Vayak’heil/P’kudei, Exodus 35:1– 40:38 The Torah: A Modern
Commentary, pp. 668–687 Haftarah, Ezekiel 45:16–46:18
FROM B’NEI
YISRAEL (THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL) TO BEIT YISRAEL (THE HOUSE OF
ISRAEL) Bruce Kadden
FOCAL POINT |
When the cloud lifted from
the Tabernacle, the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys; but if
the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift.
For over the Tabernacle a cloud of Adonai rested by day, and fire would
appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their
journeys. (Exodus 40:36–38)
D'VAR TORAH |
These verses conclude the
Book of Exodus, providing us with the opportunity to reflect on how far we have
come during the last ten weeks that we have been reading it.
Exodus begins by recalling
B’nei Yisrael, the sons of Jacob, who came to Egypt, each with his
household. Although brothers, they were clearly a disparate group, no doubt
still bearing the grudges and conflicts that nearly tore their family apart in
Canaan. Dina and her family are not even mentioned. Were they left behind or
just ignored?
Now, at the end of Exodus,
and for the second time in the Torah, the people are called Beit
Yisrael, the “House of Israel.” During the relatively short time they have
been wandering in the wilderness, they have already been transformed from
B’nei Yisrael to Beit Yisrael, from individuals who happened
to share a common history (and some—such as the “mixed multitude” who left Egypt
with them—who did not) to a community with a common destiny. They will still
have disagreements, conflicts, and even significant rebellions, but nothing that
happens can undermine or destroy their fundamental identity as a community, the
identity of being Beit Yisrael.
The use of the word
beit, “house,” to describe the people is significant. The most
important Jewish institutions are houses:beit sefer is school, beit
k’neset is synagogue, and Beit HaMikdash is the Temple.
The word “house” signifies
unity and implies that those who are part of it share a common purpose. Though
members of a house do not always get along or agree, they have an implicit
commitment to each other and to the house as a whole. A house also signifies
stability and structure. Though their designs and sizes may vary, houses are
physical entities that symbolize the strength and substance of those who live
within them. Houses signify permanence as well. Although houses can be destroyed
by fire, earthquakes, and tornadoes, the utter devastation that families
experience at such loss testifies to the permanence we expect of our
houses.
How is it that a people who
have often been rebellious during their short time in the wilderness are now
unified? How can a people who demonstrated their apostasy so recently, by
building the Golden Calf, now deserve to be called Beit
Yisrael?
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, chief
rabbi of Efrat, offers a midrash suggesting that the building of the Tabernacle
plays a key role in restoring the people’s relationship to God and in unifying
the people. Drawing on a mystical metaphor that describes the relationship
between God and the Jewish people as a marriage, Riskin sees the Golden Calf as
a symbol of the people’s infidelity to God, and the subsequent building of the
Tabernacle as the means of restoring their relationship with God. Riskin
observes that the greatest tangible expression of their mutual, undying love for
each other is the building of the home—the Tabernacle—together. Thus, at the end
of Exodus, the people can rightly be called Beit Yisrael, the House of
Israel, and can rest assured that God’s presence will remain with them
throughout their journeys.
Umberto Cassuto comments
that when the Torah first uses the term “House of Israel” in Exodus 16:31 (“And
the House of Israel called it manna . . .”) it means “not only the children of
Israel living at the time, but the whole house of Israel throughout the
generations,” (Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus
[Magnus Press: Jerusalem, 1987], p. 199). In other words, the term “House
of Israel” conveys a timelessness that includes every generation of Jews, not
only those who wandered in the wilderness. When the text says “House of Israel,”
we are included. So, the use of the term “House of Israel” at the end of Exodus
confirms that just as God’s presence is manifest to the Israelites in biblical
times “throughout their journeys,” God’s presence will be manifest to all
generations of Jews in their journeys. For our ancestors, this manifestation was
a cloud by day and fire at night. Our profound challenge today is to identify
the manifestations of God that can help guide us on our journeys through
life.
So we end Exodus not as
B’nei Yisrael, but as Beit Yisrael. The transformation of the
people in the Book of Exodus teaches us how we should grow during the journeys
of our lives. As a family, we should always try to evolve from living as
individuals toward becoming a household. As a synagogue, we should strive to
turn our individual family units into a community. And as a people, we should
endeavor to weave our diverse threads into a lovely tapestry. May we be blessed
with the strength and endurance to make these journeys.
BY THE WAY |
The Book of Exodus, which
opened with a narrative of misery and oppression, closes on a note of confidence
and hope. Israel is assured that, day and night, the divine spirit hovers over
it, guiding and controlling its destiny. (Etz Hayim: Torah and
Commentary [New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2001], p. 572)
In The Particulars of
Rapture: Reflections on Exodus, Aviva Zornberg notes that Bahya relates the
fire above the Tabernacle to the term Beit Yisrael, house of Israel. Zornberg
writes, “The ‘house’ is the place of sexuality, of momentary unions and abiding
tension, a place where man and woman, fiery substance, are connected by the
presence of God.” (Aviva Zornberg, The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections
on Exodus [New York: Doubleday, 2001], p. 498)
In Commentary on the
Torah, Richard Elliott Friedman observes that Moses does not speak at all
in the last chapter of Exodus. “Thus the book of Exodus ends as it began, with
the attention on the people—and their relationship with their God. The person of
Moses is the focus of the story in the intervening chapters, but the nature of
the opening and concluding chapters would suggest that he is just that: a
tangible focus of a larger dynamic, between God and a human community.” (Richard
Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah [San Francisco:
HarperCollins, 2001], p. 310)
YOUR GUIDE |
What does the word “house”
mean to you? What does it mean to be a part of Beit Yisrael, the House
of Israel?
How is “the people”
transformed in the Book of Exodus? What factors are most important in this
transformation?
How have you been
transformed since we began reading Exodus ten weeks ago? How is your Jewish
journey progressing this year?
Bruce
Kadden is completing his twentieth year as rabbi of Temple Beth El in Salinas, California.
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