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Spiritual Accounting (38:24)

There are fifty chapters in the Book of Genesis. Of these, only one is devoted to the story of G-d creating the universe.

There are forty /chapters in the Book of Exodus. Only three of them deal with the Revelation at Sinai where a group of slaves metamorphosed into the Chosen Nation. In contrast, thirteen chapters, almost one third of the Torah’s second book, are dedicated to discussing the donations, design, and construction of the desert Sanctuary.

From the dimensions of the acacia wood to the specific colors of the tapestry, every detail is elaborated upon in full. Perhaps the reason is because the Sanctuary was more than a “House of worship,” it was the seat of G-d’s manifest presence on earth as well as the fulfillment of man’s efforts to carve out a divine home from the physical materials of life.

While these Biblical portions record the nation’s collective implementation and achievement, on the individual level we too construct a Temple for G-d each time we perform a mitzvah.

For what is a mitzvah if not employing physical substances in the fulfillment of a divine command? But commandments also have a spiritual side - the awareness that accompanies the deed; the love and awe of G-d that motivate it and the commitment and joy that permeate it. However, by focusing on the physical aspect of the Sanctuary, the Torah emphasizes that it is our deeds which draw down to earth G-dliness. The mitzvah’s spiritual accouterments /may be the interior decorating that imparts beauty to the edifice constructed by our deeds; but it is the physical act that houses the divine.

The primacy of the physical is also underscored by the Torah’s description of the accounts taken of the three precious metals contributed by the people toward the making of the Sanctuary. Usually, accountings of this sort are calculated by currency sums - so many dollars’ worth (or whatever the prevalent currency) of gold, so many of silver, etc. Donations to the Sanctuary however were calculated by weight - so many ounces of gold, so many of silver, etc.

Deeds, too, can be measured by weight or by value. For example, two people each give a dollar to a beggar. One gives with a smile and out of the recognition that he is privileged to be able to help his fellow man. The second person gives grudgingly, annoyed at having been brow-beaten into parting with a dollar. In terms of the “value,” both deeds are equal. Both dollars will buy the same loaf of bread and will equally satisfy their recipients’ physical hunger. But the two deeds differ greatly in terms of “weight” – the impact it has on the giver to whom this dollar may, or may not, have worth. This is true also for the recipient; how hungry they were, how desperate, etc. This is more abstract, and must be measured for each transaction differently.

Surely, quantity is important. We might even deem it to be of greater consequence than quality. But if there is lesson to be gleaned from these thirteen chapters, it is that spiritual bank accounts upstairs measure physical impact, and not just value.

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