After hearing G-d suggests that He wanted to destroy the Jewish nation and start anew by building up the nation through Moshe, Moshe courageously implores G-d to forgive them.

Moshe then throws down the gauntlet declaring: ואם אין מחני נא מספרך (שמות לב לב), If not, erase me now from Your book...

G-d goes on to forgive the nation, bringing back his Divine Presence into their midst, through the agency of the Mishkan they are to construct.

The name of Moshe was indeed ‘erased’, as in the portion of Tetzaveh  that describes the garments of the Kohanim, his name does not appear even once.

The Baal HaTurim points out that to make up for that previous deficit, the Torah in this week’s portion, Pekudei, when reviewing the instructions regarding the garments and other details in the Mishkan, it reiterates eighteen times the sentiment that they carried out each detail, כאשר צוה ד' את משה, as G-d had commanded Moshe, mentioning his name multiple times.

The Ozharover Rebbe in his masterpiece, Be’er Moshe, writes that this correspondence is indicated in the phrase, מחני נא, erase me now. This was a request by Moshe for his spiritual death if the people will not be forgiven. The same letters can be reconstructed to spell out the expression נאמן חי, my trusted one lives! It was thus specifically the number of ‘eighteen’ times his name is repeated here, the numerical equivalent of חי, that was to counteract the earlier omission and its implications.

The Baal HaTurim adds a fascinating claim. These eighteen references represent the Shemonah Esrei, the eighteen blessings that comprise the Amidah, the thrice daily prayer we recite. In fact the total number of words within these eighteen expressions, one hundred and thirteen, parallels the number of words we incorporate in the end blessings of each of these eighteen blessings.

The Mishkan and its centering around the Ark and the Tablets we received at Mount Sinai, represents the full gamut of our obligation to G-d. Why is it then that it is specifically the central prayer of the Amidah, that is alluded to here?

If one counts carefully, one will observe that there is actually a nineteenth mention of ‘as G-d had commanded Moshe’ in the second verse of our portion where it attests to the great artisan, Betzalel, who performed exactly as G-d commanded him to. The Baal HaTurim clarifies by adding that the ‘count’ of eighteen, first begins from the very next verse where it makes mention of Betzalel’s partner, Ohaliav ben Achisamach, of the tribe of Dan. From there until the end of the portion there are eighteen references.

What is it about Ohaliav specifically that prods this allusion, as opposed to Betzalel that is excluded from the calculation?

Rashi explains that Moshe wanted his name erased ‘so that it shall not be said that he was unworthy of requesting mercy on their behalf’. The great and saintly Reb Aharon HaGodol of Karlin asks how is it that Moshe, the humblest of all men who ever lived, would be concerned that people would think him unworthy? Was he prideful? Certainly not! He therefore interprets Rashi from the opposite angle. It is precisely Moshe, who indeed sensed that he was undeserving of any merit that is making this request. What he worried about was that people would be misled to believe that one who has no ‘credits’ is unable to pray and beseech G-d for one’s needs, and that G-d won’t respond to one’s prayers if they are spiritually bankrupt.

Moshe wanted all people to know that despite any personal failure, G-d listens intently and desires our prayers nevertheless. And He responds and dispenses mercy even when we are lacking.

Moshe desired his legacy be deleted if people would ever be left with the tainted notion that the undeserving are incapable of cleaving to G-d in prayer as well.

In a remarkable parallel, this expression of Moshe seems almost identical to that which our Matriarch, Rachel evinced many years earlier.

Upon observing her inability to conceive, Rachel turns to Yaakov and painfully declares that he ‘give her children’, ואם אין מתה אנכי (בראשית ל ב), Otherwise I am dead. Yaakov is upset and tells her that it is G-d who gives children not he. Rashi enlightens by explaining that Rachel was asking of Yaakov to pray on her behalf and in his response Yaakov points out to her that he is not lacking as he has already fathered children and it is obviously her deficiency.

Can’t one pray for someone else even if they are privileged to be blessed?

