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Vayakhel-Pekudei: An Accounting of Faith · A Thought for the Week

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to a Thought for the Week, a Torah in
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  Speaker 1: Motion podcast. I'm Jake Hellman, founding director of Torah in Motion,
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  Speaker 1: and it's a pleasure to have you here with us.
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  Speaker 1: This week's podcast is sponsored by Jeff Weiss in loving
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  Speaker 1: memory of his parents Benjamin and Judith Weiss, Binyamin Ben
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  Speaker 1: Kraim Zau and Raye Vitel bat Yakutiel, Jehudazao, Jiznam Baruch.
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  Speaker 1: Many of you may know that I worked as an
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  Speaker 1: accountant for ten years before moving full time into the
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  Speaker 1: field of Jewish education. And while it's been a while
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  Speaker 1: since I've done an audit, it's wonderful every year to
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  Speaker 1: read about the first auditing engagement, maybe in all of history,
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  Speaker 1: but first auditing engagement in the tour, which, of of course,
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  Speaker 1: is in this week's Parsha in Pikuda, the second of
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  Speaker 1: the two partia. If we read this week and Pikude
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  Speaker 1: can be translated to mean and that's the context. As
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  Speaker 1: an accounting, it's an accounting given by Mosha, really an
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  Speaker 1: audit and in many ways a detailed accounting of all
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  Speaker 1: the money raised for the construction of the Mishiguan and
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  Speaker 1: how it was spent and how it was properly allocated.
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  Speaker 1: The meat Rush explains that there really should be no
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  Speaker 1: need for this. After all, Moshrabeno, I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the most honest people commanded by God to Buildemischikhan and
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  Speaker 1: all this helpers. But the Medrush, says the late sunay Yisrael,
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  Speaker 1: the jokers, the scoffers of Israel would say, not directly,
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  Speaker 1: but they would imply, you know, Moshe got a little
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  Speaker 1: too wealthy. He's personally benefiting from all the Cuno funds.
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  Speaker 1: He's paid too much. You know, he's some off the top.
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  Speaker 1: And so Moshe said, okay, I will show you. I
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  Speaker 1: will account for every penny or shechekel that came in
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  Speaker 1: and how it was spent. In many ways, this is
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  Speaker 1: the proper approach to take the mishnah in Scalem. It's unfortunate,
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  Speaker 1: but it's it's still proper. Uh. The mishnah in Scalem
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  Speaker 1: it detracted. That deals with the half shakel That's that's
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  Speaker 1: how they built the Michigan. It says that the people
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  Speaker 1: who who ain't had to rain either the one entering
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  Speaker 1: to allocate the funds from the temple or even to
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  Speaker 1: donate the funds. They can't go in with anything where
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  Speaker 1: they could hide money, pockets, hems on their you know, clothing, amulet,
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  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of things, a shoe, socks, anywhere where
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  Speaker 1: they could hide money. They're not allowed to go in
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  Speaker 1: because maybe they'll become poor and people gonna say, ah,
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  Speaker 1: they're poor because they stole money they send. Or maybe
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  Speaker 1: they'll become rich and people say, you know, they're rich
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  Speaker 1: because they stole money. It's pretty amazing. The mission says,
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  Speaker 1: let's say that they have that person has to show
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  Speaker 1: integrity to human beings. He has to look honest, not
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  Speaker 1: only be honest, and the same way has to be
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  Speaker 1: honest for God. And that's a verse in the Taurrah
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  Speaker 1: said in the context of they got in Bene Rubin
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  Speaker 1: when they were discussing with Mosha where they were going
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  Speaker 1: to live v. Tim Nikish. So you should be cleaned
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  Speaker 1: from God but also from the Jewish people. Then the
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  Speaker 1: mission also quotes a Pasu mischling you have to find
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  Speaker 1: goodness in the eyes of man and God. It's very interesting.
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  Speaker 1: You know, no matter what happened, if they become rich
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  Speaker 1: or they become poor, you know they're going to accuse
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  Speaker 1: you of dishonesty. That's that's the way life works. You
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  Speaker 1: can't win those the one who accuse you will will
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  Speaker 1: do so. Nonetheless, the mission the teachers, we have to
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  Speaker 1: be concerned and we must demonstrate our honesty clearly, very clearly.
