׳׳ובצלא ל בן אורי בן חור למטה יהודה עשה את כל אשר צוה ד׳ את משה׳׳ שמות לח:כב
“And Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Chur from the tribe of Yehudah did exactly as
Hashem had commanded Moshe.” Shemos 38:22

No less than nineteen times in Parshas Pekudei does the pasuk state that the Meleches Hamishkan (Creation of the Tabernacle) was performed “As Hashem had commanded Moshe.” After the completion of each and every stage of the building process the Torah iterates that all of the work was done exactly as Hashem had commanded Moshe. This reiteration seems superfluous.

The Bais Halevi explains that the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was in order to atone for the sin of the Golden Calf. [See Medrash Rabbah on Parshas Vayakhel 48:6 which states that the Bnei Yisrael sinned with their nose-rings as it is written, “They removed their golden nose-rings” with regard to the sin of the Golden Calf, and they were forgiven with their nose-rings as it is written, “They brought bracelets and nose-rings” with regard to the donations towards the
Mishkan.] Therefore, since the root of the sin of the Golden Calf was that the Bnei Yisrael attempted to use their own knowledge and understanding to commit an act of which they were not commanded, when it came to building the Mishkan which was to atone for this very sin, every single action had to be carried out exactly as Hashem had commanded.

Even Bezalel who as we saw last week understood great allusions and secrets of the Creation, did not rely on his own knowledge. In all that he built, he listened to exactly what Hashem had commanded, not because his own wisdom told him to do so, but because Hashem had said so. Bezalel intended to build only as Hashem wanted and commanded. This is how the building of the Mishkan atoned for the sin of the Golden Calf.

It is especially important during these trying times not to rely strictly on how our own knowledge and understanding may tell us how to react. We need to search out what Hashem wants from us right now. What is Hashem telling us? What message is He sending us both personally and on a general level? Let’s capitalize on this opportunity and use the time to learn more Torah, do Teshuva, intensify our concentration during our Tefillos and prayers and try as hard as we can to do רצונו יתברך . Not because our common sense tells us to, but because Hashem said so.

Moshe Rothenberg / MMHK