Vayakhel- Pekudei Parsha Lesson- Trustworthiness
For Year 2 of Parsha Lesson, I will be focusing on one practical middah, character trait, to think about in the week ahead and steps we can take to attain it.
Background
A passuk in Mishlei says ‘a trustworthy person has much blessing.’ The Midrash says that this is referring to Moshe Rabbeinu. When Moshe was directing the building of the Mishkan, Moshe had Issamar (Aharon’s son and one of the Kohanim) stand with him while he made an exact accounting of everything that was contributed for the Mishkan and exactly how it was used.
The Midrash explains- why did Moshe do this? Because he was an honest and trustworthy person.
Question
How does this show that Moshe was trustworthy and honest? In fact, it would seem to be just the opposite! A trustworthy and honest person should NOT need to give a public accounting for every dollar that was spent. Surely no one would think that Moshe (!) would misappropriate any money that was given towards the building of the Mishkan.
Answer
An honest and trustworthy person is someone who recognizes the frailty of people and how it is necessary to handle monetary affairs in an open and honest manner in order that nothing, even unintended, happens improperly.
The Ramchal, in his magnum opus- the Mesillas Yesharim- at the beginning of the 11th chapter, quotes the great tzaddik Iyov (Job) expressing pride in himself that he never took any money that was not rightfully his. The Ramchal explains that Iyov was not expressing pride for not going into someone else’s property and stealing. Rather, Iyov was cognizant of the frailty of people and of how it can just so happen that someone ends up with someone else’s property- if they are not careful.
The nature of people is such that even a great tzaddik like Iyov he can be influenced by his love for money, albeit very subtly, to make a mistake and thereby come into possession of money not rightfully his. An honest person like Moshe would not claim 'trust me' rather he saw that it was fit to demonstrate his honesty, openly and clearly.
Lesson
To be a good person one needs to not only want to do good, they also need to be aware of their frailties and potential challenges. Only if a person is aware of their challenges can they not only want to do good, but they can in fact do good. If a person is in the mode of justifying and rationalizing their behavior they will not be aware of their faults and will therefore not be able to actually become a good person.
Rather, a person should be in the mode of critically analyzing themselves and take any opportunity to give an honest accounting of one's actions. To assume righteousness for one's self- both between a person and themselves and especially to others- is a breeding ground for a person's flaws to go to work and effectuate many mistakes and improper behavior.
First Step
If a person wants to be a good person, it is very effective to start off by focusing on being a truthful person. In order to be a truthful person a person needs to be aware of their frailties and how challenging it is to really be truthful.
In order to be a truthful person, a person would be greatly helped by having someone else who they speak things over with. Just by having to speak things over with someone else will by itself encourage one to be more mindful and careful of what they say and do.
If a person is suspicious of themselves and critical of what they are susceptible to, this will enable them to be truly trustworthy to others.
Have a wonderful Shabbos!
Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
