Parashat Pekudei
Keeping
Accounts
Moses’ account of
all of the materials of the Tabernacle is a model for the honesty and
transparency with which we should run our businesses.
By Gilah Langner
The following article is reprinted with permission from SocialAction.com.
Have you ever noticed that the Ten
Commandments take up only a handful of verses in the Torah, while the
construction of the Tabernacle is given several chapters worth? Perhaps this is
meant to mirror life itself--moments of high moral impact and lofty sentiments
are short and infrequent, while shopping lists, renovations, and daily chores
take up huge amounts of time. But this is all godly work, the Torah seems to be
telling us. Even the most creative tasks have their tedious details; even the
most mundane jobs can be infused with mindfulness and holiness.
This week's parashah,
Pekudei, concludes the Torah's recounting of the building of the Tabernacle.
This has been going on for five weeks--two weeks of instructions in designing
the Tabernacle, two weeks describing the construction work, broken in the
middle only by Ki Tissa, the story of how the Israelites came up with their own
building project--the Golden Calf.
"These are the accounts of
the mishkan" (Exodus 38:21), begins Pekudei, and then proceeds to
tell us how much gold, how much silver, how much copper was used in its
building. This seems curious. If the building of the mishkan
(Tabernacle) was done according to God's specifications, and Moses was
supervising the work, why does the Torah bother to give us an accounting?
Surely Moses, of all people, could be trusted! Are these accounts just the
wrap-up, the final audit of the books, on a par with the meticulously detailed
blueprint for the Tabernacle? Or are they intended to impress us with the
richness and beauty of the Tabernacle, built with precious materials in such
abundance?
The rabbis in the midrash connect
the accounts with the responsibility of leaders to their people, and with the
age-old temptation for dishonesty and mistrust with regards to precious. The
Midrash says:
Moses said: I know that Israel are
grumblers. So I will give them an accounting of all the work of the Tabernacle.
He then proceeded to give them such an account--"these are the accounts of
the Tabernacle"--giving them an accounting for each and every item,
whether gold, silver, or brass, that was used in the Tabernacle, in order of
their use...
Apparently, whatever the people's
feelings toward Moses in general, when it came to money, trust was a scarce
commodity. Sure, Moses was trusted by God--but that wasn't necessarily the same
as being trusted by people. Those in positions of power need to be aware of the
jealousy that their power and actions can evoke. They particularly need to be
sensitive, not only to doing the right thing, but to how people will perceive
their actions and attitudes. The Midrash continues:
Now, why did he feel he had to
give an accounting? The Holy One trusted him, as is said, "He is trusted
in all My house" (Numbers 12:7). Why then did he give an accounting?
Because he heard the scoffers of
the generation talk behind his back, as is said, "Whenever Moses went out
to the Tent [of Meeting], all the people would rise and stand... and gaze after
Moses until he had entered the Tent." (Exodus 33:8).
Of course, when we read Exodus
33:8, we imagine the people rising out of honor and gazing in awe as Moses is
enveloped in the pillar of cloud at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The
rabbis of the midrash, however, give us a different sense--the people standing in
sullen resentment, sniping behind his back:
What were they saying? Eyeing him
with contempt from behind, one would say to the other: Look at his neck! Look
at his thighs! He stuffs himself with what belongs to us and guzzles what is
ours. And the other would reply: Stupid! A man appointed over the work of the
Tabernacle, over talents of silver and talents of gold whose weight and number
are too great to measure--what do you expect? That he would not enrich himself?
When Moses heard this talk, he
said: As you live, when the work of the Tabernacle is finished, I will give you
an accounting. When it was finished, he said, "These are the accounts of
the Tabernacle" (Exodus 38:21).
How apropos to read about the need
for proper accounting in the aftermath some of the largest bankruptcies in
American history. It is not merely the collapse of companies and the loss of
jobs and business that has so shocked the country. It is the damage caused by
companies' dishonest accounting practices, and the fury with executives who
cashed out billions of dollars in company stocks when they were near their
peaks.
By contrast, the accounts of the
Tabernacle are transparent, made public, for the entire community to hear. It
is not just the people's gold, silver, and copper that have been given to the
building of the mishkan--it is their trust as well. Pekudei serves as a useful
reminder to our community organizations and businesses that they must
operate--and be seen to operate--at the highest levels of honesty and
transparency in bookkeeping.
The word pekudei from which
the parashah derives its name can be translated in various
ways--accounts, records, remembrances. It cautions us that keeping accounts is
not only a responsibility to those involved in an enterprise, but a remembrance
of how one has acted in the world.
"These are the accounts of
the mishkan--the mishkan of witnessing," begins the parashah.
The structures we build in our communities bear witness to what we have put
into them. How we use, or misuse, the trust and assets of other people is
ultimately recorded, witnessed, and remembered.
Gilah Langner is a consultant and mother living in
Washington, D.C. She is co-editor of Kerem:
Creative Explorations in Judaism.
