Educational Insights from Parashat Pekudei — Trust and Faith: A Message for Every Parent and Educator from Moshe Rabbeinu

Our parashah is a faithful testimony to the upright manner in which Moshe Rabbeinu conducted himself. The parashah opens with an exact and detailed accounting, submitted by Moshe Rabbeinu, of the donations collected for the construction of the Mishkan. Precise figures were prepared for all the materials collected: “the gold of the offering” (29 talents and 730 shekels), “the silver of those counted of the congregation” (100 talents and 1,775 shekels), and “the copper of the offering” (70 talents and 2,400 shekels).

The Midrash asks: “And why did he make an accounting with them, when the Holy One, blessed be He, trusted him, as it says (Bamidbar 12:7), ‘לֹא כֵן עַבְדִּי מֹשֶׁה בְּכָל בֵּיתִי נֶאֱמָן הוּא’ — ‘Not so is My servant Moshe; in all My house he is faithful’?”

The Midrash answers with a difficult and chilling response, from which a lesson must be learned for all generations. These are its words:

“Rather, Moshe heard Israel speaking behind his back. And what were they saying? Look at the fat neck of the son of Amram; look at his thighs. He eats from the Jews, drinks from the Jews, and everything he has is from the Jews. And his fellow would answer him: A person who had control over the work of the Mishkan — do you not expect him to be wealthy? When Moshe heard this, he said to them: By your lives, when the Mishkan is completed, I will make an accounting with you, as it says, ‘These are the accounts of the Mishkan’” (Shemot Rabbah 51:6; Midrash Tanchuma, Parashat Pekudei, section 4).

And the question naturally arises: Is it to them that Moshe needs to respond? To empty people and scoffers?

However, it seems that Moshe Rabbeinu taught us a message for all generations about the foundations of the powers of the soul.

The Soul’s Magic Lantern

The righteous Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe zatzal writes: “We must relate with criticism and suspicion to all negative judgments that we pronounce about what is outside ourselves, for it is possible that this negativity is internal, rooted in the hidden layers of our soul, and only the soul’s magic lantern has shown it to us in what is outside our soul” (Alei Shur, pp. 162–165), see there.

In other words: a negative outlook, antagonistic reactions, and the like teach us about the negativity within our own soul, about our feeling of hatred. By contrast, a positive reaction teaches that our personality is pure and refined, full of joy and goodness, and that we can generously rejoice in another person’s success.

The Groove and the Protrusion

One morning, the tzaddik Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa went out into the street to observe the construction of a shed that was being built near his home. He looked, contemplated, sank into thought, and remained silent.

After a long while, he turned around and returned home.

His chassidim, who had accompanied him, were puzzled and later asked him what it meant. “A certain problem was troubling me,” the Rebbe answered calmly. “I did not understand how the builders place one log upon another, how they build the walls of the shed. After all, the hard protrusions of the cut-off branches create gaps between the logs, and the wall is not sealed against winds penetrating inside. Those protrusions cannot be removed.

“I watched what they were doing and understood: in the log that was placed against the beam with the protrusion, the builders drilled a groove fitted to the troublesome protrusion. In this way, all the logs were joined along their full length, without breaches and without spaces for wind and cold.

“From this I learned an important moral lesson: instead of removing the hard ‘protrusions’ — the moral flaws, the bad character traits — in my friend’s personality, I must ‘drill a groove’ in my own heart and improve my own character. I must correct my own flaws, and thereby draw close and attach the soul of every person to myself, in order to increase love for all people!”

The Ruler Is Crooked!

A person’s spiritual eye sometimes projects outward, onto another, what is taking place deep within himself.

Let us imagine placing a straight ruler in front of a lens that has a certain distortion. The image that appears will be distorted according to the distortion of the lens. However, if the owner of the lens is aware of the defect and distortion, he can make the appropriate “adjustment” and understand that before him is a straight line. If he refuses to acknowledge his flaw, he will insist that the ruler is crooked!

This lens is a person’s spiritual eye. When a person’s character traits are not straight, his crooked interpretation is met with great skepticism: Is the crookedness in the intentions of the other person, or should it be sought in his own eye?!

A person whose traits are flawed may project his flaws onto the world outside him, and thus the people among whom he lives will appear to him as people whose desires are driven by narrow interests and whose motives are impure; consequently, they cannot be trusted — while in truth, his environment may not be so flawed.

This “magic lantern” darkens a person’s world for him.

Once he discovers that his negative view of society stems from himself, he will begin to see his surroundings with different eyes, more positive ones, and he will discover in people elevated qualities from which one can learn.

Moshe Rabbeinu, as a leader bearing weighty responsibility whose goal is to transmit Torah and values to Israel, seeks the way through which he can influence the murmurers and scoffers, who presumably are themselves afflicted by the very matters about which they murmur against him, in order to straighten their path. He understands that rebuking them for their foolishness is not relevant, because they will not accept it. Therefore, he prefers to show them the accounting of the Mishkan’s expenses, including the hooks of the pillars, so that they will understand and learn what uprightness and faithfulness are, and perhaps through this they will change their ways and ascend to the straight path.

This is a deep principle that Moshe Rabbeinu taught us, and it is called — “trust.”

Moshe Rabbeinu believed that it was within his ability and power, with the help of Hashem, to change — for the better — even wicked and sinful people who were slandering him.

A Look at “Trust”

When one believes in a person, regardless of age — whether it is a small child, a young man, or even an adult — and that person believes in his own abilities, then he can soar and rise, reaching great heights.

In a study that examined the effect of teachers’ expectations of students on their achievements, teachers were told that several students in their class had high intellectual potential, even though in reality the students had been chosen at random. After eight months, the intellectual abilities of those specific children were tested in comparison with other children in the class. The children whom the teachers assumed to have high intellectual potential were not only described as the “teacher’s favorites,” but their scores on the intelligence test also rose compared to the children in the control group.

They believed in them!

Great Is Your Faith!

Every morning, when we open our eyes, we say: “Modeh ani lefanecha, Melech chai vekayam, shehechezarta bi nishmati bechemlah, rabbah emunatecha” — “I thank You, living and eternal King, for You have returned my soul to me with compassion; great is Your faith.” At first glance, it should have said “my faith,” meaning: great is the faith with which I have believed, and still believe, in Hashem, blessed be He.

However, the intent of the words is: “great is Your faith”! We are filled with gratitude to the Holy One, blessed be He, for believing in us! Every morning He gives us a new opportunity to rediscover the good within us, and He believes in us that we can fulfill our part in the rectification of the world. Therefore, He has given us another day in which, with God’s help, we can carry out our mission.

And from the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, believes in us — we, too, believe in ourselves.

The Sefat Emet teaches us that the more we believe in the good within us, the more our faith in the Holy One, blessed be He, grows stronger: “And according to the faith with which a person believes that there is Divine power within him, so it is revealed to him. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, is called ‘God of faith,’ for according to the faith within a person, so He is revealed within him” (Sefat Emet, Devarim, Shabbat Shuvah). If so, we have learned that trust leads to faith. It is a returning cycle, and everything depends on one another.

The power of trust!

Let us believe in our children and in our students, and without doubt, with the help of Hashem, blessed be He, we will see wonders.

Rabbi Michael Zecharyahu

Spiritual director at the Torat David Yeshivah Gedolah and chairman of the Legion of the King organization