Parshas Vayakhel 5775
In this week’s parsha Moshe tells Klal Yisrael that Hashem chose Betzalel to construct the Mishkan. The verse refers to him as “Betzalel Ben Uri Ben Chur of the Tribe of Yehuda.” Many important personages in the Torah are mentioned together with the name of their father and tribe, but throughout the Chumash, only Betzalel is mentioned consistently together with the name of both his father and grandfather (when his lineage is mentioned). Why?
The Midrash (Yalkut 411) explains that because Chur, Betzalel’s grandfather, was moser nefesh for Klal Yisrael in trying to prevent the sin of the Golden Calf, Hashem rewarded hismesirus nefesh by giving Klal Yisrael a Mishkan built by Chur’s descendant.
Meaning, the entire Mishkan and its ability to effect atonement for Klal Yisrael is in merit of Chur’s mesirus nefesh.
The Gemara (Brachos 20a) states similarly how mesirus nefesh can directly affect Hashem’s hanhaga (His way of dealing with Klal Yisrael): Rav Papa asked Abaye, why did the earlier generations merit miracles while we do not? It can’t be because of their learning, because in the times of Rabbi Yehuda they learned only Nezikin while we learn all six sedarim of the Mishna. … And yet in years of drought, all Rabbi Yehuda had to do was remove one shoe (a symbolic expression of distress) and rain began pouring down, whereas we daven with all our might and not a drop of rain falls!
Explained Abaye: The earlier generations were moser nefesh for kiddush Hashem, whereas we are not. Therefore, we do not merit the special hanhaga that they did. If a person ismoser nefesh, going beyond his normal kochos, Hashem also conducts Himself toward him in an exceptional manner.
Chur merited this exceptional hanhaga of Hashem through being moser nefesh for Klal Yisrael. He went beyond his normal capabilities, and Hashem therefore set up a miraculous mechanism called the Mishkan, capable of doing the impossible, erasing Klal Yisrael’s sins.
Rav Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman adds a new dimension to this lesson. From a human perspective, one could say that Chur’s mesirus nefesh was in vain, chalila. His effort to prevent the sin of the Golden Calf failed. He was killed by the mob and they went ahead and sinned. What did he accomplish? It seems to the naïve observer that nothing positive resulted from his heroic behavior. The Midrash therefore teaches us that Chur’s efforts were in fact successful. While some time passed before this became apparent, Klal Yisrael eventually received the Mishkan and its power of atonement thanks to Chur.
This lesson applies in our times as well. We too can observe people who are moser nefeshfor some righteous cause or another, and it may seem from our vantage point that they are getting nowhere. The lesson of Chur is that no efforts in mesirus nefesh are ever in vain. Rav Shimon Green used to tell bachurim that “our grandparents and great-grandparents must have done some great act of mesirus nefesh. Without that zechus none of us would be here today learning Torah in Eretz Yisrael.”
Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein as well asks how it is that Klal Yisrael is able to live and thrive here in Eretz Yisrael amid open miracles? Could it be that our generation is better than those that preceded it, who were not zoche to such an open hanhaga of miracles from Hashem? Certainly not, only Hashem has His timetable, and we are the ones who are reaping the benefits of the merits that previous generations accrued with their mesirus nefesh.
Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz adds: Even if we do not feel that we are being moser nefesh to a degree that Hashem will change teva (the natural order of the world) for us; still, within the framework of teva a person who puts in all of his kochos automatically merits abilities that transcend what he possesses naturally. Just like we see at times of danger, that an average person is suddenly capable of lifting up even a car to save a life, so too when any Jew puts all of his kochos into his avodas Hashem, he brings out hidden kochos that go far beyond his natural limitations.
As proof of this Rav Shmuelevitz cites Rashi’s comment (Bereishis 29:10) that when Yaakov Avinu came to Charan and found shepherds gathering together to remove the heavy stone that covered the well, Yaakov removed the stone himself effortlessly, “to make known that he had great strength.” Rav Shmuelevitz asks rhetorically: Does this mean that Yaakov was a naturally muscular man? Certainly not, for the prayer for rain states: “For the sake of the one who put all of his heart into removing the stone from the well of water, do not withhold water.” No mention is made about Yaakov’s physical strength, only that he removed the stone because he “put all his heart into it,” meaning Yaakov applied all of his kochos. When a person puts all of his kochos into something, he literally can become a gibur.
Once, an elderly talmid chacham came to Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer and presented him with “my final chiddushei Torah.” He then explained that he had recently become blind, and could no longer write. The man added that his doctors said that his condition of blindness had actually set in ten years earlier, only he had not noticed any difference until now!
Rav Meltzer inquired as to what had happened and learned that until very recently, this man had always learned Gemara with great mesirus nefesh. He maintained a very demanding, exacting level of iyun, but had recently decided to take things easier, reciting Gemaros by heart and not analyzing them so deeply. Once he stopped straining himself, his eyes stopped working, whereas for ten years, his mesirus nefesh was what had granted him the ability to see.
May we be moser nefesh for Torah and merit exceptional kochos!
Exciting news! Rabbi Krieger will soon be publishing a sefer featuring the “best” of the weekly Parsha sheet. If you would like to share in this celebration, please go to www.bircas.org for further details.