If it s worth doing, it s worth doing right. Parashah P kudei March 12, Helen Smiler

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Jerome Roger Dawson
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1 If it s worth doing, it s worth doing right Parashah P kudei March 12, 2016 Helen Smiler I have a confession to make I sometimes go for weeks or even months without thinking about the Torah --- but last August within the course of six days, four different encounters made me think about why certain passages are included and what role the cornerstone of our faith can play in our lives today. On a Saturday in August, I was one of 9 in an adult B nei Mitzvah service. The portion was Shoftim. The oft quoted lines, Justice, Justice shall you pursue are in it it but the passage really is about setting up a legal system in the Promised Land and making sure it is fair and unbiased. Nonetheless, each of the five of us who gave a drash, used the passage to inspire a message about pursuing social justice in our own lives. So one way to approach Torah is to take what it said for its time, interpret it loosely and find a way to apply it to our lives today. Right after the B nei Mitzvah service, Jan Taksa and I spoke briefly about the passage where Rebecca sets up Jacob to trick Esau out of his birthright. That set me thinking. Every week we praise them among the matriarchs and patriarchs. How can we revere someone who advances his position using dirty tricks? Maybe it s the beginning of a lesson in second

2 chances and rehabilitation. Whatever it is, that portion certainly is a 2 challenge. So that portion requires us to wrestle with something negative and use it to draw a lesson or find something later that repudiates or moves past it. The following Wednesday, I was invited to give a short presentation to the board about the work of the Social Action committee. At the beginning of the meeting, Seth Rosen gave an engaging drash about the portion, Ki Teitzei, which contains lots of rules many of them about relations between men and women, some of which we would follow today but many of which are antiquated and even barbaric, which we would not. Using the classic picture from Psych 101, that looks like an urn if you look at the black part or two women if you look at the white part, Seth pointed out that once you see one image you can t see the other so maybe the ones we ignore are there just to make the others stand out. So some parts of Torah require a pick and choose or see only the good parts method. The next evening, I was at a book group meeting at which we were discussing Salman Rushdie s Satanic Verses (which by the way if you haven t read it is a brilliant satire of the mythology of religion in general, and Islam in particular). At one point we got around to discussing our own faith traditions when someone, I think it might have been me, said something about Reform Judaism focusing on the parts of Torah that speak

3 to us today. One of the Jewish members, quite vehemently said: I got sick 3 and tired of always wrestling with Torah. When I want to be spiritual and get inside my head, I go to a service at the Unitarian Universalist Church or go mediate at the Green Gulch Zen Center. So another approach is I don t want to have to pick and choose or explain what doesn t work today, so forget the whole thing. Today s portion, P kudei, Exodus 38:21-40:38 doesn t fit neatly into any of these approaches. In fact, one might wonder why it s included at all. In the previous section, Moses has spent 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai and come down with the 10 commandments inscribed on stone tablets. Now God tells him to build a Tabernacle to house them, and P kudei is a detailed description of the building of the Tabernacle, and I mean really detailed. Moses asks and the people deliver. P kudei lists all the gifts of precious metals and fine fabrics brought by the people. How they were used. Finding the best craftsmen and artisans, led by Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab to do the building. The dimensions of each part. How much the gold, silver, copper etc. in each piece was worth. At the very end of the passage, the sanctuary is anointed with oil and then a cloud descends upon it. The Israelites will be able to move on when the cloud lifts but it remains, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. There s certainly some

4 significance in the cloud and the pillar of fire, but the rest of it is about as 4 exciting a read as the IRS code. Setting aside disbelief about where all this treasure and skill came from since the Children of Israel are still camped in the desert what s the point of including all this detail? Some commentators say it s to show how important the Mishkan was as a place for the holy tablets to reside and conclude that it is important for us today to treat our own house of worship with the same degree of support and attention to detail. Others say it was designed to show that all those gifts were used wisely and didn t line anyone s pockets kind of like a nonprofit organization releasing its audit report to demonstrate that it uses donated funds for charitable purposes. Still other scholars point out that the portion was probably added much later by the priestly writers, and described the trappings of the First Temple, in order to retain as much of it as possible, and by extension the role of the priestly tribe. Having lived through a major remodel about 11 years ago, the passage recalled for me the myriad decisions we had to make both large and small financing, architect, contractor, overall plan, appliances, countertops, tile, plumbing fixtures, cabinet style, cabinet hardware, paint colors, roof color,

5 5 door knobs, and on and on and on. It was mind-boggling at times we once spent half a day selecting a toilet paper holder that turned out not to fit the available space, but overall we re happy with our choices. We spent months weeding through nearly 30 years of accumulated stuff, moved out for three months, and spent five more months living in three rooms, mostly on take-out while washing dishes in the bathroom sink. Amazingly we were still speaking to each other after it was finished. Neither of us cares that much about external things but we were surprised at the difference it makes to be able to cook, entertain and relax in pleasant surroundings and not have to go downstairs to take a shower or wonder down a tunnel-like hallway to the bedroom. Our mortgage will outlast us, but in terms of its impact, it was the right thing to do. That certainly holds true for the building we re in now. Like the Israelites bringing gold, silver, copper, precious stones, and fine fabrics for the tabernacle, members of the congregation stretched to give what they could, and we wandered in the wilderness of Merritt College for two years so that we can sit here today in this inspiring space. As a congregation, we ve emerged stronger than ever. Perhaps this passage is included in the Torah to remind us, as our parents drummed into us, if it s worth doing, it s worth doing right, especially when it comes to our spiritual home.

Women in the Word Bronze Altar and Bronze Laver. Exodus 27:1-8; 30:17-21; 38:1-8 // October 25, 2017

Women in the Word Bronze Altar and Bronze Laver. Exodus 27:1-8; 30:17-21; 38:1-8 // October 25, 2017 Bronze Altar and Bronze Laver Exodus 27:1-8; 30:17-21; 38:1-8 // October 25, 2017 1. Both God s intent and His expectation regarding His relationship with Israel is expressed fully in Exodus 25:8. Read