Pekudei - Accessing Hashem's Guidance

You're listening to the weekly para podcast with Ari Goldwag recorded with Hashem's never running assistance in Roma Israel 5785 2025. This week's paric and we have after five weeks of talking about the construction of the Mishkan, the parts of the Mishkan. We have the coming together of the Mishkan. And in next week's para, we're going to talk about the actual result of the of the construction of the Mishkan, which is that Hashem calls out to Mosher Rabenu from within the Mishkan. And I have something for you that I want to share this week and it involves two midrashim, very interesting midrashim connecting together in a profound way. and stay with me till the end till the end of this idea because there was something that's so profound as I was studying this and trying to understand it. The idea that I'm going to share with you today is so profound that I literally was moved to tears and I think that it will move you as well. A very deep idea. You know, we talk about the the Mishkan as something that was a kapara for or as a result of the kapara, the atonement that the Jewish people experienced for the sin of the golden calf. But but I'm going to teach you something. I'm going to show you something that's so deep and so beautiful that I hope you'll be moved as well. Now the Pik tells us this is in chapter 39:32 all of the the work that was done in creating the Mishkan the tabernacle it finished. They did everything that Hashem had told to Mosher to do. All right? And they reached that final stage. They're ready for it to go up. They brought the pieces. They brought brought the tent part. They brought all brought all of the vessels that they had created. They brought it in front of Mosher Rabenu. Crush of the boards, the beams of all the different parts, all the different pieces. Pastor goes on to speak about what exactly they brought. I'm not going to look at all the details of it. Bottom line is they brought everything. And the medish wants to understand why did they bring it to Mosher Rabenu? Why didn't Mosher Rabenu go to where all of the parts were, all the pieces were and review, you know, have a walk through of all of the parts that have been created and see the magnificent work that had been done? Why did they have to bring everything to Mosha? What was the what was the need for that? What is the concept of it? So in in addressing this point brings me it brings a p intom the p intom is talking about depending on who which you look at it's either talking about talking about msiach's advent or it's talking about the students of the Torah scholar ers in speaking about the great miler that they have, the great, you know, the power that they have, the great thing that they do. But our maj takes the a little bit out of context, but teaches us a profound idea. Pik says the woven things are brought to the king. So in the pushup, it can mean the woven things are brought to the king, Melik Mashiach, the the Messiah. But in Arab we're going to see it means something else. The women who have never been married they follow afterwards with their friends. They are brought to you. So says that this is actually referring to what happened in Arab means the woven things. This is a reference to the Mishk. The Mishkan was had beautiful pictures on the on the it was interwoven the the there was a creation of pictures upon it. We find that the refers to the fact that they wo with the blue wool with the blue dyed wool these beautiful pictures. So that's what's being brought. What does it mean? It's brought to the king. It's a reference to Mosha Raen. Mosha is called the king of AmI Israel, right? He's the great leader of Israel. He's the one who leads them out of Egypt, leads them through the the wilderness and ideally was supposed to lead them into Israel. Israel refers as understands it to Mosha as a king gathers around him and they are bringing to their king, their leader the parts of the mishk it's brought it means that they brought to him the mishku says an interesting thing it's it refers to them as women who have never been married it refers to the Jewish people as women who have never been married now what does that mean So Moram here mentioned that earlier we find that Amis is had sinned with the golden calf but through their repentance through Mosher Rabenu beseeching on their behalf that Hashem forgive them. They were forgiven to the point where they were like they hadn't gone off and done anything wrong. It was completely removed just like a woman who's never been married. It was it was considered it that way which we need to understand what that means of course cuz somehow the misel as we said is connected to the Mishkan the Mishkan somehow was therefore atoned or it came as a result of atonement we'll see what that means that's the the big the big finale in this refers to the friends in this these are the friends of God am Israel is called the friends of Hashem. What's a friend? A friend is somebody who supports you. A friend is somebody who cares about you, rejoices in your sim, in your joy. Israel is is a nation that cares about God. We are God's friends as it were. God is our friend. As he says, we reach a point of peace somehow in the completion of the Mishkan. There's a there's a a resolution of peace. We're back in a relationship with Hashem. We've sinned. We've been atoned for. We create the Mishkan. It's a place we're going to serve Hashem. It was brought to him. When the Mishk was completed, they brought it to him. That's why it says they brought the to. So, we started off with a question. We said, "Why did they bring it to him? Why? Why didn't he go to where they were? So, there's something in here as the first say that they were excited. They were excited to bring it to him. They were excited to show him their work. I guess we could say a king