This week’s Parasha, Pekudei, starts off with the words, “ אלה פקודי המשכן These are the countings of the Mishkan.”
It basically lists all the numbers… how much gold, silver or copper etc. It’s an accounting of everything that went on in the Mishkan. The reason for this, simply speaking, was to show transparency. Everything was accounted for and there was no embezzlement.
The Or HaChaim HaKadosh teaches a lesson from this: Whenever it says the word אלה Eleh, it disqualifies things that were said before, whereas V’Eleh means it’s inclusive.
Eleh HaDevarim disqualifies what was said before that, which was the musar that Moshe gave, that Hashem wasn’t always happy with, and Eleh HaDevarim these are words He was happy with.
V’Eleh HaMishpatim, And these are the Mishpatim connects to the previous Parasha of Yitro, to tell us that the Mishpatim came from Har Sinai.
So to recap, Eleh disqualifies what was said before, and V’Eleh includes it.
Here it says Eleh Pikudei HaMishkan, so what is being disqualified? The Or Hachaim HaKadosh says that we are disqualifying all other countings.
Any assets or money that a person counts is really insignificant, because it is not something that is lasting. Furthermore, he says, and it is actually a Midrash Rabbah (22.8), that money is called ממון mamon, because it’s a contraction of two words
מה אתה מונה which means What are you counting? You aren’t counting anything.
The Midrash also says that we call assets Nechasim, because it means to be covered, and what is covered for one person is sometimes revealed to another.
Additionally, when we see someone with money, we think that they must have a great life, but it’s really covering what’s going behind the scenes.
Money is also called Zuzim, because zuz means to move. Money moves from one person to another.
So all the terminologies of money are telling us that it is really a façade.
These terms of money in our holy language are there in order to teach us that it is not as glorified it looks.
Whatever money you’re counting isn’t really a counting.
But this counting, the Counting of money for the Mishkan, that was given as Sedaka, that is called a counting, because that’s a counting that lasts forever.
There is a famous story with one of the Rothchilds. He dealt with a lot of kings and queens, and a jealous person once told the king that Rothchild was embezzling funds from the coffers of the king, and that he wasn’t to be trusted.
So the king asked Rothchild for a list of his assets, and Rothchild showed him a certain sum, for example $10 million, when everybody knew that he was really worth much more than that. They thought he was lying, and asked him to explain himself. Rothchild responded that they had asked him for the money that he has. So he brought all the accounting books on his charity, because that is the money that he has, that is the money that he is counting. All the other money is really meaningless.
And that is the lesson here. It is a powerful bitachon lesson, to understand that you only have what you give away.
What you have is not really yours. We know that from Hovot HaLevavot. It’s called Kesef Pikadon, which is similar to the word Pekudei- it’s a deposit. God gave you a deposit, and you’re watching the money for someone else. You are a bank teller. The money that you have in your bank account isn’t yours. The only money that you truly have is the money that you spend on Sedaka. That’s the Pekudei.
The Chafetz Chaim used to say that people don’t realize this. They leave their money for people after they pass away.
Like the pasuk in tehilim (49,11) וְעָזְבוּ לַאֲחֵרִים חֵילָם They leave their assets to others,
Because you don’t take everything with you. The only thing that you take with you is the gold and silver that you give away.
When people brought the Chafetz Chaim their wills, and he saw how they left money for their aunt or their dog, he’d say, Aren’t you leaving any money for yourself? And they said, “What do you mean, I’m dying. I can’t leave money for myself.“ And he explained that the money that they gave to charity was the money that they were leaving for themselves. Bequeathing money to charitable institutions is the money that you leave for yourself.
Eleh Pekudei, These are the countings-
The counting that you give to a Mishkan.
Have a wonderful day,
Shabbat Shalom
and Hodesh Tov.
Daily Bitachon
Pekudei The Real Counting
Lectured by Rabbi David Sutton