10 Mar PEKUDEI: THE HUMAN MIRACLE G-D IS A GREAT BUILDER; BUT IT’S MAN’S HANDIWORK THAT TAKES THE CAKE

In the Beginning
As a result of a near
mutiny, the
overbearing and
arrogant captain was
forced to see a
psychiatrist by order
of the Commodore.
As soon as the captain settled down on the
couch, the psychiatrist began the session by
asking:
“Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
The captain said, “Okay. In the beginning I
created heaven and the earth…”
Two Creations
At the beginning of Bereishis, the chumash
devotes 31 verses to describe how G-d created
the entire world. “In the beginning, G-d
created the heavens and the earth.” In striking
contrast, the parshiot of these weeks (Terumah
through Pekudei) devote 371 verses to
describe how the Jews created the Mishkan, in
the desert.
This seems profoundly strange.
The universe spans some 176 Trillion Billion
miles and is an awesomely complex structure.
After millennia of research, we have not yet
scratched the surface of its untold depth and

unbound mysteries. We have not even
mastered the secrets embedded in a single
cell. The mishkan, on the other hand, was
around 150 feet long and 75 feet wide, and
was a highly impressive structure, but
essentially a small tent; a mini mobile
“shtibel.”
Why would the Torah be so expansive about
the creation of a humble albeit splendorous
tent in the desert and yet so terse about the
creation of the cosmos with all of its infinite
depth, majesty, and grandeur? 31 verses for
creation of the world, and almost half the book
of Shemot for the creation of a mobile
sanctuary!
Mortality into Eternity
This strange contrast conveys something
profoundly important about the Torah’s
perspective on life. For an infinite G-d to
create a home for finite man is not a big deal.
But for a finite man to create a home for an
infinite G-d—that is a revolutionary notion. It
constitutes the essential revolution of Judaism
that from the fragmented pieces of our hearts
we can construct a home for the Divine; that
the ordinary stuff of human life can be carved
into a dwelling place for the Almighty; that
G-d craves to dwell in the space we designate
for Him in the barren desert of human
consciousness.

The creation of the universe is G-d’s miracle—
the miracle of converting (spiritual) energy
into matter. The creation of a structure to
house the Divine in a desert is man’s miracle,
the miracle of converting matter into energy;
the wonder of a human being surpassing
himself, transcending his finite egocentricity
and turning his life into a home for the
Divine—that story is deserving of close to 400
verses!
This is the essence of the Mishkan story,
which occupies almost half the book of
Shemot and on the surface seems so remote
from our present lifestyle: that a human being,
with his or her limited tools, through his or her
minute and limited deeds, words, and
thoughts, can create a home for G-d in his or
her daily life; that a frail and vulnerable
human being is capable of creating a space in
his or her heart for the living presence of G-d.
This is the miracle of Torah.
The Talmud says it succinctly (Kesuvos
5a): “The deeds the good people are greater
than the creation of heaven and earth.”
G-d transformed Divine energy into physical
matter; we transform physical matter into
Divine energy.
Half-Ness
This explains two enigmatic details about the
Mishkan story: 1) The obsession with details

and nuances that seem irrelevant. G-d seems
overly concerned with pegs, nails, beams,
hooks, sockets, drapes, curtains, and bows. 2)
Most of the measurements are half sizes, not
whole ones. Why not wholesome
measurements?
Yet this captures the essence of the narrative.
Our lives are defined by details, and most of
them seem mundane. And we always do
things in “half,” never complete, as we are
fragmented creatures and there is always
something left to do in order to complete the
work. “No man dies with half of his ambitions
fulfilled,” states the Midrash. This, then, is the
message of the story: our disjointed and
fragmented lives, the many diverse details of
our mundane life, can all become a home for
the absolute and undefined reality of G-d.
Infinite Oneness can pervade our
consciousness–and the consciousness of the
universe.