Bulletin PEKUDEI

Welcome • ohtcv ohfurc
Shabbat Shalom • ouka ,ca
Shabbat Pekudei
2 Adar II 5782 • March 5, 2022
Please join us for special
Minyan
Friday, March 18 th at 9:00 a.m.
ZOOM Etiquette
Share the news of your Simcha with us…
• Birth of a grandchild,
• Marriage of a child,
• Bat/Bar Mitzvah in the family
Please let Lee Henson know
at 973-908-3166
or lhenson13@gmail.com
In accordance with our ritual standards, we remind everyone to wear
a kippah and a tallit when attending services via Zoom.
Please refrain from eating while on camera!

Yahrtzeiten
Mar 4 • II Adar 1 Judy Rosenthal – Wife of Harvey Rosenthal
Leonard Weiss – Father of Sue Brown
Joseph Kappel – Father of Roberta Miller
Birthdays
Mar 6
Mar 7
Mar 8
Mar 10
Mar 11
Gabriel Castro
Angel Alfaro
Rosalee Bogo, Arlene Levin
Shelley Goodman, Herbert Wreschner
Ruth Bier
Anniversaries
Mar 4 JoAnne & Barrett Burka (55)
Kiddush Sponsors
vfrck oburfz
jna ,skuv ouh
cuy kzn
Larry & Evelyn Hecht,
In honor of Evelyn’s Birthday!
Danielle Ciccoli,
In honor of her daughter Zara’s first Birthday!
Jerry & Rosalee Bogo,
In honor of Rosalee’s Special Birthday!
Arlene Levin,
In honor of her Birthday!
Howard & Esther Starkman,
In honor of our children, who usually favor the
east coast of Florida!
Kiddush Maven Elaine Kamin assisted by Beverly Blazar,
Rosalee Bogo, Nancy Garfinkel, Sharon Goldman,
Sue Hammerman, Evelyn & Larry Hecht, Fred Kamin, Arlene Levin,
Linda & Shep Scheinberg, Arleen & Dave Sivakoff
To sponsor a kiddush, please contact Linda Scheinberg
missus205@gmail.com
Tickets for the Virtual Film Festival are
available now!
To make your purchases, please use use the
following link to access our ticket booth:
https://tinyurl.com/2p92hm6j

Torah & Haftarah Readings:
Shabbat Pekudei: Exodus 39:22 (Etz Hayim p. 567)
1. 39:22-26 2. 39:27-32 3. 39:33-43 4. 40:1-8
5. 40:9-16 6. 40:17-27 7. 40:28-38 M. 40:34-38 (p. 571)
D'var Torah:
Haftarah: I Kings 7:51-8:21 (Etz Hayim p. 574)
Torah / Haftarah Summary
In God's Shadow - Ilana Kurshan
Parshat Pekudei describes the construction of the Mishkan and its
furnishings in accordance with the specific instructions given by God
to Moshe. The chief artisan responsible for the project is Bezalel, who is
described as being “filled with the Spirit of God, with wisdom,
with understanding, with knowledge and all kinds of skills”
(Ex. 31:3). The account in our parshah suggests that Moshe and Bezalel
worked side by side, with Moshe receiving the architectural specifications
from God and Bezalel implementing them. But the Talmud tells a more
nuanced story about the nature of their collaboration, suggesting ways in
which we can work constructively with one another.
The Talmud (Berakhot 55a), in discussing Bezalel’s unique talents, highlights
a discrepancy between God’s instructions for building the Mishkan as
conveyed to Moshe, and the Torah’s account of its actual construction.
Moshe, in transmitting God’s instructions, speaks first of the construction
of the ark, along with its golden cover and golden cherubim (see chapter
25). Only then are we told about the construction of the Mishkan itself,
with its cloth coverings and planks of acacia wood (ch. 26). But when the
instructions are actually carried out, the Torah states that Bezalel made
the tents and planks (ch. 36) and only then built the ark and its accessories
(ch. 37). If God’s instructions to Moshe specified building first the ark and
then the Mishkan structure, why did Bezalel reverse the order?
The rabbis recount a conversation between Moshe and Bezalel about this
discrepancy. According to the rabbis, God told Moshe to instruct Bezalel
to build the Mishkan and then the ark inside it. But Moshe—perhaps
inadvertently—switched the order and told Bezalel to build the ark and
then the Mishkan to house it. When Bezalel heard Moshe’s instructions,
he was puzzled, as they seemed inconsistent with his own experience and
expertise as an artisan. And so, he questioned Moshe about what he’d
been told: “Moshe our teacher,” he began politely and deferentially, “The
standard practice throughout the world is that a person builds a house
and only afterward places the vessels inside it. And yet you said to me:
Make an ark and vessels and a Mishkan. If I do so in the order that you
commanded, where would I put the [ark and] vessels?” It seemed unlikely

