Parshas Terumah: Missing the Trees or Missing the Forest
ועשית מנרת זהב טהור מקשה תיעשה המנורה ירכה וקנה גביעיה כפתריה ופרחיה ממנה יהיו
You shall make a menorah of pure gold; the menorah shall be made of hammered work; its base and its shaft, its cups, knobs, and petals shall be of one piece.
The crafting of the menorah proved to be a very difficult task. It was made from many different shapes and forms including its base, shaft, cups, knobs, blossoms and almond shapes and yet it all needed to be hammered from the same block of gold. There was no option to make the parts separately and then to solder them together as one. Rashi quotes the Midrash Tanchuma that this was so difficult to even imagine that Hashem showed him a menorah of fire. Still, Moshe was unable to make it properly, so Hashem instructed him to throw the block of gold into the fire whereupon the completed menorah emerged. This is understood from the wording of the possuk, תיעשה-shall be made, vs. תעשה-you shall make.
The Maharal beautifully explained that once Hashem showed Moshe how the menorah was to be made, he himself began to make it. If this were not the case, what would have been the purpose of such a mitzvah and Hashem’s subsequent demonstration? But after that, Hashem helped Moshe and it was made through a neis. Zogt the Maharal, this is the way Hashem performs nissim. At first a person must do what he can, and then Hashem will come and help. We find the same thing by kriyas Yam Suf- Hashem first told Moshe to split the waters by lifting up his stick, and only after that Hashem performed the actual neis.
In Midrash Rabbah, the Midrash writes that even at this point it was still too difficult, so Hashem told Moshe to go to Betzalel and he would do it. Upon approaching Betzalel, he right away performed the task. The question of course is: how is it that Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest of all men, the Adon Haneviim that merited to view Hashem with what is known as aspaklaria hame’iraH (the clearest and most brilliantly illuminating gaze, as if through a clear looking glass) and after having learned directly from Hashem, still had difficulty, and yet Betzalel shows up and with no questions asked he easily makes the Menorah?
The son-in-law of the Rav Avrohom Mordche Alter of Ger zt”l (Imrei Emes) needed a routine medical procedure which was performed in the hospital of Warsaw. During the procedure a complication arose requiring a long hospital stay. Upon hearing this, the Rebbe went to visit his son-in-law in the hospital and also to have a talk with the doctor. The doctor felt the need to explain why such a simple procedure went bad. He shared with the Rebbe the following:
There was once a king that had the most dazzling stone in his treasury, which was so valuable that all of the finest gold in the world would not be enough to purchase it. However, there was one small flaw in it which needed to be removed. The greatest experts were summoned to deal with the stone right there, in front of the king. Upon looking at it, the same scene unfolded with every expert: at first they looked and saw that this was the type of flaw that they successfully dealt with numerous times, but then with the king hovering over them they would get nervous and would be unwilling to accept any responsibility or even perform the task. So what did they do? They gave the stone to a simple craftsman that had no idea of its value or that it belonged to the king. He easily removed the flaw without any issues and now the stone was perfect.
A similar story is told of the wife of Napoleon. She was going through a difficult child labour. Each mid-wife that was brought to the palace would suddenly get very nervous, with their hands turning to jelly, rendering them useless to perform the task of delivering the baby. What did they do? They brought the future mother to a regular local midwife that was unaware of the mother’s identity, and with great ease, the baby was delivered.
The doctor concluded: because I knew that this was the hayligeh Rebbe’s son-in-law, I panicked and made a mistake.
When the Rebbe heard this he smiled and said that he now understood the Midrash in our parsha. Moshe Rabbeinu had the greatest awareness of the Aibishter ever known to mankind. On top of that, Moshe also learned many of the hidden secrets and meanings behind each mitzvah. Understanding all this, Moshe Rabbeinu was gripped with a great reverence and fear of Hashem and was unable to perform this task even after Hashem showed him how to do it. However, for Betzalel, because his awareness was not as great, he was easily able to make the menorah.
In a similar manner, the Piaczezna Rebbe HY”D (Aish Kodesh parshas Pikudei) uses the gemara in Masechta Yevamos (49b) to explain Betzalel’s seemingly greater level of comprehension with regards to building the mishkan and its vessels: אמר ליה משה רבך אמר כי לא יראני האדם וחי ואת אמרת ואראה את ה׳- Menashe asked Yeshaya Hanavi- when Moshe asked to see Hashem, the response was that no one can see Me and live, and yet, for you Yashaya Hanavi, you claimed that you saw Hashem? The gemara explains that ואראה את ה׳ כדתניא כל הנביאים נסתכלו באספקלריא שאינה מאירה משה רבינו נסתכל באספקלריא המאירה- All nevi’im experienced their vision of Hashem through aspaklaria she’aina me’ira, however, Moshe Rabbeinu saw Hashem with an aspaklaria hame’ira. The Rebbe explained that, lehavdil, it is impossible to gaze directly at the sun with the naked eye; however with sunglasses it is possible. Similarly, Moshe Rabbeinu’s gaze was direct therefore the response was that כי לא יראני האדם וחי- no one can see Me and live.
There is a concept of being a “poshuter yid”. At times when our attitude towards mitzvos is perfection, one can end up missing the forest for the tree. Therefore, the idea is to approach each mitzvah in a simple manner so as to assure that the mitzvos are indeed performed. However, frequently, we must give ourselves a reality check to ensure that we are not missing the trees as a result of the forest. If we find that our mitzvos are easily being performed out of rote like second nature, perhaps we must ask ourselves if we can pick it up a notch and add another dimension. Rav Saadia Gaon famously did teshuvah each night for the way he served Hashem at the beginning of the day, “Oy! If I had known about Hashem in the beginning of the day with the knowledge that now know, I would have served Him completely differently!”
Good Shabbos, מרדכי אפפעל
לע"נ מ' בלומא בת ר' שלמה דוב ולע"נ ר'שמואל בן ר' יצחק מנחם