then, at what was to

be the climactic finale, the entering
of the Ark to the Holy-of-Holies, the

gates refused to open against all ef-
forts.

According to the Midrash, the entire
dedication of the First Holy Temple
was heavily delayed because the
night before King Solomon married
the daughter of Pharaoh and he slept
in! It was his mother, Bat Sheba, who
had to enter his bedroom, wake him
up, and chastise him for oversleeping

on the day the Temple was to be dedi-
cated.

We are left with a striking enigma:

The biblical text ignores the disturb-
ing details. Then the rabbis come and

share with us “the rest of the story.”
Why?
What Is Your Story?
The answer is a crucial and profound

lesson in life. It captures a basic per-
spective of Judaism. The Torah is

not trying to hide anything (a general
pattern in Torah is that it tolerates no
cover-ups, for anybody), and that is

why the Sages felt comfortable expos-
ing all of the details. Rather, the Torah

is telling us that when one develops a
proper perspective of his or her life,
the problems do not always deserve to
be mentioned. Not because they don’t
exist, but because they don’t define
the story of our lives, and therefore we
can decide not to make them part of
the narrative.
In each of these three series of
events—creation of the universe;
construction of the Sanctuary and
the Jerusalem Temple—something

awesomely cataclysmic and earth-
shattering is occurring. The infinite

fuses with the finite; the impossible
becomes possible, Man meets G-d

and G-d meets Man. Out of cosmo-
logical emptiness and infinite Divin-
ity, creation develops; something-
ness is made out of nothingness. G-d

“squeezes” his omnipotence and om-
nipresence into a Mishkan (sanctuary)

of a few square cubits, into a building
of stone, into the heart of mortal man.
This, then, is THE story; this is what
happened. The bumps on the road,
true as they may be, do not constitute

the story, not because they didn’t hap-
pen, but because they are not what re-
ally happened; they should not, they

cannot, obscure or even dampen the
majestic power and beauty of the
events.

The Torah is
teaching us
how to live.
Life is tough.
The really
i m p o r t a n t
things are
even tougher.
Raising and
support a family requires strength and
courage. Building a good marriage is

often challenging and difficult. To de-
velop a relationship with G-d may be

frustrating and lonely. Many things
will not work out as we hoped they
would. We face adversity, grief, and
loss. There are inevitably times of pain
and heartbreak. There are quarrels and

squabbles, moments of anger and set-
backs. We must confront depression,

illness, mental challenges, financial
stress, and spiritual confusion.
But we have the choice not to make
all of these THE story of our lives.
Sure, raising children is challenging,
but when you gaze into the loving and
trusting eyes of your child—that is

THE miracle of existence, not the chal-
lenges leading toward that moment.

When you connect to your spouse in
a truly meaningful way, in a moment
of real camaraderie and respect—that
is the miracle of love playing itself out

in your life. A bad day at work, hours
of frustration in running your business,
all melt away before the power of
something so much greater, so much
more real—your growth as a human
being and your ability to help others
with your money and your experience.
We must look at our lives and ask what
is the real story happening here? Is my
life a story of hardship and struggle,
or am I part of something incredible:
I am building a home for G-d; I am
constructing a fragment of heaven on
planet earth; I am building a Jewish

family, a loving marriage; I am help-
ing people; I have the privilege of

studying Torah, of spreading Torah,

of doing a mitzvah, of inspiring oth-
ers to light up the world. This is my

story; this is my life. The other parts
are of course also true and deserve to
be acknowledged as such, much as the
Midrash acknowledges the other side
of the story with creation, the Mishkan
and the Temple. I must deal with every
challenge and I must attempt to repair
it, but I cannot allow it to become THE
STORY.
Here we have the origin, thousands of
years ago, of what is known today as
Narrative Therapy. Each of us has the
choice to define and reframe the story
of our lives.

When I wake up in the morning, I

know that I have fifty things to do to-
day, most of them are not fun; some

are difficult and frustrating. But that is

not THE story. The real story is cap-
tured in the words a Jew says the mo-
ment he or she opens his eyes: “Modeh

ani lefanecha… shehechezarta bi nish-
masi…” I am alive; G-d gave me back

my soul for another day. Gevald! How
awesome is that? I can now talk to G-d
face to face, learn Torah, pray, share
my heart and love with another human

being, give charity, and become an am-
bassador for love, light and hope. I can

embrace an aching soul, and touch a
bleeding heart. Now that’s a life!
Yes, I got to pay my bills, I have to
deal with headaches, I need to catch
the bank, I have to fix my garage, I
need to call my son’s principal, I have
to pick up the cleaners, I need to go to
the dentist, and I need to pay back the
loan, and I was just called to do Jury
Duty. But do not let that become the
story of your life. Stay focused on the
real story – that at every moment you
can construct a home for G-d in your

corner of the world and bring redemp-
tion one step closer.

My Dear Student
At this time of the year, I remember a
dear student who passed on on the 18th

of Adar, four years ago. Nadiv Kehaty
was only 30 years old when he died. A
loving husband, and the father of four
young children, his sudden passing left
a family and a community in shock.
Nadiv’s very presence made you feel
how much possibility life contained
if it was filled with laughter, love, and

innocence. For Nadiv, all of life con-
sisted of one story: An opportunity to

laugh and make others laugh.
A memory: I was a teacher, sitting at
my desk in the lecture hall, presenting
a Talmud class to 25 students. I was
focused, immersed, and serious. But
then, suddenly, one student leaped into
the classroom, jumped over the tables,
and after listening to a few sentences,
exclaimed with his genuine giggle and

pure selflessness: “Rabbi, you are awe-
some; I love you!”

This was Nadiv on a regular day. I’d
melt away. It was clear that his soul
was sent to this world to teach us how
to love and laugh.
I love you too, Nadiv.