Vayakhel/Pikudei: Disrupted Destination

Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual dasha. This week we have the incredible privilege of the parish of conclude shabis. It also represents the conclusion of the narrative of the mishk. We began back in parades who says make for me a mikdash. Make for me a home. Make for me a temple and I will dwell within you. Doesn't need a home. Doesn't need a physical address. But for us physical corpial beings, it is helpful to have a physical point of connection to Akadesh. But it's helpful to have an address where we could come and seek out even you can access Hashem anywhere and everywhere. It's a gift to us to have a place of communion with in this world. And the paras are kind of like the summary tell us everything that Hashem commanded Moshe. Moshe commanded the people. And then in we are told that all of those holy instructions were executed. But the the parish ends in a very interesting way in chapter 40:36 the says and literally again when the cloud lifted up from on top of the Mishkan so traveled forward in all of their journeys in all of their travels. Fascinating idea and we're familiar with this because the Kish is filled with this particular detail. In general throughout our time in the desert, how did we know when to travel, when to when to break camp and travel or when or when to remain in place? It was based on the cloud. Hashem appeared to us in the form of a cloud throughout our time in the desert, which would become 40 years in the desert. When the cloud was situated at top the Mishkan, that was indicative that we're to stay in place. when the cloud lifted up, dislodged and moved forward that indicated that it was time to break camp and move forward as well. A detail we're familiar with, but asks why is this detail here? This has nothing to do with our topic. Nothing to do with the Mishkan. Remember, it has to do with the Mishkan that the cloud was situated on top of the Mishkan. But aside from that again these parachuts are all about the execution of the details of the commandments of the instructions to create the mishkan to fabricate the mishkan to create the big the kohanic vestments. Why is this detail about the cloud included here at the conclusion of this section of the mishkan? And the rabbis says something so incredibly beautiful. The rabbi says the cloud of course represented but the positioning of the cloud has tremendous beautiful and important metaphorical significance. The clouds right when we were when we were at rest so to speak the cloud was attached on top of the on top of the on top of the Mishkan stationary. The says when the cloud sits on top of the Mishkan those represent the times in life of tranquility where everything is as it should be right the cloud is there is there is there cloud is there is good right everything is good everything is exactly as it should be beautiful happiness tranquility in life and then there are times when the cloud lifts up off the mishk says those represent times of difficulty and turbulence overwhelming circumstance ances where there's just disruption. There's just life life as I know it has been upended. Things are unstable and in those moments it's incredibly overwhelming. The cloud is not here. The Mishkan is moving. Cloud Israel is moving around. The stability and the predictability and the tranquility that I had once upon a time have been fundamentally holy and totally disrupted. And the Reb says, "What do you do in those moments when the when the cloud departs your Mishkan? What do you do in those moments of profound disruption? What do you do in those moments of uncertainty?" And by the way, sometimes it's not just disruption and uncertainty. Sometimes it's tragedy. Sometimes it's sadness. Sometimes it's difficulty. But what do you do in the moment when the cloud leaves your personalistic mishkan? When life as you know it has been upended and disrupted. And the Reb says there's only one choice says it. What do you do? When the cloud lifts itself up off the Mishkan, what do you do? There's only one choice. Move yourself forward. Move yourself forward and lean into and embrace the journey ahead. I I don't know what the journey is. You're right. But you got to take it. I don't know what awaits me. Absolutely. But just embrace the uncertainty. Lean into it. Understand that this is what it's going to be because you have a choice. When life is disrupted, when the cloud leaves the mishkun, you could become paralyzed by the uncertainty, paralyzed by the fear, unable to move yourself forward because oh my gosh, life as I know it has just been turned upside down, just been upended. The cloud is no longer sitting at top my personalistic mission. Or you can embrace the fact, okay, this is what it is. And the uncertainty is jarring and the tragedy could be overwhelming and the sadness could be paralyzing, but I refuse to yield to that. I'm moving forward. Where am I moving forward? I don't know. How am I moving forward? Not sure. What is the journey ahead? Absolutely unclear. But one thing I know is that if the cloud is moving, so am I. That life as I know it has been disrupted, I can't remain in place. I have to figure out a way to move myself forward. And the Reb says something so beautiful. The Reb says, "What was the point of the