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  Speaker 1: The meat Rush, as it introduces this idea, explains that
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  Speaker 1: as a mention, there should be no need for Mosha
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  Speaker 1: to make an accounting, and they quote the verse to them,
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  Speaker 1: I don't really need a verse to tell me this.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously Mosha is honest, but they quote the verse. The
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  Speaker 1: meat Rush quotes the verse Lokan have the Mooshaman who
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  Speaker 1: Mosha is different. Mosha is the most am the most honest,
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  Speaker 1: trustworthy person you can find. That's the statement that God
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  Speaker 1: made after Miriam had criticized Mosha. And so, but our
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  Speaker 1: meat Rush is using that verse is used in Amman,
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  Speaker 1: which there's not talking about money at all, but that
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  Speaker 1: meatsh talking about how we deal with money, because we
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  Speaker 1: know you want to know how trustworthy a person is,
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  Speaker 1: see how they deal with their money. Now, the word
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  Speaker 1: nam man, it means trustworthy, of means faithful. It's also
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  Speaker 1: faith of faith in God. Because it's not only to
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  Speaker 1: see how honest the person is. I look how they
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  Speaker 1: deal with their money, their honesty, But you want to
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  Speaker 1: see the levels of one faith, how faithful, how much
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  Speaker 1: a person believes in God. You also do that through
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  Speaker 1: looking how they deal with their money, their commercial dealings,
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  Speaker 1: their honesty or lack thereof. Unfortunately, maybe that's what the
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  Speaker 1: talmud says that at one hundred and twenty, Talmudik passes
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  Speaker 1: the questions that God will ask us on the final
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  Speaker 1: exam when we appear before the heavenly court, Nuna, were
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  Speaker 1: your business dealings done munnah in faith? And often commented,
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  Speaker 1: you know, if the time with the rabbis were just
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  Speaker 1: interested in saying were you honest in business, it would
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  Speaker 1: have used other words. It would have used yo share
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  Speaker 1: straight honesty, yo share yeshrut, you know, or the word
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  Speaker 1: even kanine. That's the word Yosefe used when he accused
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  Speaker 1: the brothers of being spies, and the brothers we saw, no,
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  Speaker 1: we're not kanine kanine honest. But the fact that we
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  Speaker 1: use the word muna indicates that it's our business dealings
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  Speaker 1: indicate if we have faith in God. One who cheats
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  Speaker 1: basically denies the Talmudich teaching that our economic success or
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  Speaker 1: lack thereof, is determined by God. Between Russia, Shan and
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  Speaker 1: yam Kipur. We all know that. You know, for every
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  Speaker 1: hard working, bright person out there who makes it big
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  Speaker 1: in the business world, so to speak, there are ten
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  Speaker 1: other people or fifty other people who are just as smart,
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  Speaker 1: who work just as hard, and they're not as successful.
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  Speaker 1: And we know so much of a person's success is
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  Speaker 1: out of our control. Just recently, you know, look around
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  Speaker 1: a war, how that affects the economy, and they're always
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  Speaker 1: winners too, I mean economically the winners and losers, a pandemic, tariffs,
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  Speaker 1: So much of what impact on your successes out of
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  Speaker 1: your control. And obviously for believing you that's God who
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  Speaker 1: determines the ideas, but and also depend on our work
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  Speaker 1: and will determine how successful we're going to be. So
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  Speaker 1: one who cheats is cheating God, but showing that they
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  Speaker 1: don't fully believe in God. It's hard. I often say,
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  Speaker 1: belief in God is a heart meets by Yeah, it's easy,
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  Speaker 1: I believe in God. But to truly believe in God
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  Speaker 1: a muna that's really really hard. And I don't know
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  Speaker 1: about you, but me we're all the people I know
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  Speaker 1: are all a little bit atheists. It's very hard to
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  Speaker 1: be full believing, but that's that's we've got to try
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  Speaker 1: to do. I've often quoted the Talmudic passage Revokine and
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  Speaker 1: Zakai telling his students on his deathbed, you should fear
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  Speaker 1: God as much as you fear man. That was his
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  Speaker 1: parting message. And their students were so disappointed and so simple,
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  Speaker 1: and they said, hallifa i, if only, if only you
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  Speaker 1: fear God as much as if you're mad. When the
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  Speaker 1: person wants to sin, they look around who's looking. They
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  Speaker 1: don't look upstairs, and Yokeman's actually is talking to the
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  Speaker 1: greatest rabbis of the time, that people who laid the
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  Speaker 1: foundation for amishna. It's hard, but that's why we have
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  Speaker 1: to work on it. The story of the Exodus, the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Exodus say for Schmod no one in English
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  Speaker 1: as Exodus, which is the theme of the book, ends
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  Speaker 1: with the dedication of the Mishkan. The reason the story
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  Speaker 1: of the mishkan is in Schmod is because it's part
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  Speaker 1: of the Exodus story. It's the culmination of the Exodus,
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  Speaker 1: and the mishkan was dedicated on the first of Nissan.