doesn't go to his servants. They bring the they bring the the things that they've made for him perhaps to where he is. Something needs more explanation. And you see the maroo in in speaking about this maj. So he references another maj and the medish is inbar and it the maj is speaking about a puk before this p this puk is referring to the fact that they brought it to the king but there's a puk before which is a famous the honored ones the princesses their honor is expressed in their in their modesty They don't go out gallivanting around their princesses. They stay inside. They express their greatness by being inside. They're even greater. They're dressed in an even greater garment, which is their modesty, their humility. It's even greater than the golden vestments that other rich girls might wear. according to how great the person is. Person has to be more modest, more humble. That's the puzzik actually right before which we just spoke about. We just spoke about the puzz that they bring to the king all of these all of these woven garments. But before they bring to the king woven garments, first the puzz says there's an aspect of the princess being humble. What's the connection? What's the idea? So listen to this majish and we'll have a profound connection which will lead us to an even deeper insight into what's going on with the with the ael with the golden calf. What was the sin of the golden calf? How did the mishkun rectify it or what were they looking for when they created the mishkun? Here's the message. Listen up. Listen carefully. Hold with me. Stay with me. The says that God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sai of the Sinai desert. The first place that we find that Hashem spoke to Moshe was at the burning bush. Before there was any tabernacle, before there was any other revelation, the first revelation occurred, Hashem spoke to him at the burning bush which was a kind of a public place. God called him from inside of the burning [Music] bush. God spoke to Moses and Aaron inside of Egypt in an open place there. There he spoke to him, right? Says Hashem spoke to him in Midion as well. Again, an open place. Mosha Bidion. We're going to show you a few places where it used to be at the beginning of Hashem's relationship with Moshe. The way that he spoke to him was in the middle just in the middle of anywhere. The Pik says Hashem spoke to Mosher Rabenu at Mount Si, right? The entire Jewish people heard it too. anymore. Hik says that he spoke to Hashem spoke to him in a midbar in a in the wilderness in a in a in a public place perhaps even at Harina itself in Mount Si itself which was very public. But now this was true until a certain point. Hashem spoke to him in public places until the elmo until the sanctuary was completed at that point once we had the mo. So Hashem says look we need to change the approach here whereas previously I was speaking to you in a public place now it's going to be of private place the mishkan is going to be the only place that I speak to you mosher raenu Because he says you should go quietly with God. So we see that the way that we go quietly with God, God reflects how we behave with him. If we show it's right, we don't show off our spiritual level that we that we have gained. It's not something that we flaunt, right? It's something that we keep private. If we have that sense of privacy also wants to be more private with us. It's a more special relationship. The more private something is, the more modesty one has about it. It shows that they value it more. So we see that Hashem speaks to him in in the in the sanctuary. There's a greater value to the privacy even more a a princess. A princess the the most beloved of the king, right? It's the future of his of his line is his princess. The way that it's expressed her value is by being inside, by being modest. And it's more valuable than fancy gold investments. Moshe when it says the princess the honored princess is a a reference to Moshe to Moses in Isaiah 19:4 refers to the fact that there was a powerful king who ruled over Egypt and that was Who's the power? Who had the power? It was Mosh who had the power of the Torah. Hashem gives power to the Jewish people to Moshe. He's the one who who brings the Torah down to Israel. So Moshe represents this power. Moshe who's the king who's the bas melik he's the one who has access to the to the treasure of the king so he has to speak to hashem in a private place so who is the one that the one who's modest is greater than the one who has the golden garments the golden garments is something that our wore Aaron the priest wore So there's a concept that a woman who's modest. So it's like somebody who's she's an appropriate person to marry a high priest. This learned from this as well. Hashem says, and this is the wrap- up of this medish, and we're going to try to understand what the the teaching here is. Hold with me. Stay with me. The the wrap of it wrap up is Hashem says, "Look, the my honor is to speak to someone who's modest in a place which is modest. I want to speak from we find that voice was heard from may Allah approve him from inside of that that holy place the holy of holies inside of the Mishk the tabernacle that's where's voice was heard from and Mosher Rabin would hear him speak he couldn't hear him speak any longer outside of the Mishkin it was only inside of there now first of all I want to understand what's the connection between this maj and and the first maj that we spoke about where we saw that everyone is bringing the parts, the pieces of the Mishka to Moshe. What how does that connect to the fact that the Mishk was the only place that Hashem would speak to Mosher Rabenu? Now, it used to be that Moshe would could hear Hashem anywhere. He could hear him in Egypt. He could hear him in Midion. He could hear him at the at the at the burning bush. He