Readings for Saturday, March 29, 2025 Shabbat HaChodesh

Readings for Saturday, March 29, 2025

Shabbat HaChodesh

Two scrolls are used on this Shabbat.  The first is for the regular weekly portion.  The second is for the special reading for Shabbat HaChodesh

To make this Shabbat even more special, we are finishing the second book of the Torah!

Pekuday (Count or Enumerate)

38:21-40:38 Shemot (Exodus)

Pekuday is the eleventh and last sedrah in Shemot.  It is also the fourth and final sedrah dealing with the construction of the Mishkan.  The sedrah takes its name from the second Hebrew word in the first sentence of the portion.  “Ayleh Pekuday Hamishkan” or in English, “These are the countings (or enumerations) of the Tabernacle.…”  It is a brief sedrah.  Based on Etz Hayim Chumash and The Stone Chumash, the sedrah may be divided as follows: 

1. A Tally of the Metals - 38:21-31

Moshe insists on a tally of the precious metals used in the construction.  The need for honest accounting did not begin with the financial meltdowns in the last decades of the 20^th century and the first decades of the 21^st century.  The author(s) of the TaNaCh understood that people were only human where great wealth was involved.  The givers need to be assured that their offerings did not stick to any fingers.  And anybody can be accused of having sticky fingers, including Moshe.  In Devarim, he will proclaim his virtue by announcing that he never took anything and that nobody ever proved that he did.

2. The Making of the Priestly Vestments - 39:1-31

·         The Ephod

·         The Breastplate

·         The Robe of the Ephod

·         The Tunics of Linen

·         The Headplate

The message here is quite clear.  How we dress, how we appear to others says volumes about who we are and what we do.

3. Completion and Inspection - 39:32-43

According to Rashi, Moshe did not do any of the actual construction work himself.  But when the people brought the Mishkan to him, the walls were lying down.  It was Moshe who miraculously lifted the walls.  Also according to Rashi, when Moshe accepted the work of the people the blessing he offered included a prayer that God would rest in the Mishkan and the spirit of the Lord would abide among the people.

4. Assembly and Dedication - 40:1-15

Moshe is commanded to set up the Tabernacle and to anoint Aaron and his sons.  According to the text, this was all supposed to happen on the first day of Nissan, the month of the Exodus.  According to the Midrash, the work was actually finished in the month of Kislev.  In order not to hurt the feelings of Kislev, God promised that another Sanctuary would be dedicated during Kislev.  This promise came true with Chanukah when the Second Temple was re-dedicated. 

5. Fulfilling the Instructions - 40:16-33

Here the Tabernacle is actually erected.  According to the text, Moshe did all of the work himself.  Earlier, we had wondered where the Tablets were kept before the Ark was built.  According to a comment by Ramban on 40:20, Moshe kept them “in a wooden box in his own tent…”  There is one difference between the instructions given to Moshe (40:1-15) and what he actually does (40:16-33).  He is instructed to anoint Aaron and his sons.  But, here at any rate, he does not do actually do it.

6. Appearance of the Divine Presence - 40:34-38

The sedrah and Shemot end with God showing his acceptance of the work of the Israelites by filling the Tabernacle with His glory.  This scene is reminiscent of the last part of the Seder called Nir’tza or Accepted.  It is a request that God accept the Seder we have completed.  For no matter how correctly we may think we have done it, without God’s approval it was for naught.  Well, the same is true of building the Tabernacle, or any other endeavor.  Until it has found favor in God’s sight, it has no real value.  God had “learned” from the experience of the Golden Calf.  The Israelites needed tangible proof of His presence.  So a cloud filled the Mishkan as a symbol of the divine presence.  When the cloud rose up it was time to move.  When the cloud stayed put, so did the Israelites.  The cloud was with them in the day and a pillar of fire showed that He was with them in the night.

Themes

Commandments

Interestingly enough, there are none in this last sedrah of Shemot.  Could it be that God and Moshe sensed that the Israelites needed a rest from learning and needed time to savor what had happened?

Coming Attractions

All that has been described took place in the first month of the second year of the Exodus.  The next book, Vayikra (Leviticus) primarily concerns itself with laws pertaining to the Priests and the sacrifices.  The book following Vayikra, Bamidbar (Numbers), picks up where Shemot ends since its first words are “On the first day of the second month in the second year following the Exodus.…”

Leadership

Moshe is told to anoint Aaron’s sons as well as Aaron.  This is proof that Moshe accepts the leadership role that is passing to his brother’s house.  Moshe does not ask for special favor for his two sons.  As a father, Moshe may have been bothered by the lack of a special place for his offspring.  But as a leader, he accepted the divine plan without a hint of complaint.

Numbers

The phrase “that God commands” is written eighteen times concerning the building of the Tabernacle.  There are eighteen benedictions found in the Amidah.  Could it be that each time we recite the Amidah we are building our own Tabernacle, which we hope God will enter?

