Doing Our Part So God Does the Rest of Our Part

Parshat (Eileh) Fekudei 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

 As news emerges from the Ukraine region and as we see our brothers and sisters fleeing for safety, it is hard to imagine that this is real. It is certainly a familiar playbook we have seen before, but we just don’t imagine it taking place in our “modern” and “civilized” and “post-war” world. 

It certainly is a different world for the Jewish people than in other times in our history. It doesn’t seem that Jews are specifically being targeted, and, of course, there is a Jewish state which can absorb Jews who need to find a home to replace their own, certainly temporarily or even if permanently. All that is encouraging, and yet the reality many people there are facing gives us 3 options. 

1. Donate to a cause that will help with the evacuation expenses, procuring food and water, and helping our fellow Jews get to a safe place 

2. Pray for their safety and for the end to the unrest 

3. Lobby and be politically active to push the right people to do the right things 

For most of us, the first two items are certainly much easier. Thankfully there are many people on all sides who are on board with our shared goals of ending fighting, bombing, bloodshed, which can mean that we can focus on the first two items – trusting that larger umbrella organizations such as OU, Agudah, Aish, etc. will utilize the funds and donations in a manner which is most productive. 

May Hashem save and protect the innocent, punish the guilty, and see all through to a conclusion that brings a peaceful and safe existence for all – soldiers and civilians alike. לא ישא גוי אל גוי חרב ולא ילמדו עוד מלחמה. 

 Rashi tells us at the end of chapter 39 that when all the work for the Mishkan was completed and everything had been brought before Moshe for the final assembly, when Moshe blessed the people (39:43) he said, “May it be [His] will that the divine presence (Shechinah) should rest in that which your hands have made.” This was followed by the verse at the end of Tehillim 90 (the one which begins with the words תפילה למשה) 

17And may the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us, and the work of our hands establish for us, and the work of our hands establish it. יזוִיהִ֚י נֹ֨עַם | אֲ-דֹנָ֥י אֱ-לֹק֗ינוּ עָ֫לֵ֥ינוּ וּמַֽעֲשֵׂ֣ה יָ֖דֵינוּ כּֽוֹנְנָ֣ה עָלֵ֑ינוּ וּמַֽ֘עֲשֵׂ֥ה יָ֜דֵ֗ינוּ כּֽוֹנְנֵֽהוּ: 

Of course, this sentiment is one which God had established at the very beginning of the instructions for the Mishkan when He declared ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם – and you/they shall make for Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell in them. 

 Which leads to a question of semantics in the text. Earlier in chapter 39, we see the following statement at the end of 39:32: “וַֽיַּעֲשׂוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל כְּ֠כֹל אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֧ה יְקֹוָ֛ק אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֖ה כֵּ֥ן עָשֽׂוּ” – the children of Israel did all that God commanded Moshe, so they did. &&&&&&& Why does the Torah tell us twice – in the same verse! – that they did this work? 

Rabbi Shternbuch explained that there are two kinds of instructions that Moshe received. The first was the technical information, the blueprint for how each item was to be made, the dimensions, the necessary craftsmanship needed for the different tasks, the kinds of accounting needed, etc. The second consisted of all the proper kavvanot, intentions and thought processes required to bring about the desired result, which was to cause the Divine Presence, in the form of the Shechina, to enter the Mishkan. 

 The first instruction was readily shared and relatively easy to follow in the sense that anyone who understands craftsmanship or building can follow technical instructions. But Moshe wasn’t so easily giving over the proper intentions people should have, partly because it isn’t as easy to give over, and partly because intentions are very personal and can not easily be conveyed or made uniform across all those working on a project. 

 And so the verse is telling us that through their following the technical side of construction, their kavvanah ended up being what God had instructed to Moshe. Or, as Rav Shternbuch put it, “Through their combining the proper kavvanot with those of Moshe’s, the work was completed, and they were thus ready for the divine presence to fill the space.” 

We don’t always know how things will work out. In whatever efforts we make we hope for Divine assistance to carry us the rest of the way. 

 There are people who put much investment in a simcha, and when it’s over wonder where the time went and if the cost was worth it. Others focus on making it a meaningful, spiritual and educational experience, and walk away so elated by what was achieved that they can only point to God carrying them to places they never could have imagined.

 The same is true for all efforts. Davening can be rote and often (sadly) meaningless, or a person can make the effort to bring God in only to find God standing next to the person throughout the experience. Some rely on doctors for all medical advice and care. Others know that doctors are merely tools of the Almighty, and they include Tefillah and Tz’akah as part of the regimen of the healing. When we give tzedakah, we know our money is going to a destination. We trust that our efforts will be taken up by God so they be directed in the manner most appropriate. 

And the same holds true for outcomes in war and the uncertainty that accompanies it. We can do whatever we think is in our power to do, but what makes for the outcomes that are most fulfilling are when we include the thought that God is in charge and it is His will which will decide what will eventually happen, so we communicate Him to do the right thing for all. 

For the Bnei Yisrael, they did what Moshe told them, and they also did what Moshe neglected to tell them, intuiting that they needed Divine assistance beyond the gifts of craftsmanship they had been given by God. And it worked out in the end, because the blessing Moshe gave them came true, as demonstrated at the end of the parsha when the Divine Presence descended and filled the Mishkan. 

May we merit to see the Divine Presence guiding the world in the right direction, as we continue to do our part to get us in the most deserving space we can be in, for ourselves and for all of Acheinu Kol Beis Yisrael.