I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all
Joni Mitchell
Today’s portion has something to teach us about clouds. And G-d’s very presence.
Cantor Robin Joseph, a graduate of the Academy for Jewish Religion, a former president of ARC and someone who has been in her pulpit for 44 years, reminded me of this song and this metaphor with her D’var Torah this week:
“Clouds are—what? The presence of God? A cover for God? A signal from God? In Parashat Pekudei, they are D) All of the above. And then some.
One cloud in particular makes a brief, but spectacular, cameo appearance as the curtain comes down on the second “act” (Book) of the Five Books of Moses. Not just any cloud, not just a cloud, but The Cloud (הֶעָנָ֖ן). As much a supporting actor in the Torah as anyone (or anything) else, I’m continually surprised not to see the word “cloud” capitalized in the English translation whenever the article “the” precedes it.
This is not the first time that The Cloud has made an appearance in the Torah.
As early as in the Book of Genesis, when God makes a covenant, a Brit, with Noah to never again destroy the earth by flood, God sets God’s “bow in the cloud.” [Gen. 9:13]
And it will not be the last. One example is later in the Book of Numbers, The Cloud will withdraw from Miriam and Aaron’s confrontation with Moses and leave Miriam stricken with white scales. [Num. 12:10] The list of Cloud sightings goes on. “The Cloud” appears close to one hundred times in the Torah; it is no “bit part.”
In this parashah, The Cloud’s entrance is grand and its powers are absolute.
It covers, it settles, it lifts (or doesn’t lift) and it rests. It is animated in a way which belies its ephemeral qualities. It accompanies God’s presence in the wilderness as an emissary of the Divine. Or is it, perhaps, Divine in and of itself?”
She goes on to connect the Torah’s understanding of cloud to the ancient Greeks:
https://ajr.edu/parashat-pekudei-5785/
Rabbi Toba Spitzer asks similar questions in her book, God is Here. “How do we foster a sense of closeness—to one another to our community, to Jewish practice—when we can’t be physically close.” She was writing this in the middle of the pandemic, when congregations pivoted to Zoom or some streaming platform. People were feeling isolated. They didn’t know how they could draw close to one another, or frankly to G-d. She comes to some of the same conclusions as Cantor Jospeh. “With the metaphor of Cloud, the biblical authors found a way to convey a sense of nearness to Something close that cannot be touched.”
She talks about fog obscuring things from view but can also make something that is usually invisible visible. She also references Joni Mitchel’s song “Both Sides Now.”
She talks about hiking and being surrounded by fog. Simon and I have hiked much. In one of those first hikes, we climbed Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. It is the first part of the United States that sees sunrise. It was a hard climb, and it seemed we wouldn’t reach the summit by sunrise. Yet there was a bank of fog on the horizon, and the sun was taking longer to crest the horizon out on the Atlantic. I famously said, “I don’t think the sun will rise.” Simon thought it was a lack of faith on my part. Of course, the sun rose. It passed through that cloud bank brilliantly and we sat on the side of the mountain singing Shacharit out of the siddur we had carefully carried up in our backpack while eating some breakfast snacks.
There is a famous quote written by some annonymous Jew on a wall in Cologne, Germany, during World War II:
“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when He is silent.
Even though he or she couldn’t see the sun or G-d, still they believed. Even if the clouds obscure the sun, still the sun is there. Even if The cloud blocks our vision of G-d, still G-d is there. That brings me hope.
I love flying. OK—I don’t like turbulence. But once you clear the clouds, looking down on the clouds is a great time to think or write. Sometimes it even leads to a spiritual experience. I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now.
I love prairie clouds. OK–I don’t like the severe weather that sometimes comes with them. Be weather aware this weekend. But when I am out for a walk, I love the large expansive spaces, the towering clouds, the play of light and dark. They keep me grounded. It can be a spiritual experience, And I have even dreamed of crafting a book of photos of those clouds. I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now.
Often times clouds seem like an obstacle for doing what we want to do. But Rebbe Nachman teachers, “One who is aware can find G-d in the midst of the obstacles themselves. There really are not any obstacles in the world at all because in the obstacles themselves is found the Holy One. Through the obstacles themselves, in fact, one might draw closer to God because that is where God is hidden. And this is the meaning for of Moses approached the thick cloud. That is the obstacle, for that is where God is.”
Many of you are encountering obstacles. Whether they are health challenges, job loses, mourning relatives and friends. Some have reflected that you are scared or anxious. Many of you have asked what you can do in this unprecedented time. Some of you wonder where is G-d. That everything seems to be slipping away. The Israelites felt that way too when God seemed hidden by The Cloud and they didn’t know which way to go, when Moses disappeared on the top of the mountain for 40 days and nights..
Last week when we were reading Torah, I said I found it a boring parsha. All those sockets. All those supplies needed to build a miskan, a sanctuary, a house for G-d, a place where that cloud, that presence could settle, and Moses could speak with G-d face to face. While I was chanting the Hebrew, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen before. Each paragraph started with the words “V’asa. And he made.” This portion , too, has a number of instances V’asu, as well as “V’asuli. And they made.” Together they build the mishkan. It took all of them. Together, even here, we are building a house for the Lord, and for us as a community. Only together can we do this work.
Then we are told “When Moses finished the work, the cloud covered the tent of Meeting the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Yet, still Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting. Only when the cloud lifted could the Israelites set out on their journey.
This parsha gives me hope. Pirke Avot teaches us, and it has now become part of my email signature, “Ours is not to finish the task, neither are we free to ignore it.” There are obstacles to creating, to repairing the world we want to live in. But if we each make something, if we each do something, if we look up at the clouds, we can find a way to not ignore the task. This afternoon, look up at the clouds and know that God is there. This evening, find one thing, just one thing you can do to make the world a better place, your community, your household, to build a place for God and you to dwell.
As we often sing:
Oh lord prepare me to be a sanctuary
pure and holy tried and true.
And in thanksgiving I’ll be a living, sanctuary for you.
Ve’asu li mikdash veshachanti betocham
Ve anachnu nevarech yah Me Atah ve Ad olam
At the very end of the parsha, we say chazak, chazak v;nitchazaik. Be strong, be strong and be strengthened. We have more of the journey to do.