The Ark

What went into the Ark?  The text says Moshe put the Tablets in the Ark.  In Hebrew the word used is “Ay-doot” which is a plural form of the word.  From this, the commentators concluded that Moshe had put both the First (the broken) Set and the Second Set in the Ark.  In our highly disposable society it is interesting to note that our ancestor clung to the broken stones.  There is no mention of a place for the Torah.  Only in Devarim will we read of the Torah being placed in a special spot just outside of the Ark of the Covenant.

Limitations of Language

In Hebrew Moses puts the “Ay-doot” in the Ark.  The problem is that different authors use different English words in translating “Ay-dut.”  According to at least two sources, the word “Ay-doot” is the plural form of the word for Testimony so the Commandments can be viewed as a testimony to the relationship between God and the Jewish people.  “Ay-doot” is also the plural form of the word for a female witness.  There are those who believe that the Shechinah is a “female manifestation” of God and that it is the Shechinah that settles into the Tabernacle at the end of this Torah portion.  For those who believe this, it would be fitting to see the commandments as the perpetual witness who saw the development of the unique relationship God and the Jewish people begin at Sinai and who is always there to remind us of its timeless existence.

Positive Reinforcement

“And when Moses saw they had performed all the tasks - as the Lord had commanded…Moses blessed them” (39:43).  According to the Gersosnides, the 14^th century French Talmudist, “We learn from this that a leader ought to bless those under his direction when they obey him so that they will be readier to do his will.”  Once again, we are reminded that one of the reasons that the Torah has been studied for so many centuries is because it speaks to the human condition without regard to time or place.  Here the Torah teaches the importance of saying thank-you and not taking it for granted when people behave in a desired manner.  Psychology majors will recognize what Moses did as the forerunner of B.F. Skinner’s concept of Operant Conditioning using Positive Reinforcement.  Since Judaism believes in the concept of Free Will, people can choose to do the right thing or to do the wrong thing, it is appropriate to thank them (in this case with a blessing) when they choose the right path.

 

Divine Revelation

The Hebrew word for fire is “aysh.”  At the beginning of Shemot God first appears to Moshe “b’lahbaht aysh,” “in a flame of fire.”  At the end of Shemot we read that “fire” or “aysh” is the nighttime sign of the Lord’s presence.  Not only that, but “aysh” is the last symbol of the divine presence that is mentioned in Shemot.  In other words, God’s first and last revelation comes in the form of fire.  He begins by revealing Himself in fire to one man.  He ends by revealing Himself in fire to the entire nation.  There is an even stronger connection in non-leap years when Vayakhel and Pekuday are read on the same Shabbat.  Vayakhel begins with a command prohibiting the kindling of fire or “aysh” on Shabbat.  Fire is a symbol of the divine presence.  We are allowed to enjoy a pre-existing fire on Shabbat.  We just are not allowed to create a fire on Shabbat.  This means that by observing Shabbat we enjoy the divine presence (fire) that is with us all week long but which we can only fully appreciate on the Day of Rest.

“The Medium Is Not the Message” by Mordechai Beck

The best known Jewish statement of principle on art is, unfortunately, the ban given at Sinai on making graven images with a likeness of “anything in the heavens above or the earth beneath”.  Despite this prohibition, a few chapters later the same jealous God commands Moses to erect a tabernacle and fill it with objects of beauty that are described with such precise detail as to suggest Divine acceptance of the power of the visual on the imagination of His children.  How do we explain this radical change of heart?  Is art not only to be permitted but even lauded as a means of reaching the Divine?

The key to this riddle is found in the figure of Bezalel - or to give him his full name, as it appears when he is first mentioned and again at the beginning of Pekudei - “Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah” (Exodus 31:2, 38:22), who “made all that the Lord had commanded Moses.”  He was an artist and craftsman capable of fashioning objects that inspired awe, in the same way, perhaps, that the works of Leonardo and Michelangelo did for their contemporaries.  Does this mean that God repented his objections to the visual image?  What did Bezalel bring to his work that made it kosher?  According to Midrash Tanhuma, the answer lies in the very lineage mentioned in the Bible when Bezalel is introduced.  “What need is there to recall here the name of Hur?  Because he (Hur) gave up his soul for the Holy One, Blessed be He.  In that hour that they sought to make the (golden) calf, he stood before them - between the people and his uncle Aaron, the high priest - and rebuked them; and they stood against him and killed him.  Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Hur:  ‘By your life, I will compensate you for this…by elevating all your progeny.’  Thus it is written:  ‘See, God has called Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur…and filled him with the spirit of God.’”

