The Reckoning

A few days ago, we read the last parsha of Exodus, Pekudei.

The rabbi said “Pekudei” means “numbers” or “accounting” and concerned Moshe’s tabulation of all the gold and silver donated for the building of the Tabernacle and its vessels. By publicly informing everyone how the valuables were used, he reassured the restive, newly freed slaves that they were applied for the benefit of the community and not the individual leaders.

All of a sudden, it hit me.

Another one of those “current events track the parsha” things.

What did “Pekudei” tell us?

It told us the story of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) colleagues who have been investigating various federal departments including the IRS, FEMA, the Treasury and others to track how the tax dollars were spent in an effort, as they have said, to save the United States from bankruptcy.

Like Moses, Musk and DOGE aim for financial transparency. Tax dollars saved and recaptured are listed on its website.

Also like Moses, who gathered “wise hearted men” to assist him in the building of the Tabernacle, Musk’s associates include men of exemplary success who left their careers and work without compensation.

The sages understood.

“Emphasis of financial propriety in communal funds is echoed in the Talmud, which instructs that a person in charge of public fund must be beyond reproach.” (Chabad.org)

It seems that people who hear and study torah have had access to intellectual and spiritual internet long before its discovery.