The Weekly Shtikle - Vayakheil

In the beginning of parshas Vayakheil Moshe begins to instruct the nation on how they are to proceed with the building of the mishkan. At the conclusion of Moshe's assembly, the pasuk recounts (35:20) that the congregation of B'nei Yisrael exited from the presence of Moshe Rabbeinu. R' Elya Lopian, in Lev Eliyahu, comments that it would have been sufficient for the pasuk to say that B'nei Yisrael exited. We knew where they were. Why is it necessary for the pasuk to say that they exited from Moshe's presence?

 

Imagine a street in a city that contained both a bar and a library. If you were to see a man walking crooked down the street, barely able to stand on his own two feet, explains R' Lopian, you need only take one look at him and you know exactly from which of the two he has just emerged. (As the old joke goes – it's 5 minutes from the house to the bar, but 45 minutes from the bar to the house. The difference is staggering.) Likewise, the pasuk here is telling us that when B'nei Yisrael left Moshe's presence, they were fundamentally changed people. They were not simply B'nei Yisrael. They were a nation who had just left the presence of their great leader, Moshe Rabbeinu, having just received instructions to build a dwelling place for the Divine Presence, no less. Merely being in his midst left its mark on them.

 

Have a good Shabbos.

 

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: A Wise Correction

Dikdukian: Ve'asa Vetzalel

Dikdukian: Kikar Zahav

Dikdukian: The Lord and the Rings
Al Pi Cheshbon: 10,000 Kikars

 

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