Parshat Pekudei: The Lion of Judah [in Kyiv]

In loving memory of Yitta bat Mordechai Leib (our Hilary)

I have to admit that it's been a slow burn.

I'm not one of those people who looks at a current global situation and thinks that Gd's hand is so prevalent that the Moshiach is not only here, but he's caught the 09.15 to Euston from Terminal 5.  This is not to say that I'm about to join the Northern Line at Edgware to greet him (and besides, there are no trains at the time of writing due to the Tube strike).

However, the spectacle of the world's most powerful leader (Biden gave up his throne a while back) who is armed with 5,977 nuclear warheads going to war against a country that has zero warheads is jaw-dropping.  That its leader would not stand a chance to defend himself, were the capital in which he is residing to fall to Russian forces, is heart-breaking.  That this same leader is an assimilated Jew and former actor and comedian to boot, whose great-grandfather and three great-uncles were murdered by the Nazis is, in my eyes, simply unbelievable.

But here we are.

Who knows what will have happened to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his democratically elected Parliamentarians by the time I stand at the pulpit to read this Drasha.  Will Putin have achieved his aim of 'removing the Neo-Nazi' by (according to a senior defence official in the Pentagon) 'decapitating the Ukrainian Government'?

The penny dropped for me this morning (1st March) when I saw this cartoon by Morten Moreland in The Times.

 You can see a diminutive Putin standing on a huge pile of Russian armoury reading a document entitled 'My Demands' to an imposing and unmoveable giant Zelinskyy, into whom the said vehicles have crashed.]

The penny dropped when I watched the Ukrainian President dressed in a blue T-Shirt addressing the European Parliament via a huge TV screen.  In an impassioned speech which brought the interpreter close to tears.  He said,

"Do prove that you are with us.  Do prove that you will not let us go...Do prove that you are indeed Europeans and then life will win over death and light will win over darkness.  Nobody is going to break us.  We are strong.  We are Ukrainians".

 When he had finished.  they gave him an extended standing ovation.

The penny dropped a third time.

I realised that whether or not Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy is able to withstand the overwhelming military machine that comprises Russia's Armed Forces, his extremely courageous and stubborn refusal to submit to the enemy is completely indicative of who we, the Jewish people, are.

Exodus 38:21 These are the accounts of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of testimony, recorded at Moshe's command by the Levites, under Itamar, son of Aharon the Priest.

שמות ל״ח:כ״א  אֵ֣לֶּה פְקוּדֵ֤י הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙ מִשְׁכַּ֣ן הָעֵדֻ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר פֻּקַּ֖ד עַל־פִּ֣י מֹשֶׁ֑ה עֲבֹדַת֙ הַלְוִיִּ֔ם בְּיַד֙ אִֽיתָמָ֔ר בֶּֽן־אַהֲרֹ֖ן הַכֹּהֵֽן׃

Why would the Torah need to repeat the same story again and again?  Enough already!  We know that Betzalel and Oholiav worked together to create all of the holy items that had been commanded to them by Moshe who had received the instructions directly from Gd.  We know what the Ephod / Apron and Choshen / Breastplate were made from because we read about it in Parshat Tetzave!  And so on and so forth.

Our Sages underscore the central role of the Mishkan as a symbol of the everlasting Covenant between Gd and the Jewish people.

It mattered because what it contained, mattered.

As Rashi tells us,

“In this section are enumerated all the weights of the metals given as a contribution for the Tabernacle, of silver, gold and copper, and also there are enumerated the vessels used for every kind of service in it.”

The Israelites, as a nation built the Mishkan.  They may not have fashioned the final result but that didn't diminish their contribution.  The verb 'p-k-d' used here, refers to the concept of accountability.  It impressed upon our ancestors the concept that were, and are, accountable for everything we do.

Just as every single contribution was enumerated, so every single contributor mattered. 

Every single person counts. 

So, when I see a Jewish man standing up to tyranny, demonstrating to the world that, even if the odds are heavily stacked against him, he is refusing to give in, the metaphorical penny enters into my consciousness in a way that I cannot even describe.

He may not think that his Jewish background is particularly relevant, but to the rest of us, President Zelinskyy is the Jewish hero of our time.  He is our David to Putin's Goliath.  He is our Lion of Judah, this time ensconced in Kyiv.

I fear for him and for the people he is trying to protect but, at the same time, I hope that his nemesis will be made accountable for the firestorm and butchery he is inflicting on the people of Ukraine.  May his putrid name be wiped out from under the heavens and may Hashem protect all our brethren and their neighbours, young and old.

With Purim in our reach, we need to pray really hard for another miracle.

Shavuah Tov.