Rabbi Breit's Blog

This week's Shabbat Shalom article is a guest post by Sari Broberg! In honor of Women's Shabbat we're highlighting the wisdom, understanding, and skills of so many women in our congregation. From Sari:

My husband Matt and I put an offer on a home a few weeks ago, the same week as our first wedding anniversary. Much like how the Israelites made so many preparations for the Mishkan (God's home, if you will) that we've been reading about in the Torah, Matt and I are also digging our way through the complicated work and details of making a home. 

This is our first home purchase, and we have become acutely aware of everything that goes into it. Once the offer was accepted and we were officially under contract, we were inundated with documents to sign and decisions to make. Getting our financing in order and scheduling an inspection was just the beginning. Now, we are starting to think about packing and moving. Soon we will be focused on setting up utilities, changing locks and other logistics. Only once we're in and settled will we be able to start setting up furniture, figuring out where to put our plants so they get the best sunlight, and deciding "should we keep the bookshelves red or paint them a different color?"

Parshat Pekudei is the last chapter of the book of Exodus and concludes the many preparations of the Mishkan. The parsha details the building materials used in the Mishkan and the priestly garments, and describes how Moses inspects and blesses each element, confirming that everything has been prepared as God commanded. God tells Moses exactly how to set up the curtains, tables, lamps, and other furnishings. He tells Moses how to set up the courtyard and how to anoint all the furnishings to make them holy. Moses dresses Aaron and his sons in the priestly garments and anoints them too, then sets up the Mishkan as God commanded. Finally, once all is prepared, God's presence comes and fills the Mishkan and remains to watch over the people in their journey.

Moving feels a lot like reading these last few chapters of Exodus. The same details described at length again and again -- figuring out what you need to move, packing it up to move, and making sure you've moved it. For Moses, the materials used in the Mishkan and in the priestly garments. The golden pillars, the blue, purple and crimson wool. The bells and the pomegranates. For us, the closing date, the insurance, the movers. We review them again and again until we're confident we have prepared every detail, and then maybe just once more to be safe.  

Our home will have curtains, tables and lamps, and it will also have shabbat candlesticks, Jewish books, and mezuzahs. We will decide where to hang our ketubah, how to display our growing collection or menorahs, and which closet to lock our chametz in on Pesach. We hope that filling our home with Judaica and inviting family and friends to celebrate Shabbat and other holidays also invites God's presence and protection. We hope that after checking and rechecking all of these details and preparations, God will also dwell among us as we build our new home and begin this exciting new book of our lives.

Shabbat Shalom!