| Dear Yeshiva Family:
This week's parshah discusses the conclusion of the building and setting up of the Mishkan. Rashi (39:33) discusses an apparent discrepancy between the language of the pasuk (40:18) which indicates that Moshe Rabbeinu set up the Mishkan, and an earlier pasuk (40:17) which indicated that the Mishkan was set up by itself. Rashi, citing a Medrash, explains that erecting the Mishkan was beyond the capability of any human. A simple online calculator calculates that the beams used for the Mishkan (Cedarwood, at 10x1.5x1 amos) weighed around 4,320 pounds each! When Moshe questioned how he was supposed to set up these colossal beams, Hashem told him to start and try your best, and then He would help him succeed. Indeed, the beams did set themselves up, but only after Moshe put in the initial effort. Their construction was credited to Moshe, because he put in the initial effort, and if not for him, the Mishkan would not have been erected, but the Torah also tells us that the final set up occurred by itself.
There are two points to bring out from this phenomenon. First, it reiterates something we discussed in this forum last week: a person should try as hard as he can under all circumstances. Second, we should see what Hashem ultimately wants. Hashem does not need our help to set up the Mishkan, or anything in this world, for that matter. Hashem put us in this world to work, to perform, and to pass tests. The resulting beautiful Mishkan was not the goal for us to achieve, for Hashem could have created the Mishkan just as He created the Swiss Alps, with no help from us! Hashem put us in this world to grant us the opportunity to serve Him in a myriad of ways. Therefore, our focus has to be on the making the effort, on the process rather than the result. Hashem wanted to see Moshe Rabbeinu trying his best to erect the Mishkan. Moshe investing his best effort was sufficient, and Hashem took care of the rest!
The Mishnah states (Avos 2:16) that it is not incumbent upon you to complete every job, your job is only to work to the best of your ability. When working for Hashem, whether or not a venture is ultimately successful does not, in any way, alter the fact that you have served Hashem and any effort involved will be rewarded.
This thought is very liberating and encouraging. In the secular world, whether in business or other areas, the world respects only the successful outcome. Someone can make a foolish investment and strike it rich, and he will be automatically labeled a successful genius, and his investment advice sought after by millions. The reality is if someone does something foolhardy, he should be the last person we seek information or advice from, regardless of his previous successes. Conversely, someone can be a diligent worker, who, through no fault of his own, may have been unsuccessful in the venture he was pursuing, and he will find himself looking for a new job, despite his absolute best efforts.
This is not the way Hashem deals with our efforts on this planet. If someone is involved in a difficult relationship, and puts in real effort to try and repair it, working on themselves, not getting angry, being mevater, giving in and not insulting, etc., and after all that the relationship just does not work out, aside from actually making himself a better person, all that effort and work will remain to one's credit. For it is the work and effort that Hashem is looking for and not the results. The results are up to Hashem. There are times when one invests an enormous amount of effort and heart into a project, a student, or a child, and it ultimately fails. The loss of invested effort should not be a crushing disappointment, for all the effort is still there producing dividends for you.
The same is true in the Beis Midrash. If someone invests his time on a difficult piece of Gemara and after a whole hour of trying he feels he has not progressed, it was not a waste of time. Especially regarding learning, it is the effort that counts, and that is what Hashem is looking for.
Famously, this is the meaning behind the statement made at a siyum, "we work and get rewarded and 'they' (effort placed not in the Bais Medrash) work and do not get rewarded." The Chofetz Chaim asked: but of course people who work even not in the Bais Medrash also get rewarded? The Chofetz Chaim explained that we are paid for our spiritual work, regardless of results, whereas in the non-spiritual world, it is only the results that count. A shoemaker who worked on a shoe for five hours only to see it fall apart in the end is left with nothing; the work itself did not produce results. In the Bais Medrash, by contrast, five hours of learning which culminates in a wrong answer, is still considered and credited as learning!
The explanation for this phenomenon is as above. Hashem does not need the result, whether it's a shidduch being suggested or helped along, or a person having CPR performed upon him. If Hashem wanted, this couple could have met in a thousand other ways, and the man did not have to have a heart attack. Yet, the situation is set up to give you an opportunity to 'work' for Hashem. So that is what we need to focus on, the effort invested. Once the necessary hishtadlus, or effort, has been invested by you, and the reason this situation was presented to you has reached its fulfillment, Hashem could decide to make the venture successful, but it no longer has to come through your efforts; it can be successful in a myriad of other ways. Your involvement was necessary, but only to present you with a challenge: will you try your best? After that, Hashem could make the venture successful or not. You passed your test regardless of the result.
The Gemara (Sukkah 52b) states that the Yetzer Hara is always trying to overpower a person, and if not for Hashem helping a person, he would win. So how does one win against the Yetzer Hara? The answer is by taking a lesson from Moshe Rabbeinu. If one approaches the challenge with everything he has, then Hashem will help the result be a success.
Why did Hashem create the Yetzer Hara in this manner—naturally stronger than a person, and only with Hashem's eventual help is it possible to win? Why not create a more level playing field, that with a person's sincere effort he can win fairly and squarely? Why require divine assistance?
Perhaps we can explain that the Yetzer Hara is also what powers our drives and fuels many of our actions throughout the day. Our job is to learn to control and direct the power of the Yetzer Hara toward service of Hashem. Even the passion and kedusha, holiness, that we have when learning Torah is sourced in the very same passions that fuel the rest of our lives. Therefore, Hashem created the power that pushes us, to be of unlimited potential, far greater than we can handle, for indeed once we learn to direct its force towards kedusha, holiness, it will cause our potential for proper growth to be endless. This was the fire of the Gedolim, Torah giants such as the Chazon Ish, the Brisker Rav, the Steipler, Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, etc. They were directing a fire that was much greater than them, the Yetzer Hara which was tamed by these gedolim, and now its tremendous potential is enlisted in the service of Hashem. May Hashem continue to give us the perseverance to serve Him under any and all circumstances, knowing that every ounce of effort has not gone to waste. Rabbi Moshe Revah Rosh HaYeshiva, HTC - Beis HaMidrash LaTorah moshe.revah@htc.edu | 
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