could hear him in the in the wilderness of Sinai. What's happening here? What's changing? And how is the Jewish people part of that? This is the beginning of the idea. But how is the Jewish people a part of that? By creating the Mishkan, by bringing them the Mishkan. So I was pondering this and I was thinking about it and what became clear to me and this is the first point, the first profound point is that previous previous to Mosher Rabenu's having a Mishkan to speak to Hashem with, he could he could hear Hashem anywhere. The Jewish people were not really so involved. Yes, Mosher Rabena was being sent by Hashem. Mosher Rabenu was hearing God's voice so that he could lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. But the Jewish people did not take part in that. They weren't part of the story. They weren't they weren't they hadn't done anything to to be the kind of people who had received the message that Hashem was sending through Moshe. They didn't take part in the message. It was Hashem speaking to Moshe and then relaying it to them. Now something changed at Hari. At Hari, the Jewish people stood there and heard Hashem speak and heard Mosher Abenu receiving the word of Hashem to bring to them. So all of a sudden they they were part of it. They were part of it. What happens with the Mishkun? And this is what I believe the Marazoo is intimating when he connects these two midrashim. When they bring the Mishkan, when they bring the parts of the Mishkan to Moshe, you know, they're saying, "You are our king." They're bringing it specifically to Moshe because he is the leader. He's receiving the message. He's to lead them and bring the word of Hashem in the direction of Hashem to them. But where does it where do they take part in that? Where do they get to be part of causing or bringing about or where does it become clear that it really is be not just that it's that it's Hashem sending the message to them but but they're taking part in receiving that message. They're reaching out for the relationship with Hashem as they are building the Mishk and they're they're taking part in something that's going to be the center of where Hashem is going to speak to Moshe there and only there and he's going to express his unique and special and most close relationship to Am Israel through Moshe. Moshe is going to hear it nowhere else anymore. Only in the Mishkan that Am Israel built. Who is Am Israel making this Mishkan for? Were they making it for Hashem? Were they making it for themselves to be able to serve Hashem there? I would like to posit that they were making it for Moshe. Here's a place of his of focus, of concentration, of quiet that Moshe will be able to walk in there and be able to receive the word of Hashem nowhere else. Now, am is part of through their involvement in creating the Mishkan, they're part of receiving the word of Hashem, which is meant for them. But they show, I'm interested in the word of Hashem. I'm interested in receiving Hashem's guidance and direction and love. That's not something that they had before. It was just like Hashem speaking down to Am Israel. Hashem speaking through Moshe, but they didn't take part in that. They didn't show their NAS of they said it by by arena, but they lost it with theel and they got it back with the Mishka by saying, "Hey, I'm I'm interested in hearing the word of Hashem." And there's like an acknowledgement when Hashem says, "I'm only going to talk to you through the means. Hashem is saying That's the P that that Mosha said when the Mishkan was was raised up when it was established when it was built when the pieces were put together. And the Pik means the work of our hands should be the place where God is manifest. The noyam of Heashem, the the sweetness, the pleasantness, the relationship that we have with God should manifest here on our work on that place that we prepared for Mosher Rabenu to be able to receive the word of Hashem. And as a result of that, now they're part of it. It's not just talking down to AmI anymore. It's us being interested in what Hashem has to say. And that's a much more intimate and deep relationship. It's a loving relationship. It's a new relationship. Now as I thought about that I was very moved. But what moved me even more is I was thinking about how the first experience that Amra had in receiving direction directly from Hashem hearing the the ten commandments. They all heard it from God directly. Hashem spoke. They heard it. They were scared. They couldn't handle it. Out of body experience. They said, "Moshe, you you receive it because we can't spiritually handle it." But they in that moment knew that the relationship was direct that they they knew that Hashem was talking to them. It wasn't Mosher Raenu for himself making stuff up as it were and then it wasn't Hashem had a relationship with Moshe and then Moshe was the was the one talking to Amrael. It was that they they sensed they saw that it was about them that Moshe was just a a liaison a connector between God and and the Jewish people. Now what happened on day 40 when they sinned with the with theel and listen to this this is a but I believe that it's true. Listen to this because it's very moving. You see Mosher Raenu was gone for 40 days. He had gone to to hear the word of Hashem to bring it down to Am Israel. Now that there was a there was a sense of loss because Amrael had heard Hashem speak. They had heard Hashem. They they couldn't handle it being direct, but they still heard Hashem speaking to Moshe. And over the 40 days that followed, there was a sense perhaps we could say there was a sense of loss. Like, wait, is this about our relationship with Hashem? They started to feel what about what is this for us? What are we doing to receive that relationship? Is is it just about Hashem speaking to Mosha and Mosha speaking down to us? Where's where's our