Finding the Good

Parshat Terumah (Or Pekudei, Basically any Mishkan Parsha)

by Rabbi Avi Billet

In what some might call strange, but others might call obvious, there is a Midrash in which Moshe Rabbenu is not above suspicion. Here is the Yalkut Shimoni, Parshas Pekudei, 415, 

All that Moshe did he did through others. “The work of the Leviim in the hands of Itamar…” this was done as the work of the Mishkan ended. 

Moshe said "Let us do an accounting." All the people gathered, and they discovered that 1775 shekels were missing (they had been used for the hooks of the pillars). 

Moshe became frightened and thought, "Now Israel is going to accuse me of stealing!" Then he looked up and saw the Vavei Ha'amudim – the hooks of the pillars of the courtyard – whose value was 1775 shekels. And he remembered where that money had gone. 

The Midrash continues and asks, "Why did they do this auditing?" Doesn’t God say about Moshe, “לא כן עבדי משה – not so about Moshe, he is above reproach!”

The reason given is that Moshe heard people talking about him when he would return to his tent. Rabbi Yitzchak says they were praising him saying "Blessed is the one who gave birth to him. God always talks to him. He is complete with God.” And they would watch him admiringly as he passed. 

But Rabbi Chama says they were denigrating him. They would say "Look at his neck. Look at his shoulders. Look at his knees. That he eats and drinks and has anything is all on account of the Jews who support him." And the friend would respond "Don't you think someone in charge of the books of the Mishkan should be wealthy?" 

In response, Moshe said, "When we're done – we'll do an audit, so you can see I haven't taken anything." 

What boggles the mind about this Midrash is the idea that there could be people who would accuse Moshe Rabbenu of skimming off the top. MOSHE RABBENU! 

It would be one thing if the man had a care about physical things. 

Consider, however, that when the Bnei Yisrael were running around Egypt to get gold silver and clothing from the Egyptians, Moshe was looking for or arranging to take Yosef’s bones. 

When the Bnei Yisrael sat googly eyed at the Yam Suf after the splitting of the sea, Moshe Rabbenu is saying “time to move.” Rashi there notes that “he pushed them against their will, for Egypt had adorned their horses with gold and silver and precious stones, and Israel was finding them in the sea. The ‘take’ from the sea was greater than all they had taken from Egypt… so Moshe had to force them to travel, against their will.” 

Clearly this is a man who is unaffected by riches. Clearly this is a man who prefers to take the people to Marah, where they will have the experience of שם שם לו חק ומשפט ושם נסהו , where he can teach them Torah laws, where they can see things from a different perspective than the kind that seems, in his eyes, to only focus on gold, silver, and possessions. 

R. Abraham b'r Jacob Saba, who lived in Spain in 1492, then Portugal through 1497, then Morocco, then Turkey, writes in his Tzror HaMor, regarding Moshe’s pushing the people towards Midbar Shur at that time, and eventually to Marah. 

“Perhaps Bnei Yisrael did not want to go out and to travel to the wilderness. Maybe they wanted to return on the path they had come. Maybe they wanted to go to Egypt to claim that land and take vengeance against their enemies. They knew the layout of Egypt. They knew only women and children were left in Egypt. Perhaps some wanted to go back and destroy Egypt even more, to let them know of God’s might and abilities. But when Moshe saw they were doing this, essentially violating or at the very least ignoring the mission God had given them, he guided them, against their will into Midbar Shur.” 

He goes on to quote the Midrash HaNeelam, which suggests that Moshe needed to do this, to bring them in this direction – not because of the treasures at the sea – but because they had experienced greatness in seeing the Shechinah. When they sang זה א לי ואנוהו - they indicated what their life purpose was really about – resting on the glory of the Almighty, and exalting the glory of the Almighty. They were eating heavenly bread. They had all prophesied. They didn’t want to move from that spot, because they felt they had reached a pinnacle, and any move from there might be a step down. They became agreeable to go to Midbar Shur, because שור is like the way Bilaam used the word אשורנו ולא קרוב - I perceive it, but not in the near future. They wanted to see if מדבר שור was a place of continued perception of the Almighty. And so he concludes וזהו וילכו שלשת ימים במדבר ולא מצאו מים חיים 

ולא יכלו לראות יותר – they couldn’t see anything else. And that’s why when they traveled 3 days and couldn’t find water, it’s not because there wasn’t water. They were just so distraught at what they had lost that they couldn’t see the water – which the צרור המור says אין מים אלא תורה (what they were really missing was Torah, for which water is often a metaphor). 

So which one was it that caused them to miss what was in front of their eyes? The loss of the ביזת הים ? Or the going down levels from what they experienced at the sea? Unclear! 

In either case – it further proves that Moshe Rabbenu was above all this. He continued to see the Almighty. He couldn’t relate to their complaints about water. He knew God would provide. And money or material things continued to not be in his lexicon of things he wanted. 

So – how could anyone accuse him of anything related to the finances of the Mishkan, when all he is emphasizing to the people is that this Mishkan will be the place where God’s Shechinah rests? How could they accuse him when he even called off the campaign when they had enough! 

Because sadly, it is human nature. 

I once took a course with Rabbi Chaim Feuerman, Z”L, in which we had to give model lessons to our classmates, and Rabbi Feuerman encouraged us to give feedback that was positive. As he put it, וראה בטוב ירושלים . Seek out the good. Don’t say what you didn’t like about the model lesson. Say what you liked. Emphasize the points you particularly learned from and thought were excellent. It was a great lesson in seeing the positing in others’ teachings.

One student said, “I can’t learn like this! I WANT constructive criticism. I can take it! How else will I know what I did wrong?” While Rabbi Feuerman discouraged, the student insisted, and while we were kind but very critical, he didn’t seem to take it as well as he thought he could. 

There is a powerful scene in the original “Pollyanna” film in which the title character speaks the preacher who screams fire and brimstone every week. And she shares with him a quote from Abraham Lincoln, “If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will.” It transforms his character and makes for a significant change in the small town.

 It seems that some of the people, even in the time of the greatest effort of the Bnei Yisrael, to bring the Divine Presence among the people in the time of the Mishkan, wanted to seek out the bad in the efforts – even challenging Moshe Rabbenu, who I like to believe we would all agree would be above any kind of suspicion. 

Human nature – to do as Lincoln suggested – is very easy. 

To go against human nature, and to go the route of Rabbi Feuerman, of וראה בטוב ירושלים , seeking out the good, highlighting that, emphasizing that – that is where the challenge lies. 

Is everything perfect? Is anything perfect? 

We can highlight the goodness we see. We can take advantage of every opportunity to learn and grow that we find here. We can be positive. We can be uplifting. We can learn from the negativity against Moshe Rabbenu, and the negativity after the splitting of the sea that there are ways to overcome – the solution for positivity in our community lies in growing our relationship with Hashem, and leaving out the distractions that take us away from that.

When we look for the good in others, we should be blessed to truly find it.