Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
Midrashim are ideas or stories that explain the Torah. They often come from listening very carefully to what the Torah says and how it says it. Here, we will look for what clues this midrash sees in the Torah's words, and try to understand its messages.
אֵלֶּה פְקוּדֵי הַמִּשְׁכָּן מִשְׁכַּן הָעֵדֻת
אֲשֶׁר פֻּקַּד עַל־פִּי מֹשֶׁה
עֲבֹדַת הַלְוִיִּם בְּיַד אִיתָמָר בֶּן־אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן:
These are the accountings of the mishkan, the mishkan of testimony, which were drawn up at Moshe’s bidding—the work of the Levites under the direction of Itamar son of Aharon the priest.
This pasuk sounds like someone is adding up all the donations brought to the mishkan and providing a complete list of how they were used. Why would this kind of list be necessary? And what does it mean that it was “at Moshe’s bidding”?
A midrash addresses these questions, offering a backstory:
רַבִּי יִצְחָק הָיָה דוֹרֵשׁ לְשֶׁבַח...וַחֲבֵרוֹ מְשִׁיבוֹ, רֵיקָה, אָדָם שֶׁנִּתְמַנָּה עַל מְלֶאכֶת הַמִּשְׁכָּן עַל כִּכְּרֵי כֶסֶף וְעַל כִּכְּרֵי זָהָב שֶׁאֵין לָהֶם חֵקֶר וְלֹא מִשְׁקָל וְלֹא מִנְיָן, מָה אַתָּה רוֹצֶה, שֶׁלֹּא יִהְיֶה עָשִׁיר?!
כְּשֶׁשָּׁמַע כֵּן, אָמַר: חַיֵּיכֶם, מִשֶּׁנִּגְמְרָה מְלֶאכֶת הַמִּשְׁכָּן אֲנִי נוֹתֵן לָהֶם חֶשְׁבּוֹן.
כֵּיוָן שֶׁנִּגְמְרָה, אָמַר לָהֶם: "אֵלֶּה פְקוּדֵי הַמִּשְׁכָּן" (שמות לח:כא).
Rabbi Yitzhak explained this as a praise of Moshe: When one person would speak positively about Moshe, another would respond: “Fool, do you imagine that a person in charge of building the mishkan—with amounts of silver and gold that are not examined, nor weighed, nor accounted for—will not become wealthy?!”
When Moshe heard that, he said: “Be assured, when the work of the mishkan is completed, I will give them an accounting.”
When it was completed he said to them: “These are the accountings of the mishkan” (Shemot 38:21).
Our midrash suggests that this pasuk is addressed to members of Benei Yisrael who were suspicious that Moshe might have taken some of the mishkan donations to make himself rich! So, Moshe counted every penny and showed how everything donated went to the mishkan–not to his own pocket.
- Do you think the suspicious people were being reasonable or unreasonable? Should they have trusted that Moshe would act honestly? Why or why not?
- This midrash highlights how leaders often need to act in a transparent way. Transparent means “see-through.” People can be “see-through” by sharing information about their decisions and actions. Can you explain why this kind of openness and honesty makes a leader successful? When might it be difficult for a leader to act in a transparent way?
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