Vayakhel/Pekudei - Deja Vous All Over Again

Hi, this is Double AA with the Parsha in 5, where in 5 minutes I try to give you an insight into the Parsha or this week's Parshios. I made a mistake last year. I did a vort on Vayakel and then it turned out they were two separate Parshios and uh I didn't do one on Pekudei. >> [laughter] >> And but the one that I did on Vayakel was actually a Pekudei one cuz I thought they were together and they weren't. But this year they are together, Vayakel and Pekudei. Vayakel Pekudei, right. Vayakel Pekudei is basically a repetition of Trumah and Tetzaveh. There's a few extra things thrown in, but for the most part it's almost a complete repetition of Trumah and Tetzaveh, which of course begs the question, was Trumah and Tetzaveh so much fun that we had to do it again? Why are we repeating it? And I think that's really the main question by Vayakel Pekudei. To me, I think it's a simple answer because in case you fell behind in your Chumash and Rashi during Trumah and Tetzaveh with all those Rashis and Mishpatim and Bo, a lot of So now we have a quiet week for you to catch up. I think that's why we repeat it. But uh that's not what the Ramban says. The Ramban says there's another instance where we find an unnecessary repetition. And that is by the story of Eliezer in Chayei Sarah. Avraham Avinu sends Eliezer to Charan to find a wife for Yitzchak. And he has a whole conversation with Hakadosh Baruch Hu beforehand and then he has a whole story that unfolds. And then he gets to the house of Betuel and they say, "Come, let's eat." And he says, "Not until I say what I have to say." And he repeats everything, everything we already read in the parashah. It's a complete complete repetition. Where we say everything Abraham said to him, everything he said to God, everything that took place at the well. Now, we could have saved all of that by just having a pasuk that said, "And he told them everything that happened." Kol ma she asa. Right, that that would be fine. We do that sometimes. We don't have to repeat the entire story. So, the Chazal say it's to teach us that the words of the of the avos are more precious than the Torah of their children. We have to learn out halachas from an extra vav or from a dot inside of a hey, but the slaves of the forefathers, we repeat all of their words because it's so precious. Now, I would argue if the words of the avdei avos are important, certainly the words of the avos themselves are important, but we don't repeat all the stories by Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Only by the avdei avos. And says the Ramban, that's what's taking place here. Why? Because when the avos says something, it's pure. It's it's exact. There's no need for me to process it. Eliezer had to process what Abraham told him. He had to process the events that are happening. You find throughout the story that Eliezer thanks God. He bows down. He he expresses his appreciation. Because he understood that everything he's doing is only because he's an eved Avraham, which is the words that he says at the beginning. Eved Avram Anochi, I am just a slave of Abraham. And when we acknowledge that, then everything we have to say becomes precious in and of itself, cuz I'm not just saying it. I'm saying this is what my master told me. When we build the Mishkan, the whole purpose of the Mishkan is for us to do the avodah. Avodah is what an eved does. At the Krias Yam Suf, what did it say? Vaya'aminu BaHashem u'v'Moshe avdo. When you become an eved Hashem, then you take on that status of Eliezer. And since the Mishkan is being built specifically for us to do the avodah, we repeat it just like we repeat Eliezer's words to teach us that we may not be the people who are the ones who create Torah and spirituality like the forefathers. But we are able to repeat it over accurately and properly. And that's why you find very often v'chein asu, and they did what they said, because that is the greatest thing we can do is to then accept upon ourselves what Hashem told Moshe to tell us, and we do it exactly the way that Hashem tells us without editorializing, without adding, doing it properly. And so each one of us in our own way should be zocheh to be an eved Hashem. And with this, we come to the end of Sefer Shmos, and all of us chazak, chazak, v'nischazek should have the strength to go on and implement all of these lessons in our own lives. Good Shabbos.