Building a House
by Tom Moniz

Shabat Shalom fellow students of Torah.

I cannot say for sure whether this parallels our Father's "house building" or not, but let me share a little from my personal life.

We lost our Florida room in the hurricanes, so we were left with a cement slab in front of our mobile home. We decided to re-build upon it, although build it more like a wood frame home instead of a flimsy Florida room. Something that would not be blown away if another hurricane hit.

First I had to design it, this took the majority of the time, it took months of drawing to determine fits, structural integrity, and materials needed to construct this addition.

Then I purchased the bulk of the materials, and cut and assembled the frames in sections. I framed the walls and rafters in sections which were small enough for me to move and locate into position myself, if I had to do it myself. I also pre-cut the plywood roof sheathing and most of the wall sheathing.

Once I had the walls and rafter assemblies framed, I was ready to assemble them. The order of assembly was now the most critical thing, and throughout the desigining process and after seeing the constructed framings I was continually thinking of the different problems that might be encountered while assembling it and just how important the order of assembling was.

I could have done the project myself, for that was in my mind when I designed the sections, although I was blessed to have a few people who were willing to help. Having people to help made it much easier to do, and we were able to assemble the frames and rafters, and even nail the plywood sheathing on the roof and walls all in one day. Without people to help, I would have considered getting just the framing and rafters up in one day to be a very successful day's work for me. Having people to help was a tremendous blessing though and made things go much quicker.

One of the things I found interesting was how my role in the building was much like a supervisor. Much of the assembly was fairly obvious how it went together, so I told them the fairly obvious things that needed to be done, and while they were doing it, I would be doing some of the less obvious things that needed to be done. They would be nailing away, while I would be gathering other sections, and putting them together. They knew enough to do what they were doing, although they didn't have the overall picture of the finished product that I had, and there were some things that I had to do myself, for it would have taken too long to explain it to them for them to do it. For example, there were some smaller assemblies that were unclear what needed to be done with them,  where they were to fit, and when they were to be installed. It was more efficient for me to simply do them myself, at the correct times during the construction of the main assemblies. Fact is, there was still plenty of details to finish also, which didn't get done completely until a few weeks later. Now all we need to do is paint. Maybe I can be supervisor again and have Debi do the painting? :-)

I do believe there are parallels here with what Father is doing. I see Him building a House, and people like us as the workers, working seemingly on a "need to know" basis. He seems to have us doing the more obvious things, while He is gathering and working on the less obvious things, things that are more difficult to understand, for He, and seemingly only He, has the full picture in His head. He knows the outcome He desires, He sees the finished product in His mind, and it is for us to continue doing the obvious, what is in front of us. He is more than capable of doing the rest :-)

Let me now thank Bob Sipsky, Bob Pobiak, and Ian Jones for the help they so willingly gave me. Let me also thank my wonderful wife Debi, my father, and others who gave me good advice and told me of some of the problems that might arise. Without these wonderful people, it would have been much more difficult for me to have had to do all the work on my own.


So, with this said, let me now try to initiate a discussion. In Shemowt (Exodus) we are told the Hebrews each gave an equal amount when they were counted. I want to focus on the usage of the Hebrew word kaphar (spelled kaf, pey, reysh) and how the half shekel could provide this kaphar for their nephesh. I am using the KJV, and the Strongs numbers for KPhR:


Ex 30:11 And YHWH spake unto Moshe, saying,
12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Y'shral after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom <03724> for his soul unto YHWH, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of YHWH.
14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto YHWH.
15 THE RICH SHALL NOT GIVE MORE, AND THE POOR SHALL NOT GIVE LESS than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto YHWH, to make an atonement <03722> for your souls.
16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Y'shral, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Y'shral before YHWH, to make an atonement <03722> for your souls.


To be perfectly honest, I don't know what the English word "atonement" means, nor do I consider it an accurate translation of the Hebrew word kaphar. Kaphar, as it is used in Torah, suggest to me the idea of a permanent, protective plating or covering. The first usage is key:


Ge 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch <03722> it within and without with pitch <03724>.


The above sounds to me like some kind of tar or sealer that sealed the wood from water penetration. And the cover (kapharat) for the coffer is also based on this word kaphar:


Ex 25:21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat <03727> above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give the


So, my question is, how does putting forth a half shekel provide this type of permanent, unpenetrable shelter for our nephesh? I brought this question up last Shabat during our Torah studies and the answers I was given were quite interesting.

First there is the warning of a stroke/striking (translated plague) that might come among them. What stroke? Could the stroke have something to do with their arguing amongst themselves? Was it a striking they would bring upon themselves or a striking from YHWH?

Have you ever been in a church where there are labels on items? Labels such as "this altar dedicated by the most honorable Joe Shmoe". Could it be this kind of thing that is being warned of here? And what about one who would claim "I saved 10 souls today"? I am sure you have heard this kind of stuff before.

Does the usage of the word kaphar suggest the idea of a sort of shield that would shelter the Hebrews from considering someone of more value than another, making them all equals, keeping them from lifting up faces?

I am not sure just how related this is with my little story at the beginning, but these are the things I would like to discuss so that we all may gain a better understanding of just what it is being spoken of there in Shemowt 30, and maybe even gain a better understanding of just what it is that the Hebrew word kaphar truely means. May our Father YHWH please guide our discussion and not be offended by mine or any of our words.