Put the message in the box, put the box inside the car, drive the car around the world, till you get home. 3/14/24

Song: erev shel shoshanim

Matching quiz:  https://www.studystack.com/picmatch-3362634

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/rare-second-temple-period-gold-bell-discovered-in-jerusalem

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhtYHSolayE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xgcVmo1aUQ 

One can easily think that Terumah and some of the other preceding weekly portions were architecture reports, safety reviews,  uniform design meetings, inventories or reviews of building code. In that same approach,  Parshat  Pekudei reminds us of  each element as it was implemented.  

Of course there are all the small details hidden among the endless report. And one never knows when one is going to encounter something that reminds us of one of those details. Take how in 2011,  digging in the ancient drainage channel of the main road from the south in 2^nd temple era Jerusalem, a small golden bell was found. Buried deep in the muck and the detritus of the centuries that excavators from the University of Haifa examined was a small Golden Bell with a loop on top that would allow it to have been suspended from a garment. What the heck is a small Golden Bell doing in an area that drained everything away from the temple Mount and Roman era Jerusalem?

According to the excavation directors, archaeologists Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, "It seems the bell was sewn on the garment worn by a high official in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period (first century CE). The bell was exposed inside Jerusalem's main drainage channel at that time, among the layers of earth that had accumulated along the bottom of it. This drainage channel was built and hewn the length of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, on the bottom of the slope descending to the Tyropoeon Valley. This drainage channel conveyed rainwater from different parts of the city, by way of the City of David and the Shiloah Pool, to Nahal Kidron.

The main street of the Jerusalem is in the region of the excavation, above the drainage channel. This road ascended from the Shiloah Pool in the City of David and an interchange, known today as 'Robinson's Arch', was built in it, by way of which people entered the Temple Mount. Apparently, the high official was walking in the Jerusalem street in the vicinity of Robinson's Arch and lost the gold bell that fell from his garment into the drainage channel beneath the road.”

(https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/israelexperience/history/pages/gold_bell_excavations_jerusalem_24-jul-2011.aspx)

 

Of course only one high official is known to have worn little golden bells-  the Kohen Gadol/High Priest.  Ex. 39:24-36:

 

וַֽיַּעֲשׂוּ֙ עַל־שׁוּלֵ֣י הַמְּעִ֔יל רִמּוֹנֵ֕י תְּכֵ֥לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָ֖ן וְתוֹלַ֣עַת שָׁנִ֑י מָשְׁזָֽר׃

On the hem of the robe they made pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, twisted.

וַיַּעֲשׂ֥וּ פַעֲמֹנֵ֖י זָהָ֣ב טָה֑וֹר וַיִּתְּנ֨וּ אֶת־הַפַּֽעֲמֹנִ֜ים בְּת֣וֹךְ הָרִמֹּנִ֗ים עַל־שׁוּלֵ֤י הַמְּעִיל֙ סָבִ֔יב בְּת֖וֹךְ הָרִמֹּנִֽים׃

They also made bells of pure gold, and attached the bells between the pomegranates, all around the hem of the robe, between the pomegranates:

פַּעֲמֹ֤ן וְרִמֹּן֙ פַּעֲמֹ֣ן וְרִמֹּ֔ן עַל־שׁוּלֵ֥י הַמְּעִ֖יל סָבִ֑יב לְשָׁרֵ֕ת כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה  ה'  אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃ (ס)

a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe for officiating in—as the LORD had commanded Moses.

 

חושן מכפר על הדינין דכתיב (שמות כח, טו) ועשית חושן משפט אפוד מכפר על עבודה זרה דכתיב (הושע ג, ד) אין אפוד ותרפים מעיל מכפר על לשון הרע אמר הקב"ה יבא דבר שבקול ויכפר על מעשה הקול

The  Choshen/Chestplate of the High Priest atones for improper judgments, as it is written: “And you shall make a breastplate of judgment” (Exodus 28:15). The ephod of the High Priest atones for idol worship, as it is written: “And without ephod or teraphim” (Hosea 3:4), that is to say, when there is no ephod, the sin of teraphim, i.e., idol worship, is found. This indicates that if there is an ephod, there is no sin of idol worship. The robe of the High Priest atones for malicious speech, as the Holy One, Blessed be He says: Let an item that produces sound, i.e., the bells of the robe, come and atone for an act of malicious sound, i.e., malicious speech.

