For the week ending 4 Adar II 5760 / 10 & 11 March 2000
Parshat Pekudei
Insights
like he made the ephod, from gold, turquoise,
purple and crimson wool..." (39:8)At the beginning of Megillat Esther, Achashverosh throws a party to end all parties. The party of the millennium. He was celebrating his unassailable grip on the throne of the Persian Empire.At this party, Achashverosh brought out the vessels of the Holy Temple which the Babylonians had plundered and caroused with. More than this: Achavshverosh's party attire consisted of the vestments of the High Priest.Why did he do this? Was it some elaborate spoof? Was Achavshverosh poking fun at the Jewish People and their prophecies of the demise of his all-mighty kingdom?Or was there something more sinister behind this charade?"And the land was formless and empty and darkness on the face of the deep."(Bereishet 1:2) These words form part of the opening words of the Torah. They hint to four mighty empires who will subjugate the Jewish People. The first, Babylon, will snatch the crown of Empire from the Jewish People and then the Persian, Greece and Roman empires will successively snatch world domination one from the other. Eventually, the last of those empires, Rome and its cultural heirs, will return the kingship to the Jewish People.When that happens "The lost ones will come from the land of Ashur…" (Yeshayahu 27:13) and the final exile will end.The name Ashur is related to the Hebrew word "ishur." An ishur is a certification. Each nation who takes the kingship from the Jewish People seeks to "certify" itself as being the true and final recipient of the crown of the world. But they can only do this by proclaiming themselves the true heirs. They claim to be the "New Israel." They claim that the testament of faith of the Jewish People is old; that they have a new one.That, in essence, was what Achashverosh was attempting to do at his millennial party. He was certifying himself as the New Israel. His party was a grotesque replication of the Temple service. The vessels of the Temple were there and being used. He was dressed as the kohen gadol, the high priest. He even went so far as to name his ministers after the offerings of the Holy Temple. He was trying to utilize those forces of holiness for his own means, to set his seal on world domination using the higher spiritual forces.This was no charade.
Haftarah
Melachim II 7:51 - 8:21
SHINING CLOUDS"When the kohanim left the Holy Temple, the cloud filled the House of G-d. The kohanim were unable to stand and minister because of the cloud...Then Shlomo said 'G-d has said He would dwell in the thick cloud.' " (8:10-12)When Shlomo (King Solomon) finished the Beit Hamikdash, he saw prophetically its future destruction, that a dark cloud would descend on the Beit Hamikdash and the kohanim would be forced out. Yet, Shlomo was consoled by G-d's promise never to abandon His people Israel, even amidst the darkest gloom.This idea lies in the above verse: While celebrating the inauguration of the Mikdash, Shlomo envisioned the kohanim leaving the Temple in iron chains; the Divine Presence in the Temple was replaced by a somber cloud.In spite of this, Shlomo was not downcast because "G-d had said He would dwell in the thick cloud." G-d has promised that He will dwell with the Jewish People even in their darkest hour.Ohr Hameir M'Lublin