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  Speaker 1: That's not a coincidence. It's exactly one year to the
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  Speaker 1: date that the exodus began. It was on the first
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  Speaker 1: of Nissan, a year earlier that got to emotion Aaron
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  Speaker 1: to begin preparing the people for the actual physical exodus
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  Speaker 1: in two weeks time. And all the laws pess off,
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  Speaker 1: including tive Matsa, were given at that time. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: if you know what, what? Why did God do all this?
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  Speaker 1: Why I have such a long process exodus, ten plagues
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  Speaker 1: and everything. So let's take a look what the Hummah
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  Speaker 1: tells us. This is a verse in Parashat Kadoshi by
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  Speaker 1: Kra nineteen where the Tora tells us MUDs Nate said,
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  Speaker 1: of night said Aphet said, keen sadek, you get the
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  Speaker 1: ideat sedek justice, righteousness, honesty is important. You should have
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  Speaker 1: honest weights and honest skills, and honest dry measures and
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  Speaker 1: honest liquid measures. Honest, honest, honest everything you do. And
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  Speaker 1: the verse continues the same verse Ani adanoilo hekama sure,
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  Speaker 1: I'm the Lord your God who took vla like sounds,
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  Speaker 1: taking the tank ammuntments. What in the world is the
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  Speaker 1: connection between honest weights and leaving Egypt. So Rashi just
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  Speaker 1: says three words, al Manat King. For this purpose, God
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  Speaker 1: took us out of Egypt. The purpose of the exodus
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  Speaker 1: was so we should be honest in our business things.
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  Speaker 1: That's a believable Now you're going to tell me why.
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  Speaker 1: Hold on a second. Wasn't the purpose of the exodus
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  Speaker 1: to know that there's there's a God in the world?
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  Speaker 1: You know, Parson, I don't know who God is. God,
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  Speaker 1: you'll know. You'll discover who God is, and God is
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  Speaker 1: the greatest about God. You just want to take us out.
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  Speaker 1: He could have taken as out simply, but he had
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  Speaker 1: to demonstrate both to Borrow and the Egyptians and the
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  Speaker 1: Jewish people. And this is a lesson to the Jewish
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  Speaker 1: people basically forty years to understand that God runs the
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  Speaker 1: world and God is the master of the universe. Isn't
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  Speaker 1: that why? So yeah, of course that's also true. But
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  Speaker 1: apparently the best way to demonstrate that God is the
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  Speaker 1: master of universe is through our integrity in our business feelings.
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  Speaker 1: It's one and the same if you God is a
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  Speaker 1: massive universe. Therefore, if it doesn't translate into our actions
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  Speaker 1: and our money, we haven't gotten the message. Yet this
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  Speaker 1: was Mosha Rabenu Aleudham, the Mosh of Abano accounts to
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  Speaker 1: demonstrate integrity, and that's a very important idea we should learn.
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  Speaker 1: That's Mosha Abano Mosh is our teacher, and I think
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  Speaker 1: we can start our lessons right here. So abt you
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  Speaker 1: looking forward to learning with you next week.