Mishkan?" Because as we said before, obviously doesn't need a home. And as nice as it is for us to have a physical address with which to connect with God, what was the deeper meaning, deeper point, deeper mission of the Mishkan? And the Reb says something so beautiful. He says, "The entire mission and purpose of the Mishkan, the Mishkan, the point of the Mishkan was to gird you with the strength to be able to move yourself forward in the world." Remember the Mishkan was not a place to live. The Mishkan was a place to visit. The goal was go to the Mishkan, get whatever you need and get back into the world. And what was the primary message? The Mishkan by definition was a mobile structure. What was the message of the Mishkan? Profound life mobility. Life is not a constant. Our situations are not a constant. Stability and predictability. The things that we crave most are the very things that are the most elusive in this journey called life. See go into the mishkan which is a temporary structure recognizing that where it is today may not be where it's going to be tomorrow. Gird yourself with the strength that wherever the cloud goes, wherever life takes me, whatever the has in mind for me, I'm going. I got this. Whatever the journey is, as scared as I am because of the unpredictability of the journey, I am ready and I'm strong enough to take it. Says the was the entire point of the Mishkan. You went into the Mishkan, a structure of instability, a structure of insecurity, a structure of mobility to gird yourself with the strength to take whatever journeys you have to take throughout life. That was the purpose. It's not a home for I mean it is but it's not the primary purpose. It's not a physical avenue of connection for us. It is but that's not the primary purpose. The entire purpose of the Mishk was not to live there but to visit and when you go behaz yourself that so much of life is temporary, unstable and unpredictable. And there are so many journeys. There are some that we script and many that we never even imagined we would have to take. But we are strong. We are resilient. And wherever the cloud goes and wherever the Mishkun goes, I got this. All I know is that life is filled with journeys. Many of which I never scripted, but I'm ready. Not always eager, but I'm ready. I'm capable. And I'm strong enough to take them. This says the Reb is how the Torah concludes the entire narrative of the Mishkan. Because here after all this time, we've been wondering why are we building this structure? What what exactly is it that we're supposed to glean and gain from this beautiful thing called the Mishkan? And the Reb says we're supposed to glean the most important lessons about how to live life. Sometimes the cloud is on top of the mishkun. Sometimes the cloud is on top of my personalistic Mishkan. Yeah, there are moments of life where everything is just together, perfect, beautiful, and fantastic. And when those moments happen, soak them in, take them in and appreciate them. But very often in life, the cloud departs the Mishkan, the stability is disrupted. Instability sets in scared and I'm overwhelmed and I don't know what to do. And there's a part of me that just wants to remain paralyzed with the fear of uncertainty. And I I I I don't want to move forward. I just I'm just going to sit here and just I don't know wallow in it. And says in that moment remember why did I give you a mishkun? I gave you a mishkun so that every single time you enter into that structure of instability, that structure of unpredictability. You don't know where it's going to be daytoday. You gird yourself with the strength to be able to go into the world and take whatever journeys I have in store for you. And in those moments when the personalistic cloud departs from the personalistic mish be brave enough to follow the cloud to follow the mishkun to follow the journey to follow the path has a plan for each of us and sometimes that plan is laced with so much uncertainty so much difficulty sometimes tragedy sometimes sadness but there's always a plan there's always a journey we want more than anything for the cloud to be attached to the Mishkan. We yearn and we pine for a life of tranquility, predictability, and stability. But often that's not in the cards. So we enter into our personalistic Mishkan. We gert ourselves with the strength that we are the people of unpredictability and we are the people of instability and we are the people who no matter what the journey is, we stand ready and able to take it. It's true as a nation and it's certainly true as an individual. May will give us lives where the cloud is attached to the Oel more often than it's not. But when the cloud departs and when the stability and predictability of our lives are disrupted, let us find the courage, the Mishkun courage, the Mishkun strength to take the journey. Don't be scared. Don't be afraid. It may not be easy, but we have all the strength we need to take whatever journey has in store for us. When the cloud departs from on top of the oil, which inevitably it will, may give us the strength. As a people, we will be ready to take any journey. And as individuals, we are confident, capable, and able to take whatever life journey has planned for us. Wishing everyone a good narrative of Shabas and a beautiful Shabas kesh.