 

 

EXODUS 40

And so it was in the first month in the second year, on the first [day] of the month:

the Mishkan was raised up.

Moshe raised up the Mishkan:

he put up its sockets,

he placed its boards,

he put up its bars,

he raised up its columns,

he spread out the tent over the Mishkan,

and he placed the cover of the tent over it, above,

as Adonai had commanded Moshe.

 

He took and put the Testimony in the Ark,

he placed the poles of the Ark,

he put the Kaporet/atonement-cover of the Ark, above,

he brought the Ark into the Mishkan,

and he placed [there] the curtain of the screen and screened the Ark of the Testimony,

as Adonai had commanded Moshe.

 

He put the table in the Tent of Appointment,

on the flank of the Mishkan, northward, outside the curtain,

and arranged on it the arrangement of the Bread of the Presence, before the presence of Adonai,

as Adonai had commanded Moshe.

 

He placed the lampstand in the Tent of Appointment,

opposite the table, on the flank of the Mishkan, southward,

and set up the lamps before the presence of Adonai,

as Adonai had commanded Moshe.

 

He placed the altar of gold in the Tent of Appointment, before the curtain,

and sent-up-in-smoke on it fragrant smoking-incense,

as Adonai had commanded Moshe.

 

He placed [there] the screen for the entrance of the Mishkan,

while the altar for offering-up he placed at the entrance of the Mishkan, of the Tent of Appointment,

and offered-up on it the offerings-up and the grain-gifts,

as Adonai had commanded Moshe.

 

He placed the basin between the Tent of Appointment and the altar,

and put water there-in, for washing,

that Moshe and Aharon and his sons might wash from it their hands and their feet,

[that] whenever they came into the Tent of Appointment and whenever they came near the altar, they might wash,

as Adonai had commanded Moshe.

 

He raised up the courtyard all around the Mishkan and the altar,

and put up the screen for the courtyard gate.

So Moshe finished the work.

 

 

Shemot, chapter 40.:

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the kavod/glory of Adonai filled the tent.

35 Moshe wasn't able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Adonai's kavod filled the tent.

36 When the cloud was taken up from over the tent, the children of Yisra'el went onward, throughout all their journeys;

37 but if the cloud wasn't taken up, then they didn't travel until the day that it was taken up.

כִּי֩ עֲנַ֨ן יְהֹוָ֤ה עַֽל־הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙ יוֹמָ֔ם וְאֵ֕שׁ תִּהְיֶ֥ה לַ֖יְלָה בּ֑וֹ לְעֵינֵ֥י כׇל־בֵּֽית־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בְּכׇל־מַסְעֵיהֶֽם׃

 38 For the cloud of Adonai was on the tent by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Yisra'el, throughout all their journeys.

 

 

The commentary of  Rabbi Abraham son of Rambam

On Shemot (Exodus) 40:38

 

כי ענן ה׳ וג׳ – אש זו אינה אש יסודית ולא מורכבת מן היסודות אלא אור נברא בוער במראהו דומה לאש והראיה על זה מאמר וביום הקים את המשכן וג׳ כמראה אש [וג׳ ומראה אש] לילה כמראה אש לא אש דוקא ואותה האש אינה שורפת אלא כמו שנאמר בסנה הסנה בער באש והסנה איננו אכל, והבן זה!

Because the cloud of Adonai---  this fire was not chemically fire and was not derived from the chemical elements,  rather it was light that was created with a burning appearance, similar to fire.  And the proof  of this is that it says later [in Bamidbar 9:15]  “on the day they set up the Mishkan… it was the appearance of fire….”   It was not actually fire, fire that burns, but rather the same fire of the bush [in Shemot 3:2,] “the bush blazed with fire-- but the bush was not consumed.”  Understand this!

-         

 

 

This week’s Haftorah is the story of King Solomon building a permanent Temple in Jerusalem to replace the portable Mishkan.  Let’s see what you know about King Solomon and the kings of the Jewish people.

