PEKUDE 1986

In the Torah portion Pekude we learn about the construction of the Tabernacle in the desert.  The last sentence of this Torah portion and of the Book of Exodus says "that the cloud of G‑d was on the mishkan during the day and there was a fire over it by night to the eyes of all the house of Israel in all their journeys."  The word "Beis Israel" or "House of Israel" is used here.  This is a strange word to use since usually we are referred to as "Bnai Israel" the "Children of Israel".  Why are we referred to here as the House of Israel?  Perhaps we can see that here we are being referred to as the House of Israel because the Jewish people had just completed the House of G‑d.  They were now, so to speak, a people with a central home, with a central sanctuary.  However, the Jewish people normally are referred to as Bnai Israel because the most important thing is not the house in which we worship G‑d but what is in our hearts, whether we have the Jewish learning and education to persevere in spite of all obstacles.
That's why it says here that "the cloud of G‑d was on the Tabernacle by day and a pillar of fire by night".  We need to realized in our days of success that we need G‑d's help, and when things go wrong we need to realize that G‑d is there to help us in the dark of night, the fire of our faith and hope should ever burn bright.  There is a paradox that rich people with everything are usually less religious than poor people.  Rich people are willing to take credit for all their success.  They do not seem to need G‑d.  Poor people, on the other hand, do not want to take credit for their poverty.  There must be a certain reason that they are poor.  People, though, can lose their money just as we can lose synagogues and houses of worship.  That's why in Judaism the most important thing is education because education nobody can take away from you.  That's why in Russia the first thing the Communists did was to ban all Jewish education.  They let the synagogues stay, closing them slowly.  Jewish learning they tried to destroy tooth and nail.  Anyone caught teaching Judaism was sent to Siberia and manuscripts and libraries were destroyed.  The most important thing in Judaism is learning, not buildings, even Tabernacles.  That's why even in this sentence which speaks about the completion of the Tabernacle in the desert, we are reminded that this is only Beis Israel.  The Bnai Israel can survive without the Beis Israel, but the Beis Israel cannot survive with the Bnai Israel.