relation? Where's our where's our offering in this? We think of the ael as something which was a terrible thing. He said is this is the god that took you out of Egypt. It sounds just terrible. What what are you talking about? you just saw God and you're talking about golden calves taking you out of Egypt. What's going on? But perhaps we could say that what Amisra was really doing is saying because they saw as the Mapor explained if you look at the carefully you see it and they saw the Ael as having a uh that it was replacing Moshe that it was replacing Moses. They were saying, "Hey, we want to take part in the receiving of the we want to take part. We want to feel like we're giving something back to God." Aon says, "Tomorrow is going to be a it's going to be we're going to celebrate to God." Theel wasn't to to separate between them and God. It was like a vehicle. They saw Moshe as a vehicle. They were confused. And the confusion was, are we part of this? Do we have a direct relationship with Hashem or is it only through something else? That was the confusion. Moshe didn't show up and they thought, hey, we got to do something. We got to we have to express and show that we're interested in Hashem's what Hashem has to offer us. It can't be separated between us and Hashem. We have to do something to show that we're interested. It sounds backwards because we know that the agel was something that was a disconnect from but I would like to posit that it was a seeking of connection. I heard a similar idea from Ryak said something along these lines was showing that there they they have this power to to contribute and to feel like they're part of they had this power and it was then moved and and properly placed when it came to the Mishk. I'm saying a different idea which is that they were trying to show Hashem that they want to be part of this relationship. Mosha comes down. It was a terrible thing. They made this the calf. It was it was the wrong move at the wrong time. They needed to wait till Moshe came brought them the the was about that relationship with Hashem. It was the it was like the ring that the the man puts on the finger of the woman when he marries her. He was about to come and and cement the relationship between them. And in that moment they they tried too hard. They tried too hard to to get into that relationship. It was a mistake. But what happens in the Mishkan is that it's that exact sentiment of wanting to do something to bring myself into a relationship with Hashem which was wrong with the golden calf. Now it gets placed in its proper position into its proper way into the proper use of that desire. Amish says Moshe, you're receiving an avua, a prophecy, a direction from Hashem for us. We want to be part of it. We want to be part of the creation of that place, of that room, of that precious location where you are going to receive the word of Hashem. And that was the correct use of that desire. That was the correct implementation of the feeling of amra that we want to be part of it. And you know what I believe that part of what's powerful about this is that we give power to our leaders. You're you're in a shul. You have a rv. You give to your shul, right? When you give to your shul. So what happens is you're giving power to your RV to give to have the to have the divine presence rest upon him so that he can give you the right direction when when you create that space for your RV when you when you contribute to your shul or you're the the yeshiva that you attend or whatever it is when you give to the place which becomes the place where your leader can now give to you, give you direction. So you are showing Hashem, hey, I want direction from you, Hashem. And then Hashem gives the We might not all be on the level that we know enough, we have enough background, we have enough learning to to be able to channel down the will of Hashem into our lives. We need others to help us who are more aryodite, who know more information, or perhaps more spiritual than us, whatever it is. But the way that we show that we want it is by showing we want a relationship with you, Hashem. And we do that by creating the space for our leaders to be able to be those leaders. And that pulls down the help from Hashem that gives them the right words for us. It's an amazing idea to the extent that we show Hashem that we want a relationship with him. So it enables those who can guide us to be able to guide us to have this to say the right things that we need to hear. And so I say to you that you come I know that there's at least 100 people who listen through to this dator all the way till the end generally speaking and your desire when I'm speaking I'm not just speaking for myself so I can say you know I'm talking for myself and I'm happy for you guys to listen but at the same time I know that you guys are listening and so the the desire that you have to hear an understanding a depth whatever it is that gives meat that gives me the ability the divine inspiration to to understand something an insight that I might have not have be able been able to understand on my own but because I'm giving it to you because I'm being a channel for you to hear something to be inspired I get inspired myself so I'd like to bless you and ask you to bless me Hashem should help us that we should continue to be able in all the contexts that we find ourselves to show to show hem that we are looking for a relationship with him that we want to receive that Hashem should help us and guide us that we should be able to receive that through our leaders through the people that we respect and Mashem will continue to be able to serve him properly through his guidance. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful shamus. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.rigoldwag. at arrigoldwag.com or search on iTunes Ari Goldwag. [Music]