 

1)     King Solomon’s father was

a.     King Saul the very tall

b.     King Hezekiah the faithful

c.     King David,  the beloved

d.     King Aharon the holy

e.     King Nimrod the dense

 

2)    King Saul died because

a.     Solomon’s father killed him in battle

b.     Solomon’s father had him poisoned

c.     He  was overwhelmed by Philistine solders in battle

d.     He was overconfident and killed by the giant Goliath

e.     He offended God, who hurled lightning at him from on top of mount Sinai.

 

3)    Why couldn’t King David build the temple?  Why did he have to leave the work to his son?

a.     The Jewish people did not donate  enough precious materials to build it  during  his reign.

b.     David was obsessed with building a deep and terrible prison, Angband, to house all his defeated enemies

c.     The Romans threatened to attack Jerusalem and destroy the temple.

d.     David had killed too many people in war, and the Temple needed to be a place of peace

e.     King David had fled to a far away land and became the first leader of our glorious homeland of North Korea!

 

4)    King Solomon gets public advice from his father to be faithful to God and the people.  What was the private advice that Solomon took seriously?

a.     To pray three times a day as the sages asked the king

b.     To make alliances by marriage with dangerous nations nearby

c.     To have his father’s old enemies killed so they did not threaten his throne

d.     To carry a Torah scroll with him when he judged the people

e.     To be sure to exfoliate his skin with dead sea salt scrub before each shabbat.

 

5)    King Solomon had a vision where God offered him anything he wanted, and Solomon asked for

a.     Great warriors to defend all Israel

b.     Great wisdom to judge all Israel

c.     Great wealth to build glorious homes for all Israel

d.     Great power to destroy the enemies of Israel

e.     Great dance moves to defeat  the other kings of the fertile crescent in a break-dance contest.

 

6)    King Solomon’s neighbor to the north was his friend King Hiram of Tyre, securing the northern border. How did Solomon make sure he had a secure southern border with Egypt?

a.     He married the daughter of Paroah

b.     He built a high wall,  manned by well-armed soldiers

c.     He flooded a wide area each year, creating an impenetrable mud flat with only one bridge

d.     He made a treaty with a payment of 22,872 talents of gold.

e.     He sent them a stern letter and threatened to have them censured by the council of nations

 

7)    When his temple is complete, what does King Solomon do with the furniture and vessels from the Mishkan?

a.     Places them in a crypt  where his father David is buried

b.     Melts them down and casts new objects for his Temple

c.     Hides them in a secret cave guarded by traps, puzzles,  and poisons for the brave to discover

d.     Hidden away for a future time, aside from the Ark, which was brought in.

e.     Dude, after years of invasion and war,  was nothing left to bring in but the ark, dude.

 

8)    King Solomon’s wisdom spreads so far it brings him a visitor,

a.     The emperor of Persia

b.     The queen of Sheba

c.     The king of Arabia

d.     The crown prince of Rome

e.     Baron Peter Agustus Frozenwasser Geekface von Sweetcream of Lower Alsatian Prembst

 

9)    Opinion:  if you were king or queen of your own nation, what special rule below  would you choose?

a.     Math teachers would have to write their own problems by hand each year-  no textbooks.

b.     That making sushi would be one of the national pastimes of your nation, with local sushi teams battling it out in delicious tournaments.

c.     That Sunday School would be moved to Saturday- Sunday would be free and  you have to come to shul for your friends’ Bnei Mitzvah  on Saturday anyway.

d.     That you would have public drinking fountains  in parks that would flow with fruit punch, root beer,  lemonade, and other beverages

e.     Anyone  that says in public  that summer vacation is too long and interferes with students properly  learning will be promptly executed by iguanas.

 

10) What led to Solomon’s downfall?

a.     He drafted 30,000 people to hew stone and lumber for the Temple, triggering a rebellion

b.     He worshiped the foreign  gods of his many wives

c.     He enslaved the king of demons, who eventually escaped and took his shape and throne, placing Solomon in exile for 40 years

d.     His brother Adoniyah kills him in a duel for the throne

e.     He ate so much matzah at the Passover seder  it  ruptured his spleen

 

11)  How  long did Solomons Temple stand in Jerusalem?

a.     40 years

b.     70 years

c.     200 years

d.     400 years

e.