Parashat Pekudai

Parshat Pekudai

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

 

Eli Lehman

 

            The Pasuk says, “And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Sanctuary. And Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud rested upon it”. Rabbi Riskin asks, what is the significance of the symbol of the cloud and the other symbol of the Divine Presence – the fire? This is a very interesting question because we always see the cloud resting with Bnei Yisrael on the Beit HaMikdash and directing Bnei Yisrael during the day in the Midbar and the fire directing Bnei Yisrael by night in the Midbar and confirming that Hashem accepted their sacrifices so these two symbols must mean something because we always see them being used to help Bnei Yisrael in the ways mentioned above which makes this question a very interesting and strong question.

            One answer Rabbi Riskin gives is that these 2 symbols represent the heaven because the word shamayim has both aish and mayim in it. And this represents peace that 2 of the opposites that never get a long with each other (fire and water) are still able to be peaceful and combine with each other. And also the cloud represents a cover symbolizing security and the fire represents warmth which symbolizes nurtured life.

            We also see another message. The Torah says whenever the cloud was on the Tent, Moshe couldn’t enter unless told so by Hashem. So whenever the cloud was present, Moshe needed a separate notice from Hashem to enter. And a fire, which represents warmth, is good to be near, but bad to be too close because it could burn you.

            So this shows us that even though we want to be close to Hashem because of our love and desire for Him, we have to keep a distance because of reverence and awe.

            This is a very strong message for us to take that answers the question he raised. The cloud and fire show us that no matter how much we have a desire for something, we always have to keep a distance.

            This shiur was overall very good that answered the question well and gave us a strong message to take with us.