Parshas Pekudei: Moving In, Moving Up

Melachim 1 7:51-8:21

How do you know you’ve finally settled into your new house? Is it when the moving truck pulls away? The last box unpacked (which may never happen)? Or is it a particular piece of furniture once in place that makes you finally feel at home?

The Haftorah begins with a pronouncement of the completion of the building of the Beit HaMikdash and the detailed description of move-in day - from the inventory list to the play-by-play of how the day unfolded. Items unloaded from the trucks, precious national treasures unpacked but it was only when the Aron was brought to its final resting spot that the Jewish people’s home for Hashem was complete.

What is it about the Aron that it is the focal point of the people? The Ramban maintains that there were three items in the Aron; the broken Luchot, the whole Luchot and the Sefer Torah which Moshe wrote. The broken luchot represent our embrace of history, imperfect as it may be. The whole luchot symbolize our present. The Sefer Torah represents our commitment to the future.

When Shlomo HaMelech built the Beit Hamikdash he made the aron the focal point because he wanted the Jewish people to recognize that our success as a nation depends on our ability to connect to our past, present and future. So too, when we build our Jewish homes, the foundations must also be the past, present and future.