Perhaps it is this very issue that is at hand. Yaakov knew that of course he could intercede on her behalf and perhaps succeed. But he also knew and was aware that he had merit as indicated in the birth of his other children. He was revealing to Rachel, that she was destined to become the paradigm Matriarch who would become the symbol for eternity to never lose hope, to always cry out for our children, merit or no merit, one can place one’s heartfelt pleas before a loving Father who will respond with unconditional love to all that truly seek Him. It was she who needed to throw herself without any added merit, just her sincere and tearful prayers, to create this eternal bond and relationship with G-d. 

Rachel knew that it was the efficacy of prayer that was at stake and she rightfully declares, as her descendant Moshe echoed generations later, that if prayers aren’t answered, than she would rather die a spiritual death, lest people be misled to think that one can only pray equipped with having accrued certain merit. Yaakov affirmed her correct attitude,  but fine-tuned  it with even greater emphasis, conveying that she  would have to enter alone, bereft of any extra credit he could offer, to prove to her children that simply ‘crying’ from the depths of one’s heart alone can affect G-d’s fatherly mercy. One need not rely on the certitude of merit to bring about salvation.

She brings into the world two children by offering her maidservant Bilhah to Yaakov, who begets Dan and Naftali. Rachel calls the first Dan to indicate that G-d has judged her favorably and ‘has heard my voice’. The second is named Naftali, as the Targum Unkelos teaches that נפתלי  has embedded in it the letters of תפלה, with Rachel expressing ‘requests beloved to Him were accepted on my behalf, and I was answered like my sister’.

When we stand before G-d three times a day we conjure the merit of Rachel who taught us that we can present ourselves, as is, flaws and all, before G-d in sincere prayer that reverberated in Moshe’s mighty plea before G-d to give them another chance.

There are two partners in the building of the Mishkan, Betzalel who descends of royalty, the tribe of Yehuda, and Ohaliav a descendant of Dan, the progeny of a simple maidservant. The tribe of Dan is called ירוד בשבטים, the lowliest of all tribes. There were those among them that carried idols even as they went across the split sea. Idolatry was prevalent in their tribe and many of them were cast out of the Clouds of Glory. Nevertheless they had an extraordinary capacity to overcome these deficiencies. Nevertheless they and the tribe of Yehuda alone are symbolized in their blessings as lions. The motto they live by as expressed by Yakkov in his blessing to them is ‘For Your salvation I long for, G-d’. 

This ability to remaining cognizant of the protective love of our Father in Heaven that never wanes despite our deficiencies, that prods us to yearn for His salvation, is embodied in the very name אהליאב: the אהל, the tent, אבי, of my father. That sense of closeness despite our failings, is what empowers us to reach out with the eternal hope for His assistance, never falling into despondency, hopeful that we will one day achieve our personal goals despite our failures.

There is a tradition that the twelve months of the year each correspond to one of the twelve tribes. Who does the thirteenth month in a leap year match with? It is alleged that it is the month dedicated to all those who were cast out, due to their sins, from the Clouds of Glory and exposed to the enemy Amalek who exploited them.(אמונת עתיך)

They too were brought back into the fold through the efforts of the tribe of Dan who were called the מאסף לכל המחנות, ‘who gathered up the stragglers and lost soul’, as they traveled last in the camp.

They possessed the talent to revive their hopes despite their lapses, and retrieve their lost souls.

We pray for the day when (נדחי ישראל יכנס (תהלים קמז ב, the outcasts of Israel He will gather in.

The word for outcasts is נדחי , possessing the same letters as דן חי, Dan lives!

It is this power invested within them by Rachel that never allows that inner spark to ever die out.

It is in the power of חי, eighteen, the Amidah with its eighteen core blessings, that permits us to reconnect with G-d no matter where or how far we have fallen.

May we reach out in this propitious month in earnest prayer to gain the Divine assistance we so desperately need to return fully to His embrace.

באהבה,

צבי טייכמאן