Drash Cards for Pekudei (5763)
by Marc Mangel
• We have a discussion of the materials used by Bezalel in making the Miskan and instructions for consecration in Ch 40, v 9: to consecrate with oil.
• My first point: the Miskan is very holy and the holiness and the holiness involves contact (Ch 29, v 37, Ch 30, v 29)
• Second point: the root of the word for santification (Kee-dash-ta) is Ko-desh. Jastrow’s dictionary (1903) defined Ko-desh as to “be cut off, separated, become pure, sacred, holy”
• I also learned that Ke-desh is one of the cities of refuge, with a natural interpretation for the name,.
• Holiness mean to separate. When we had the Miskan we could separate in space. We don’t have that any more.
• So we can separate in time. Friday night candles and Havdallah are moments of separation between the profane and holy, but what about in between?
• Reform Judaism was founded in the 1840s with three conferences.
• 1846: Is the essence of Shabbat consecration of the divine or cessation of work? We still wrestle with this, as long as we are not strictly orthodox.
• Is the holiness of Shabbat contagious — if we do a usual act (e.g. get haircut, go to the farmers’ market, or go shopping) does it somehow become a holy act because we did it on Shabbat?
• If one is Orthodox, the answer is clearly not. For us, it is a good question.
• My opinion is no. We need a conscious separation of the acts on Shabbat from those on the weekday.