On a visit to Israel, I participated in a presentation with an Israeli activist whose goal was to improve the accountability of the Knesset, the parliament, to the people.
We remember the Knesset does not offer direct representation to the people the same way we have local congresspeople.
He said one issue with the project was there was no word in modern Hebrew for accountability. So he took the word אחריות for responsibility and added an ending to that word to turn it into a more formal term. אחריותיות is the word he invented for accountability.
This week in our Torah reading our ancestors have a word, p’kudeem, that expresses accountability in terms of forthrightness and clarity about the materials used to create the Mishkan, the portable Holy Place. As Rashi explains, our portion enumerates the amounts of the gold, silver, and copper collected to create all the holy items.
We’ve been reading about the plan for creating the Mishkan, the materials needed, the contributions, and the crafting of all these things. God’s instructions are specific. There’s complete clarity about what materials are needed and what the craftspeople will do with them.
What is the reason then that we now have this complete accounting?
Dr. Everett Fox argues the accounting of the materials is intended to impress the audience with the vast amounts of precious metals and gemstones.
Or Ha’Chaim, R. Hayim ben Moshe Attar, has a different perspective.
He explains the word p’kudeem that’s used here is different from other accountings in the Torah. Whether for a census or otherwise it’s an unusual choice of words.
This word is associated with God’s action in the world and blessing. It’s the same word family that describes God fulfilling the promise to Sarah, and the same word family that describes God remembering and taking action to free our ancestors from Egypt.
R. Hayim teaches us this specific choice of words means that unlike other things that have been counted in the Torah, the Mishkan will be a lasting blessing, and whereas God tends to dislike taking a headcount at other times, this accounting, every amount of precious items used to create the structure and its vessels, all of it increases praise and honor to God.
As we think about this last portion in Exodus, we think about how far we’ve come with God’s help, from living under the lash of taskmasters as slaves in Egypt, to Sinai to receive the Torah, and now to the creation of the first hoy place where God will abide. Our people have been growing up, slowly, haltingly, and taking backward steps, but now, now they have come to a point I believe the Israeli activist who spoke to us would be proud, proud of the way they show their maturity by taking a careful inventory of everything they received and used for this special project.
They’ve come to the point of recognizing how important it is to establish trust, for there to be honesty, reliability, and achrayutee’yut, accountability.
The portion teaches us we can grow, we can evolve – with a supportive community, knowing God is present, and knowing we’re liable to take 2 steps back occasionally, we can create our own new worlds and keep track of our progress along the way. Just like our ancestors keep records, we can keep records of our own – we can write a story for ourselves that lifts us up and challenges us to create and craft a life that is as full of richness and meaning as the Mishkan is full of gold, silver, and copper they shaped into a place of holiness, a symbol of freedom, and of a relationship with God that is growing stronger each day.
