Parsha for Kids: Pekudei 2023
(And here it is, as promised- Pekudei as well.)
Below is the transcript for this week’s episode of Parsha for Kids, Pekudei 2023.
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Season 2 Episode 11:
Hello! My name is Chana and this is Parsha for Kids. The Parsha of the week is Pekudei. Pekudei means “amounts of.”
But amounts of what? What was being counted? And why did it matter?
The answer is the amounts of gold, silver and copper that were donated to the Mishkan. Moshe thought it was very important to explain exactly how much of everything was donated and what exactly it was used for.
Why was this important?
This is because of a concept called transparency. When something is transparent, it literally means that it is see-through. So, for example, Saran Wrap is transparent. A piece of glass is transparent. But transparency can also refer to being clear and honest. And that is what Moshe wanted to do. Moshe wanted to make sure that no one in Bnei Yisrael thought that he had kept any of the gold, silver or copper for himself. He wanted the nation to understand exactly where their money and donations went.
So Moshe explained that altogether, the nation had donated 29 kikar and 730 shekel of gold. (One kikar was equal to 3000 shekalim according to Rashi.)
The nation donated 100 kikar and 1775 shekalim of silver.
The nation donated 70 kikar and 2400 shekalim of copper.
Moshe did not explain what all the gold was used for because the Bigdei Kehunah, clothing for the Kohanim, had not been made yet. Since he knew that some of the gold would be used for the golden threads of the priests’ garments, he waited to explain how the gold would be divided up.
Moshe did explain that the silver was used for the 100 silver Adanim sockets and the silver hooks and the silver ornaments on top of the pillars of the yard.
The copper was used to make the copper altar, its copper grate and its objects. It was also used to make the copper Adaanim sockets of the courtyard and the sockets of the entrance gate.
Moshe also explained to the people that the wool they had donated had been used to make special coverings for wrapping up the objects of the Mishkan before they traveled in the Midbar.
We can learn a lot from Moshe’s transparency. Here are some of the things we can learn:
-If you ever have a position where you collect money from others, it’s good to let them know exactly where that money went. For example, let’s say you collected money in order to buy a baby gift for your teacher. It would be good to explain exactly how much money you ended up collecting and how it was spent on the baby gift. You might say, I collected $100 from the class. I spent $50 on a personalized baby blanket that has the new baby’s name embroidered on it, $10 on a teddy bear, $20 on a bouquet of flowers and $20 on a gift card to Amazon for the new parents.
-Similarly, if you collect money for tzedaka, or for a synagogue or a school, it’s important to let everyone know exactly where that money went. This is a way of showing you are honest and also of keeping people in the loop about what was spent and why it was spent that way.
TRANSITION
There is a phrase that shows up over and over again in this week’s parsha- “like God commanded.”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, was a British Orthodox rabbi, author and teacher. He wrote many books about the weekly parsha, and as you get older, I recommend you study them. In one of his books, ‘Covenant and Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible,’ he comments about the fact that in this week’s parsha, we focus so much on having constructed and made the Mishkan exactly how God commanded it.
Rabbi Sacks notices that there is another place in the Torah where it mentions many times that someone did something like God commanded it. That is the story of Noach and his Teivah, ark. Noach does everything as God commands him when it comes to making the Ark, large floating boat, and taking in the animals.
Noach has to make his Teivah, a physical structure, to save humanity because the earth has become full of chamas, stealing, and everyone except Noach’s family and the animals are about to be destroyed. Similarly, Rabbi Sacks suggests, we were commanded to build the Mishkan, a physical structure, to make sure that we would be able to remain through history and not be destroyed. The way Rabbi Sacks puts it is that God creates order. You may remember that when God created the world in Six Days, He did it in a very organized fashion. Unfortunately, human beings create chaos. For example, when everyone was stealing from each other in Noach’s time, that was chaotic. Similarly, the sin of the golden calf, with wild dancing and sacrificing to the calf afterwards, was also chaotic.
