We are accused of not being serious, that we aren’t interested in working, and that we live at the public’s expense. Who invented this vicious claim, and what does it accomplish? And what does this have to do with this week’s Torah portion? This is the subject of this week’s article.
This week’s Torah portion is parshat Pekudei. The Torah tells of the erection of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) by Moses: “In the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the Mishkan was erected. Moses erected the Mishkan…” (Exodus 40:17-18).
We have a short question. First it is written: “The Mishkan was erected” which sounds as if it erected itself, while in the next verse it is written: “And Moses erected the Mishkan” which means that Moses built the Mishkan. So, was the Mishkan erected spontaneously, or did Moses build it?
Since we really want to understand this point, we need to take a close look at the Torah’s account of the erection of the Mishkan. The day after Yom Kippur, G-d commanded Moses to build the Mishkan through which he would be reconciled with Israel. For several months, the entire Nation of Israel were completely involved with the work of building the Mishkan until it’s erection on the first of Nissan. Each and every Jew brought a wholehearted donation for the holy work. The craftsmen, the artists, the embroiderers, the carpenters, the stonemasons, and all the Sages, were led by Bezalel of the tribe of Yehuda and Oholiab of the tribe of Dan. They worked hard and were completely and wholeheartedly involved in the holy assignment. All of them, without exception, were involved in the great task of building a dwelling place for G-d.
And when they finished and all the preparations were completed, to whom did they bring their work? To Moses. The Midrash (at the beginning of parshat Pekudei) relates that all the Sages and artists stood full of excitement at the magnificent work that was now ready. But they did not know how to put all the disparate parts together and turn them into a single structure as the Mishkan. Only Moses was filled with the spirit of G-d and was able to erect the Mishkan.
Here we come to the main point associated with the construction of the Mishkan: the power of will. The Torah testifies that the Mishkan was built through the open-hearted generosity and good will of each and every one of the Jews. First, it describes the contributions of the people: “Every man whose heart uplifted him came, and everyone whose spirit inspired him to give generosly brought the offering to G-d for the work of the Ohel Moed (Tent of Meeting), for all its service, and for the holy garments” (Exodus 35:22). It ends with the craftsmen: “Everyone whose heart lifted him up to take upon himself the work to do it” (Ibid., 36:2). Even so, everyone was forced to rely on Moses, since only Moses was able to erect the Mishkan. Why?
This was due to the power of the will, also called “Ha’arat HaRatzon,” or the “Illumination of the Will.” This is not something which is uniform in everyone, and it differs from person to person. Moreover, Rebbe Nachman taught that even in the person himself, there is a difference between one day and the next. There are people who have a lot of desire but are not willing to make the effort to make it happen. A young man spoke one time with Rebbe Nachman about the powerful effort he was making and mentioned the difficulties he was having: “I want to be a kosher Jew.” He bemoaned the fact that despite his desire, he was not finding success in his path. Rebbe Nachman answered him with the question: But, “Do you really want to desire it?”
They did not know how to put all the disparate parts together and turn them into a single structure as the Mishkan. Only Moses was filled with the spirit of G-d and was able to erect the Mishkan!
The true Tzaddik “really wants,” and therefore, he radiates a perfect light. With the power of his will, he illuminates to everyone around him the power of will, as Rebbe Nachman taught: This soul is the aspect of perfect will, and all those who come to this Chacham Hador, wise man of the generation, each has his own aspect of will, and the Tzaddik takes all their good desires and goes up with them and then…when the souls descend.(Likutei Moharan I, 13:3). Elsewhere, Rabbi Nachman taught: This is the reason the Moses stood between shemad, “annihilation,” and ratzon, “will,” because the gematria (numerical equivalent) of Moses (345) stands between the gematriot of shemad (344) and ratzon (346), because it is his task is to sweeten the shemad and turn it into ratzon (Likutei Moharan I, 296). Therefore, only Moses was able to erect the Mishkan. As the Midrash relates, everyone came with their crafted works but were unable to build the Mishkan. Only in Moses did the spirit of G-d pulse, and he was able to erect the Mishkan and turn it into a discrete entity, meaning that he was able to unite everyone’s desires and establish the Mishkan.
The Ha’arat HaRatzon, Illumination of the Will, shines at its most perfect on Shabbat. On Shabbat, we refrain from work and thereby testify that G-d created the world with His Will alone, without any action, and we thereby clarify also that HaKadosh Baruch Hu can provide sustenance for us with His Will alone, even without any action on our part. It is not our actions that set the world in motion. The proof comes from the Creator, who created the whole world “yeish m’ayin—everything from nothing,” without any form of action at all. We busy ourselves and work because it is our duty to do our part, but we believe that everything is completely under the influence of the Creator and His Will alone.
We can now understand the paradox of the erection of the Mishkan; on the one hand it was done by Moses, yet on the other hand, it erected itself.
On one hand, the Ha’arat HaRatzon that Moses illuminated to all Am Yisrael caused everyone to contribute to the work of the Mishkan, and it is considered that Moses erected the Mishkan. But in fact, the Mishkan was established from the Ha’arat HaRatzon of the Nation of Israel, and the Ha’arat HaRatzon is an expression of the absolute recognition that everything occurs through the Will of the Creator alone, without any form of action. And thus, it is considered as if the Mishkan erected itself.
The true Tzaddik illuminates to everyone around him the power of will!
We will now bring the words of the Midrash and see how pleasant its explanation is, as explained by Rabbi Natan.
“So many Sages were to be found there, and they all came to Moses. But they were unable to erect the Mishkan! Shlomo HaMelech said: ‘Many women have done virtuously, but you surpass them all” (Proverbs 31:29), meaning that Moses was superior to them all. ‘But you surpass them all’—Why? Because they made all the parts of the Mishkan yet didn’t know how to erect it. What did he do? Each and every one took his work and came to Moses and said: ‘Here are the planks.’ ‘Here are the bolts.’ Immediately Moses saw each part, the Holy Spirit rested upon him, and he was able to position it in its correct place in the building. And don’t think that it was Moses who actually erected it; rather, the Mishkan was erected by a miracle and built itself, as it is said: ‘The Mishkan was erected’” (Shemot Rabbah 52:4).
Rosh Chodesh Adar Beit has already arrived, and in two weeks, with G-d’s help, we will celebrate Purim. These matters are also related to the holiday of Purim, as the Talmud says that when Haman tried to persuade Achashveirosh to exterminate the Jews, he slandered them by saying that they did not contribute to humanity. (Sound familiar? Some things never change.) They don’t work, and they live at the public’s expense. Whenever they are asked to work, they answer: “Sorry, today is Shabbat,” or “Sorry, today is Passover” (Megillah 13b). This was Haman’s intention, to encourage the people to work even on Shabbat, in order to increase the amount of work they were doing, and thereby make them believe in the strength and success of their own hands—anything, in order that they shouldn’t come to attribute their success to a Higher Power, to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. However, we Jews believe in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that everything is according to His Will. We rest on Shabbat, and by virtue of that, everything happens as if it were done by itself: “the Tabernacle was erected.”
And Haman’s end is well known…
We should all have a happy, good, and blessed month of Adar!
(Based on Likutei Halachot, Shabbat 3, 8)