to Bezalel that God would want him first to build the ark, and only then
build a Mishkan. Boldly but respectfully, Bezalel went on to ask Moshe,
“Perhaps God rather told you to make the Mishkan, then the ark?”
We can imagine a moment of silence in which Moshe tried to recall
exactly what God had told him up on Mount Sinai, amidst the thunder
and lightning of revelation. And then suddenly Moshe remembered that
indeed Bezalel was right – God had indeed told him to build first the
Mishkan and then the ark, as Bezalel had supposed. How could Bezalel
have known? The Talmud records Moshe’s response: “Perhaps you were
in God’s shadow, and you knew precisely what God said?” The Hebrew
word for “in God’s shadow” are “Be-Tzel El,” and thus this Talmudic
account also serves as a midrashic explanation for Bezalel’s name. Bezalel
was so wise that he could intuit God’s instructions to Moshe even without
hearing them directly, as if he were all along standing in the shadow of
God’s presence.
It is telling that Moshe assumes that the ark should be built first, whereas
Bezalel reasons that the Mishkan takes primacy. As Rabbi Yehuda Brandes
explains (in Torat Imecha, Maggid, 2008, untranslated), Moshe lists the ark first
because the ark is of central religious importance – it is here that God’s
presence will be revealed, and it is here that God will speak to the people
from between the golden cherubs. The ark, too, is the house for the Ten
Commandments containing God’s holy word as spoken to Moshe on Sinai.
Surely the ark should be built first, followed by the Menorah and altar and
the other vessels used in the worship of God. And surely the tent coverings
and curtains of the Mishkan should come last since they are merely the
enclosure for the holy items inside. For Moshe, a visionary leader who
speaks face-to-face with God, it is clear that the most sacred items take
primacy. But for Bezalel, the expert craftsman, it is obvious that the holy
vessels can’t exist without a place to house them, and thus he assumes that
the Mishkan must be built prior to the ark and its furnishings.
As we learn from Moshe and Bezalel, it takes all kinds of talent to build a
home for God. I think about this lesson nearly every Shabbat afternoon,
when my kids embark on an elaborate construction project involving
blocks, cushions, chairs, kitchen utensils, bed sheets, and stuffed animals.
One week they build a synagogue, the next week a swimming pool, the
next week a sushi shop. Usually, it is my daughter who conceives of the
idea, and my son who directs the construction. “Let’s make the sushi free
for homeless people,” says my daughter, and my son responds, “we’ll give
them xylophone sticks for chopsticks.” They don’t always see eye to eye, but
in those moments when they are able to appreciate one another’s talents
and contributions, I sometimes imagine that I’m catching a glimpse of the
indwelling of God’s presence behind the Fisher Price cash register.

D'var Haftorah
The Builder of the Dwelling - Bex Stern Rosenblatt
In the beginning, God created the world, a habitation and home for
humanity. However, creation was not complete until this week’s parsha in
which humanity built a home, the mishkan, for God. But there was still
something missing. The mishkan was a traveling home. Just as we see in
God’s punishment to Cain, God was set to be a restless wanderer with us.
It is not until this week’s haftarah, many hundreds of years later, that God
allows us to build a true home for God. The Temple is built, and creation is
complete.
Solomon, whose very name comes from Shalom, completeness, is the one
chosen to complete creation. After he does, by building the Temple, God
comes to dwell in it. Solomon announces this completion with a beautiful
verse. As Robert Alter translates, Solomon says, “I indeed have built
You a lofty house, a firm place for Your dwelling forever.”
The idea of building God a dwelling place is bold. Humans become real
partners for God in creation, in God’s image, we create for God. Solomon
celebrates this, starting his declaration by talking about himself. He names
himself as the builder of the dwelling, putting himself in direct relationship
with God, not as a representative of all the builders or of all the Israelites or
even of humanity, but rather as Solomon the individual.
The thing that Solomon says he has built is, (as Alter translates), “a lofty
house.” The word translated as lofty is zevul, which appears in only six other
places in the Tanakh. Notably, it appears in Psalm 49, addressing the hubris
of humanity in assuming that they can be like God. We read of humans,
“their grave is their house forever, their dwelling place for all generations…
Sheol is a habitation for them.” Here zevul is translated as habitation, which is
located in the lowest place, totally cut off from God, in Sheol. Whereas God’s
zevul is a lofty place, the zevul of humanity is death.
But Solomon also calls it “a firm place for Your dwelling.” This is a throwback
to the Song of the Sea, which Moses recited. Moses sang, (as Alter translates),
“You’ll bring them, you’ll plant them, on the mount of Your estate, a firm
place for Your dwelling You wrought, O LORD, the sanctum, O Sovereign,
your hands firmly founded. The LORD shall be king for all time!” Here,
God’s dwelling is equated with human dwelling. God is choosing to plant
humans in the place in which HE dwells. Moses celebrates that God will be
the one who causes the Temple to be built, who makes Jerusalem our forever
home. Solomon’s use of the phrasing of Moses helps us to understand how
humans, whose dwelling place is death, could possibly make a dwelling place
for the God who gave us life. It is through our agency as creations of God that
we are able to create for God. When Moses and Solomon understand this,
they are able to bring completeness to creation.

Rosh Chodesh Women's Study Group
Adar II
Sunday March 6 th
10:00 a.m. EST
Facilitator:
Odette Masliyah
Odette will introduce
Esther Amini's author of
"Concealed"
The memoir as a Jewish-Iranian daughter
Caught between the Chador and America.
Esther Amini's memoir is a provocative coming-of-age saga,
recounting her youth and early adulthood as a firstgeneration
Iranian American Jewish woman in
the 1950s and ​'60s.- How do we fulfill our mission
statement to be an inclusive community
This special event is open to ALL regardless of gender!
Please join us via
3/16/2022
Purim is Coming!
March 16 th at 6:00 p.m.
Please join us for a "live" fun-filled
Evening with food, merriment featuring the
"Alta Rockers" & the Megilah Reading
Beth Tikvah of Naples
1459 Pine Ridge Road
Naples, FL 34109
(239) 434-1818
Visit us online at
bethtikvahnaples.org
or scan the QR code
to go there directly