So the Mishkan is a way of bringing order to us. We need to put the Mishkan in the middle of our camp so we are always reminded of the presence of God. It is important to always be reminded about God, because when we see the Mishkan, that will make us remember that we need to act in a certain way- in a caring, loving and upright way. Where there is fear of God, human beings will act properly to each other. But when there is no fear of God- which we saw multiple times in the Torah already- people are willing to do bad things to one another. Rabbi Sacks explains that of course each individual person might be able to act nicely even without God. The difficulty is when an entire camp or group or society of people decide to act together. If you have read certain books like Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies or 1984, you might already know of what can happen when an entire group of people decide to act a certain way. Those of you who are familiar with history may also know.
Society needs to exist based on justice, not power. And the Mishkan was a symbol of that. By obeying God’s commands and making the Mishkan exactly as He designed it, we were showing our understanding that it is God whose laws we must follow. This type of respect for God would be brought forward when it came to His other laws as well, laws that would uphold justice, making sure that the poor and weak were treated equally to the rich and powerful, or that the widow and orphan were cared for just like a family that had both parents.
TRANSITION
After Moshe saw that Bnei Yisrael had finished building the Mishkan exactly as God had specified,
וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֹתָ֖ם משֶֽׁה:
And Moshe blessed them.
You may wonder: why? After all, Bnei Yisrael did exactly what they were supposed to do. So why is Moshe blessing them?
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks speaks about this as well. He talks about the importance of celebrating accomplishments. Rabbi Sacks explains that when Moshe blessed Bnei Yisrael, he was celebrating their achievement. He was showing them what they can be. Look! You, Bnei Yisrael, are the kind of people who can create an amazing, beautiful structure, a structure that will house the very Shechina, Presence, of God. How amazing is that!
And Rabbi Sacks takes it further. He says that when we create a culture of celebrating people and their achievements, we help them realize what they are capable of. They then become excited to do even more, achieve even more, and contribute even more to the world.
Rabbi Sacks illustrates this with a story. He once met a woman who was in charge of a school in Britain. She said that her school was not doing well- parents, students and teachers all felt like everything was going wrong. Children were not doing well on their tests. Unless something changed dramatically, the school would have to close.
Rabbi Sacks told her, “I want you to live one word- celebrate.” She said, “You don’t understand- we have nothing to celebrate. Everything in the school is going wrong.” Rabbi Sacks replied, “in that case- find something to celebrate. If a single student has done better this week than last week, celebrate. If someone has a birthday, celebrate. If it’s Tuesday, celebrate.”
After eight years, the teacher wrote Rabbi Sacks back to tell him that this advice had helped her to turn the school around. Children were doing well on tests, more were joining the school and she had been made a Dame of the British Empire- one of the highest honors the Queen can bestow. (Lessons in Leadership, Page 118)
Rabbi Sacks explains that every single person has gifts that might not be used until someone awakens them. We need someone to believe in us, challenge us, and then, when we have responded to the challenge, bless and celebrate our achievements. This is what Moshe did after the sin of the Golden Calf. First, Moshe had them create something, and then he blessed their creation. Celebration turned Bnei Yisrael around and nowadays it can turn us around.
So think about how you can celebrate others- because that’s also a way to help them see what’s amazing about themselves, encouraging them to do and give more back to the world.
TRANSITION
So here’s what we learned this week!
Moshe was so careful about telling Bnei Yisrael exactly how all of their contributions and donations were used because he valued TRANSPARENCY. Transparency is when we are clear and honest, especially about how money is spent. If you are ever in a leadership position, you should do the same.
Placing God at the center of the camp made God our focus. By making sure we listened to God in every detail of constructing the Mishkan, we also learn to listen to His laws in general. This means we will promote the idea of justice, not just power.
Moshe celebrated Bnei Yisrael’s accomplishment by blessing them after they had finished building the Mishkan. Celebrating others can help them see that we value them and that we appreciate their strengths. It’s good to think about who you could celebrate, and how you can celebrate them.
This parsha concludes Sefer Shemot! In Ashknazic synagogues, we will say Chazak Chazak v'Nitchazek, be strong, be strong and may we be strengthened as we continue to join together to study Sefer Vayikra.
Congratulations on having listened to all of these podcasts on Sefer Shemot! I am sure you have learned a lot. I am excited to continue learning with you as we start Vayikra next week.
If you have any questions or comments on this week’s episode, please email me at parsha4kids@gmail.com. That’s parsha the number 4 kids at gmail.com. Good Shabbos!