Parshat P’kudei

In parshat P’kudei, the Torah recounts all of the materials that went into the building of the mishkan (tabernacle). Among the many parts of the mishkan were 100 socket-joints, each socket (“eden”) consisting of a talent of silver.

Rabbi Yitzhak Meir of Ger taught that the socket-joints of the mishkan represent the blessings that we say each day to thank God for our gifts. He noted that the word “eden (socket)” is spelled the same as the word “Adon (Lord)” – one of God’s names. Moreover, just as we cast 100 silver sockets for the mishkan, we are traditionally required to say 100 blessings thanking God each day.

In other words, our blessings, our acknowledgments of God’s gifts, are the “socket-joints” that hold our spiritual life together. The discipline of cultivating gratitude makes spiritual life – and spiritual community – possible, by joining us to one another and to God.