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Again the same generosity.
Now, these two projects
could not be less alike. One,
the Tabernacle, was holy.
The other, the Calf, was close
to being an idol. Building the
Tabernacle was a supreme
mitzvah; making the Calf
was a terrible sin. Yet their
response was the same
in both cases. Hence this
comment of the Sages:
“One cannot understand
the nature of this people. If
they are appealed to for a
Calf, they give. If appealed
to for the Tabernacle, they
give.” Yerushalmi Shekalim
1, 45
The common factor
was generosity. Jews may
not always make the right
choices in what they give to,
but they give.
In the 12th century, Moses
Maimonides twice interrupts
his customary calm legal
prose in his law code, the
Mishneh Torah, to make
the same point. Speaking
about tzedakah, charity, he
says: “We have never seen
or heard about a Jewish
community which does not
have a charity fund.” Laws of
Gifts to the poor, 9:3
The idea that a Jewish
community could exist
without a network of
charitable provisions was
almost inconceivable.
Later in the same book,
Maimonides says:
“We are obligated to
be more scrupulous in
fulfilling the commandment
of tzedakah than any other
positive commandment
because tzedakah is the sign
of the righteous person,
a descendant of Abraham
our father, as it is said,
‘For I know him, that he
will command his children
… to do tzedakah’ … If
someone is cruel and does
not show mercy, there are
sufficient grounds to suspect
his lineage, since cruelty
is found only among the
other nations … Whoever
refuses to give charity is
called Belial, the same term
which is applied to idol
worshippers.” Laws of Gifts to
the poor, 10:1-3
Maimonides is here saying
more than that Jews give
charity. He is saying that a
charitable disposition is writ-
ten into Jewish genes, part of
our inherited DNA. It is one
of the signs of being a child
of Abraham, so much so that
if someone does not give
charity there are “grounds to
suspect his lineage.” Whether
this is nature or nurture or
both, to be Jewish is to give.
There is a fascinating fea-
ture of the geography of the
Land of Israel. It contains
two seas: the Sea of Galilee
and the Dead Sea. The Sea
of Galilee is full of life.
The Dead Sea, as its name
implies, is not. Yet they are
fed by the same river, the
Jordan. The difference is that
the Sea of Galilee receives
water and gives water. The
Dead Sea receives but does
not give.
To receive but not to give
is, in Jewish geography as
well as Jewish psychology,
simply not life.
So it was in the time of
Moses. So it is today. In
virtually every country in
which Jews live, their chari-
table giving is out of all pro-
portion to their numbers. In
Judaism, to live is to give.
The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan
Sacks served as the chief rabbi of
the United Hebrew Congregations of
the Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His
teachings have been made available
to all at rabbisacks.org.
Real Redemption
T
he last Torah reading
in the book of Exodus,
Parshat Pekudei, gives
a tally of all the materials used
in the construction of the
Tabernacle. This is actually the
culmination of hundreds
of verses describing every
detail and facet of this
portable Temple.
The Book of Exodus,
however, begins on a
totally different note. It
tells the story of the very
first systematic persecu-
tion of the Jews; where a
tyrannical government
devised a plan on how to
gradually strip the Jews
of their freedoms and
enslave them. Pharaoh,
based on irrational fears and
biases, discusses with his advis-
ers how to solve “the Jewish
Problem.
” The result is nearly
an entire century of brutal slave
labor imposed on the Jews.
The great Torah commenta-
tor Nachmanides tells us that
another name for the Book of
Exodus is the Book of Exile
and Redemption. It starts with
the ancient Israelites’ exile and
suffering in Egypt. It continues
to describe how God intervened
on their behalf and struck the
Egyptians with 10 devastating
plagues. The grand finale of
this story is the splitting of
the sea, where the Israelites
passed through unscathed, and
Pharaoh’s armies and chariots
were drowned.
Nachmanides asks that if the
book is about exile and redemp-
tion, then the story should end
once the Jews are freed from
Egypt.
Why does the Torah con-
tinue with dozens of chapters
dedicated to the building of
a Tabernacle? Surely, it’s anti-
climactic! Once we’ve learned
about the Jewish suffering and
how God saved them, shouldn’t
the book end right there and
skip the many details of the
Tabernacle?
But Nachmanides
explains that true
redemption cannot be
defined merely by alle-
viating the suffering that
one encountered. It’s only
after the victim has been
restored to his former sta-
tus and glory that he can
be said to be redeemed.
Imagine an upstanding
citizen is imprisoned for
a crime he didn’t commit.
When the evidence prov-
ing his innocence is uncovered
and he’s freed from incarcera-
tion, he’s not yet redeemed. It’s
only once his name has been
publicly cleared, and he can
return to his community with
his previous stature, that we can
say he has been redeemed.
Before the exile to Egypt,
during the lives of the
Patriarchs, there existed a spe-
cial closeness between God and
the Jewish people. The presence
of the Almighty could be felt in
the tents of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. Even after the Jews are
freed from bondage, they can’t
be said to be redeemed, because
they haven’t yet regained this
special relationship with God.
It’s only after they build the
Tabernacle, and God’s pres-
ence once again rests among
the Jews, only then can we call
them redeemed. This is why the
Book of Exodus continues on to
this final stage of redemption.
Rabbi Chaim Fink is a rabbi and
educator at Detroit Partners in Torah.
SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi
Chaim Fink
Parshat
Pekudei:
Exodus
30:21-40:38;
I Kings
7:51-8:21.