There are many ideas that the Torah writes in parshas Vayakhel that are also written in parshas Pikudei. When it comes to Yiddishkeit, it’s not just parshas Vayakhel and Pekudei that seem very similar, it’s also Sunday and Monday, Monday and Tuesday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and so on, that seem to be very similar and repetitive! It can seem like we are doing the same thing every single day: davening, putting on tefillin, making brochos, and repeating the mitzvos we did the day before.
What’s even more discouraging is when we feel like we’ve been trying to correct an area of our Yiddishkeit, day in and day out, and we can’t seem to break out of it. This can lead us to feel that our days and years are just repeating themselves, and we aren’t being “successful” in Yiddishkeit.
What character trait is most responsible for creating a feeling of “I have failed in avodas Hashem?” One might think that this stems from low self-esteem and a lack of self-confidence. But the truth is the exact opposite! It is actually a feeling of Yeshus (haughtiness) that would cause us to feel this way.
Feeling that we failed demonstrates that all along we believed that we operate on our own, and our spiritual successes are solely in our own hands. If so, our shortcomings are a result of our own mistakes and flaws. The Tzadikim teach us that thinking it’s all in our hands is a form of haughtiness!
Our role is not to accomplish, but rather to “do.” The Arizal teaches us that every moment has its own mission, disconnected from the mission of any previous moment in our life. Hashem doesn’t need us to ‘beat the moment,’ by being perfect, but rather to ‘meet the moment’ by asking ourselves “What does Hashem want from me right now?” and then doing that to the best of our ability based on the skillsets and circumstances that He gave us.
We are the beloved nation of Hashem, and every moment is another opportunity to embrace the abilities – and limitations – that Hashem gave us, and use them to serve Him with love. Each opportunity we get, day in and day out, to learn some Torah, to do another mitzvah, to daven and talk to Hashem, and to smile at or help another Yid, is another day of “living the dream!” Each time we bring Hashem into the picture, and invite Him into another aspect of our lives or part of our day, we are creating a dwelling place for Hashem in the lower world, and fulfilling the purpose of the creation of the world.
Each battle with the yetzer hara is a moment of eternity; if we pass the test, we move on to the next battle. If we don’t, that moment gives birth to a new moment, and we also move onto the next battle – the challenge to get up again, brush ourselves off, and jump right back into the ring.
Rather than zooming out and looking at what seems to be a lot of repetitiveness in our avodas Hashem, we should zoom in and focus on meeting the mission of each unique moment.
Vayakhel and Pekudei (and Sunday and Monday,) might seem to be almost identical, but they are, in fact, worlds apart.
Take it to go: Rather than looking at our avodas Hashem as the constant repetition of what looks like the same Torah, mitzvos, davening, and so on, the Beyam Darkecha teaches us to zoom in and see that each moment stands as a world of its own, with its own unique mission. At every moment, a Yid should ask him or herself: “What does Hashem want from me right now?”
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 28.