#mishkhan

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Pekudai: Forgotten Souls

At the beginning of the Torah portion of Pekudai, Moses gives a detailed accounting of the money donated to the Tabernacle. Every Jew gave half a shekel (a particular coin of money). Since there were 603,550 people, that makes 301,775 shekels. Every 3000 shekels is a bar of silver. As such, there were one hundred full bars. “And the one hundred bars of silver were for casting the sockets of the Sanctuary and the sockets of the veil, one hundred sockets for one hundred bars, a bar for a socket.” What was done with the rest of the silver? “And the one thousand seven hundred and the five and seventy he made into hooks for the pillars and overlaid their heads and made fillets for them.”

Our Sages say that Moses initially forgot what had been done with the 1775 remaining shekels, until God illuminated his eyes and he saw that they had been used for the hooks for the pillars. What is the significance of this?

There are 600,000 inclusive souls in the Nation of Israel. (These souls divide into additional individuals). Every soul has its own letter in the Torah, as alluded to in the name ישראל (Israel), which is an acronym for: יש ששים ריבוא אותיות לתורה(There are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah). All the souls are engraved on the heart of Moses, the giver of the Torah. His soul includes all the souls of Israel.

There are, however, souls that are ‘remainders’. These fallen souls do not have a letter in the Torah! They are the 3550 that remain after the 600,000 in the counting of the congregation. That is why Moses does not ‘see’ them at the beginning. He doesn’t remember what was done with their silver – it seems as though they have no portion in the Nation of Israel!

It is specifically in these forgotten souls, however, that the secret of the redemption is concealed. A person who apparently has no letter in the Torah, no manifest connection to the Torah and has practically been lost – can turn into the greatest returnee to God. Generally, our connection to God is channeled through the Torah, as is written in the Zohar, “Israel is intertwined with the Torah and the Torah is intertwined with the Holy One, Blessed Be He.”

But there is another, concealed connection – a direct connection between Israel and God. It is specifically those lost souls, as it were, that have no detectable connection to the Torah, which can reveal the direct connection to God. These souls are the “hooks of the pillars,” the connecting hooks (vav hachibur, the letter vav that in Hebrew grammar denotes connection) that connect Israel to God and the Jews to each other. They are also the vav hahipuch, the transformative letter vav, which in Hebrew grammar denotes turnabout – the souls of those who return to God out of love, transforming all the sins into merits, thus bringing the redemption.

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Ki Tissa: The Copper Washstand

“Make a copper washstand, along with a copper base for it. Place it between the Altar and the Communion Tent, and fill it with water for washing. Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet from it.” (Exod. 30:18-19)

Most of the Temple vessels were fashioned from gold and silver. Why was the Kiyor, the Washstand, made out of copper? And why was it placed between the Altar and the Sanctuary?

Preparation before the Avodah

Three metals were used in building the Tabernacle, and later, the Temple in Jerusalem: gold, silver, and copper. Each metal was employed according to its relative value.

Gold, with its great ornamental value, was used to construct the innermost vessels: the Ark, the Table, the Menorah, and the Incense Altar. Silver is more utilitarian in nature. The sockets which formed the base for the Tabernacle’s beams, the hooks and bands of the courtyard pillars, the wine libation decanters, and other sacred implements, were all fashioned from silver.

Copper, the least valuable of the three metals, was used to make those vessels that were not used in the Temple service itself, but rather to prepare for it. Thus the Washstand, where the kohanim washed their hands and feet before starting their holy service, was fashioned out of copper.

Purifying Thought and Deed

What is the significance of the location of the Washstand? Why was it placed between the Altar and the Sanctuary? And why did the kohanim need to wash not only their hands, but their feet as well?

We serve God in two basic ways:

with our minds, through Torah study;

with our actions, through practical mitzvot.

Washing at the Kiyor purifies and prepares one for both forms of service.

The sanctuary was called the Ohel Moed, the Communion Tent where God told Moses, “I will meet with you” (Exod. 30:6). It was a place of Divine revelation and prophecy. God’s word emanated from the Holy Ark, which held the luchot of the Ten Commandments. This area of the Temple signifies our intellectual service of God through the revelation of prophecy and Torah.

The Altar, on the other hand, was the focal point for elevating the ratzon (the will or primal desire) and deed. The practical aspects of the Temple service were performed around the Altar. Offerings brought on the Altar served to refine the faculty of ratzon - they were to be “לִרְצֹנוֹ לִפְנֵי השם” - “for a desire [that is pleasing] before God” (Lev. 1:3).

The Washstand prepared the kohanim for their holy service on both levels - thought and deed. It was situated between the Sanctuary and the Altar, as both forms of Divine service require appropriate preparation so that they will be performed in purity.

The hands and feet symbolize these two faculties. Our hands follow the dictates of the mind, while our feet move almost involuntarily, without conscious effort. When the kohanim washed their hands, they purified themselves for their intellectual service of God. And when they washed their feet, they purified themselves for their practical service in action and deed.

(Sapphire from the Land of Israel. Adapted from Olat Re’iyah vol. I, pp. 119-120)