Parashat Pekudei
Parashat Pekudei: These are the Redemptions
by Rabbi Jill Hammer
There is a way that Parashat Pekudei brings the Exodus to its conclusion. At the end of Genesis, when Joseph is dying, he promises his family: pakod yifkod, God will surely take note of you. At the beginning of the book of Exodus the people cry out for God’s intervention, and God promises to redeem them: pakod pakadti, I will surely remember them. Now, at the end of the book of Exodus, we hear eileh pekudei hamishkan, mishkan ha’edut, asher pukad al pi Moshe: “these are the records/rememberings of the sanctuary, the mishkan of witnessing, that were recorded at Moshe’s command.” The verb pakad repeats twice, as if to remind us that God has now remembered the people. The promise God made to Moshe has been fulfilled.
In what way is the sanctuary a remembrance, a redemption? If Read More >