The sudden explosion of Bezalel’s artistic activity is here seen as a response to the incident of the golden calf.  That incident proved to the hidden mysterious God that a spiritual life on earth was impossible without some visual, external props.  To this He agreed, but on one condition:  that the objects act merely as a medium, valuable only insofar as they brought greater glory and praise to God.  Said the invisible Creator of the Universe, recounts the midrash:  “Even My own children are not prepared to recognize the truth.  And if they, who saw with their own eyes all the wonders and miracles which I wrought in Egypt and in the Exodus from Egypt, do not believe, how much more so those who did not see such things!”  So God searched for someone who could distinguish between art and idolatry.  He searched and He found Bezalel.  Not that Bezalel was a born artist; rather, God saw his potential to serve the Divine purpose with his hands and heart and, given his lineage, could be presumed able to remain pure of idolatrous intent.  King Midas, of Greek myth, had hands whose touch turned everything to gold.  Everything gold touched by Bezalel turned into something holy.  Bezalel got similar results from silver, copper, ram skins, and acacia wood, as he did from stone and other materials crafted with sophisticated cutting techniques of high artistry.

The Torah’s extended descriptions of the objects of the Tabernacle fill chapters of Exodus, suggesting awareness of the profound need for the aesthetic in our lives.  Visual art, the Torah seems to concur, is a powerful tool.  It touches the root faculty of our humanity - our imagination.  It can be used to enhance or destroy us, depending on the purpose to which the artistry is put.  The medium, that is to say, is not always the message.  Often the artist’s technique disguises his true purpose.  The objection to idolatry is not to the materials themselves - since all material has its source in God - or to their being worked into tangible images.  The objection is to the assumption that material - or the image - has some intrinsic value.  For idolatry is when the material presence replaces the reality it represents.  This is what modern philosophers call reification, and what the Sages in their wisdom saw as a substitution of the container for the content.

Conclusion of the Reading

This marks the end of the reading of the book of Shemot.  Each time the congregation completes the reading of one of the Five Books of Moses it is customary to recite “Chazak, Chazak, ve-nit-chazek” or in English, “Be strong, Be strong, and let us be strengthened.”  Variants of this statement appear in several places and are tied to the study of the Torah.  One of the most common references is to the Book of Joshua where the statement Chazak ve-matz (Be strong and of good courage appears three times in Chapter one, verses 6 through 9).  In the mention in verse 7 the reference “is directly tied to importance of the observance of the Torah.”  So this Shabbat, you will have earned the right to stand and recite Chazak, Chazak, ve-nit-chazek.

Second Scroll

Shabat Ha-Chodesh (Sabbath of the Month)

12:1-20 Shemot (Exodus)

 

Shabbat Ha-Chodesh is the fourth of the four special Sabbaths (not counting Shabbat Ha-Gadol) that proceed the holiday of Pesach.  Each of these special Sabbaths has a special connection with the story of the Exodus or the preparations for observing the holiday.  On Shabbat Ha-Chodesh two scrolls are taken from the ark.  The first scroll is used for reading the sedrah of the week.  The second scroll contains the special reading for the holiday.

This passage opens with the words “This month (ha-Chodesh ha-zeh) shall mark for you the beginning of the months.”  The month referred to is Nissan, the month in which Pesach falls.  The reading that is part of the sedrah called Bo describes how the Israelites are to behave on the night of the first Pesach.  This also provides us with the basic rules for observing the holiday in the future.  The Torah portion is always read on the last Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Nissan.  If Rosh Chodesh Nissan falls on Shabbat then it is read on Rosh Chodesh Nissan.  When Shabbat Ha-Chodesh falls on Rosh Chodesh a third scroll is taken from the Ark.  The special reading for Rosh Chodesh (Bamidbar 28: 19-25) is read after the regular weekly reading but before the special reading for the special Shabbat.

Special Haftarah for Shabbat Ha-Chodesh

45:16-46:18 (Ashkenazim)

45:18-46:15 (Sephardim)

Ezekiel

The Man:  Ezekiel was one of the three Major Prophets.  He was a younger contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah.  He was part of the Jewish population that went into exile after the destruction of the First Temple.  He preached to the Jews of Babylonia in what were some of the darkest days in ancient Jewish History.

The Message:  In this reading, Ezekiel describes the rituals and ceremonies that will be observed in the Temple that will be built by the returning exiles.  There is a strong message of ritual observance and purification in the public place most connected with the manifestation of the Divine Spirit.

Theme-Link:  This is one of those times when the connection between the haftarah is with the calendar and not the regular weekly Torah portion.  The emphasis of the special Torah portion is on the on the observances tied to the first Pesach.  The prophetic portion deals with the observances connected with the Pesach of the future.  Both Torah and Haftarah are directed at exiles.  The message of Shemot is directed at the exiles who are about to experience the Exodus.  The message of Ezekiel is directed at the exiles in Babylonia who are waiting for the day when they will be told that they are returning to the Promised Land.