פרשת ויקהל – פקודי
This week’s Parsha tells us in great detail how the Jews were commanded to construct the Mishkan. The Midrash comments on these verses that the love of God for the Jewish people is so powerful, that even great amounts of water couldn’t extinguish that passion and that even if all the nations of the world were to join together, they could not undue the love of God for Israel. The Midrash expounds by saying that even if the nations of the world were to donate massive amounts of riches for the glory of God, the Jewish people already “won Hashem’s heart” with the goat skins that they fashioned in order to cover the Mishkan and that He will always dwell with them.
R’ Chaim Kamil explains this interesting Midrash and what he feels we can get out of it. R’ Chaim begins by saying that in terms of sheer numbers, the non-Jews have us beaten by a landslide. It stands to reason therefore that they can produce a lot more wisdom and technology and resources then we can. Theoretically, they could use these massive amounts of resources to make the world a much better place and do a lot more kindness on a grand scale then Jews can. However, Hashem notifies us that the modest contribution that the “wise of heart from the Jews” can offer is far more appealing to Him then all the riches of the non-Jews, and that the goat skins which the Jews used to cover the Mishkan are where He chooses to dwell. The reason, R’ Chaim explains, is because Hashem desires to see what the intention is behind the gift. The numbers and sizes are not what Hashem wants because the actual gift is insignificant to Him. Hashem looks into the heart of the benefactor and when He sees the pure and unadulterated gift of the Jews, and their desire to draw close to Him and this alone causes Him to feel such a passionate love for the Jewish people that it can never be quenched.
I feel that we can learn two powerful lessons from this Midrash. Firstly that everything we do in life, even our every day activities such as eating and sleeping should be done with the pure intent to serve God and glorify His name. This will transform each and every one of one’s mundane activities into a bona fide Mitzva. And secondly, that even the Mitzvos which one would think that the need for pure intent is obviated, one must still be careful to have in mind that he is performing them for the sake of Heaven and this thought can elevate his Mitzvah performance to a whole other platform. R’ Chaim Shmuelevitz used to add that with ones intent, one can transform any action, even the most mundane, into a holy service of God and he would add poetically, “A man makes his actions, but his actions do not make him”.
The importance that Chazal attach to performing Mitzvos, and indeed all our actions being done for the sake of heaven, can be seen from the construction of the Holy Ark as well. We find that the Ark was made with gold on the outside and gold on the inside, and wood in the middle. The Gemorah in Yuma (72) learns out from this that any Torah scholar who doesn’t act the same way on the outside that he does on the inside is not a true Torah Scholar. In other words, a Talmid Chochom is expected to have the integrity and authenticity to not only perform good deeds externally, but rather to feel them on the inside of his heart as well. One could ask on this Gemorah, why then was there wood sandwiched in between the two layers of gold? I once heard an interesting answer to this question in the name of the Rabenu Bachaya. He says that the wood symbolizes the body. We know that our body demands its needs such as food and clothing and pleasures of the world. But a true Torah scholar does not make those needs the primary focus of his life, rather he merely fills those needs because it is his duty to do so. This why the wood was placed in the middle – to teach us that although we obviously must give our body what it needs, we don’t make such a big issue about fulfilling these needs, and spend colossal amounts of time pampering it with luxuries, rather we focus primarily on the “gold on our outside” which is our actions, and the “gold on our inside” which is the feelings in our heart.
R’ Volbe used to expound on how difficult it is to perform our Mitzvos and daily activities purely for the sake of Heaven. Normally, in the world, everybody who does anything has some sort of motivation. It is difficult for the human mind to grasp the concept of performing any action, even the most mundane one, with no hope for any personal benefit. Yet this is what the Torah demands. Theoretically, one shouldn’t even be thinking about the reward he will be getting the world to come. His sole intent should be for the sake of God. How can one possibly reach such an altruistic state?
R’ Volbe would explain that this elusive attribute is in fact instilled in us directly from our ancestor Avraham Avinu. The Gemorah in Chagigah (3) quotes the verse in Shir Hashirim (7) which says, “How beautiful are the steps taken by your shoes, oh daughters of the generous ones”. The Gemorah explains that this is referring to the Jewish people, who use their “shoes” to go up to Jerusalem three times a year as God commanded for no other reason than to draw close to their creator and fulfill His commandment. This commandment is not an easy one. It means leaving their families at home and leaving entire cities unguarded for over two weeks with their women and children home alone. However Avraham Avinu, who was known as “The Generous One” taught us this attribute. He sacrificed everything he had – including leaving his home land and wandering in the dessert – solely in order to seek out his creator. In doing this, he inculcated this Midah into all of his future progeny. We see then that Avraham’s generosity was in fact a generous spirit toward God in which all of his actions were for God’s sake. When discussing the building of the Mishkan, the Torah also uses this word, “One who is generous of heart” – meaning one who performs all of his actions “generously” for the sake of Heaven – teaching us that all of our actions, big and small, must be done with this intent.
May Hashem help us to reach this lofty plane in which our sole motivation for all our actions is to properly perform His will!