Being Strong, Being Strengthened (Shabbat Pekudei)

This week’s Torah portion, Pekudei, brings the book of Exodus to a close. It details the building of the Mishkan - the meeting place between God and the people. The craftsman, Betzalel, builds it and all the instruments used in its service, according to God’s instructions to Moses, before Moses finally blesses its completion, and gets the priests ready for their role in it.

As beautiful as the description of the precious metals, incense and ornate woodwork are – in a book that recounts the people’s flight from Pharoah, the revelation at Sinai, and the catastrophe of the Golden Calf…crimson yarns, and silver bells just seem an anticlimactic ending!

But, partway through the litany of instructions, one particular detail stands out. While all the features of the Mishkan are come at the command of God, the Torah adds an additional reason for creating the breastplate the priests will wear: Torah tells us this piece, called an ephod, is to be engraved with “the names of the children of Israel…as stones of remembrance for the Israelites.” (39:7). Twelve precious stones are to be embedded in it, each representing one of the tribes.

When the Priest wears this breastplate, he symbolically carries the entirety of the Jewish people, those present, and those no longer there, into the Mishkan, the center of the life of the community, when he performs his sacred service.

These days, we have no ephod, no mishkan; no priests making offerings of animal or grain. Instead, each of us serves as Priest, making offerings of heart, through our prayers, rituals, and good deeds. Through our sacred service we carry our entire people, those who are here, as well as those far away, or no longer here into the life of our community.

We carry our people in particular ways: in the foods we eat, the clothes we wear, the music we listen to; when we name those we’ve lost in Mourner’s Kaddish, or those we hope will find healing in Mi Sheberach; when we light candles the way our mother did; or pray the way we heard our grandfather do.

But we are also carried and uplifted by our people. The ancient and enduring words we pray connect us with the lives of those who came before us, and those who will come after us – with all Jews everywhere.

One special custom our people has, when we come to the end of a book of Torah, is to say the words "Chazak, chazak, v'nitchazeik” which means, “be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened.”

This Shabbat, as we conclude the book of Exodus Jews all around the world will say some version of these words.

Let’s take a moment now, to say these words in solidarity with all those in need of strength this Shabbat if we have strength to give; or – if we need strength, let us be inspired to say these words by those who came before us, and will succeed us.

In this way, we carry, and are carried by our people, as we tell and retell our stories, as we pray, and eat, and remember. I’ll say the words and invite us to repeat them: Chazak, chazak / v’nitchazek! Be strong, be strong / and may we all be strengthened! Amen.