The Pekudei Paradox Many spiritual seekers don’t like Judaisim. They want to transcend, to free themselves of the trappings of the mundane, and to connect to the infinite. They see Judaisim as being very technical, regulating precisely how and when to perform the Torah’s commandments. Are they right? They are correct in that they identify the core paradox of Judaism. Judaisim is not about transcending the finite to connect to the infinite, nor is it about being grounded in the real world. The paradox of Judaism is the realization that the essence can be found only in the paradoxical fusion of the infinite within finite space and reality. The Midrash teaches that the reason and motivation for creation is that “the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to have an home in the lower realms”, yes the infinite, unfathomable G-d, desired specifically to be in the “lower realms”, in the most physical, tangible, finite space. The same is true with the Divine commandments, which is the Divine will being fulfilled through specific actions, performed in a specific time and place. This paradox is expressed in the final portion of the book of Exodus, Pikudei. Pikudei begins with an accounting of the precise number of all the material used to construct the tabernacle (“These are the numbers of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony, which were counted at Moses' command”), and concludes with the description of the Divine presence dwelling in the tabernacle (“And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan.”) The Hebrew word Pekudei itself captures this paradox. Pekudei means ”{counted} numbers”, a number is a defined entity, yet Pikudei also means intimacy and union (as in the Talmudic statement “a man has a duty to be intimate {Lifkod} with his wife”). For indeed, the deepest love is expressed not by sharing words and ideas, but by a physical union. The deepest bond can not be expressed by a spiritual connection, but rather by a physical action. Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Likkutei Sichos 26, Pekudei 2
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