Vayakhel - Pekudei 5773 - Shabbat Hachodesh

by Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky

B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

Do not prejudge

This week we read two parashiot, Vayakhel and Pekudei.  The second one starts with a chapter that looks like a financial statement of a building company, when Moses conscientiously recalls the expenses of the building of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle.  Let us recall that when God gave the order to build a sanctuary, the entire people came forward and gave tzedahah for its construction.  So, what Moses is doing now, is presenting a balance sheet of the money received, and how it was spent.

Now then, we could wonder why it was that Moses cared for such a minutely detailed balance; was it because someone distrusted him?  Perhaps someone believed that the leader of the people of Israel, the one whom God had chosen, could have kept some ill-gotten money for himself?  Well, even though it seems unbelievable, according to the sages of the Midrash, there were those who believed that Moses had kept for himself part of the contributions for the Mishkan, and for this reason, Moses chose to present the expenses in detail, to clear up any kind of suspicion.

This Midrash makes us reflect on something that we often do, even though we know it’s bad to do so: I am referring to the negative judgment of people, in spite of not knowing what really happened.  It is pretty common for us to interpret an action, a word, or just a rumor, with a definitive and condemning judgment against a person, even when we are not really sure about what we are thinking or saying.

There’s an amusing anecdote that serves to describe this subject, concerning the famous Hasidic rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa.   According to the story, two witnesses appeared before a rabbinical court, testifying that they had seen Rabbi Bunim eating cake and drinking coffee on Yom Kippur.  Imagine the commotion caused by this rumor: the wisest and most righteous man among the people, desecrating the holiest day of the year!  How could such a thing be possible?

So, the rabbis decided to investigate the matter, and very soon found out what had actually happened.  It turned out that Rabi Bunim’s daughter-in-law had given birth just a few days before Yom Kippur.  According to the halachah, a woman in such a condition must eat and drink, in spite of the public fast.  Rabi Bunim, aware of his daughter-in-law’s piety, went to ask her if she was taking some nourishment as the day went by.  She told him she didn’t want to eat, since it was Yom Kippur and she would feel terribly bad about it.   Then Rabi Bunim insisted that she had to eat something, and she again refused.  Finally, the woman accepted food provided her father-in-law gave it to her in person.  As Rabi Bunim feared for his beloved daughter-in-law’s life, he accepted.  And for this reason, he went to the kitchen in search of a piece of cake and a cup of hot coffee.  At that moment, he was seen by two witnesses who were spying through the window, who mistakenly assumed that Rabi Bunim was preparing to eat and drink on Yom Kippur.

From this story we learn that we should not prejudge people in haste, or in other words, we should always assume the best when we ignore the facts.  It is written in the Mishnah, hevei dan et kol ha’adam lekaf zechut, that is, “judge every person favorably.”  When we don’t know what it was that a person did, we should always see him/her in a favorable light, or at least abstain from prejudgment.

We all succumb to this mistake (sometimes too frequently!), when we see someone doing or saying something we do not entirely understand, and from there, we cast a negative judgment upon that person.  Moreover, we may even get angry and stop speaking with the person in question, simply because we believe he/she did or said something or other… Don’t tell me you don’t know someone in your family, or among your friends, saddled with this kind of story!  Nothing worse, nothing more wrong.  These attitudes promote a bad atmosphere in social groups, and can even destroy a person.

Moses, when he learned that there were people who unjustly suspected him, decided to present “even reckonings”.  He was able to realize that things weren’t going well, and he had the intelligence and courage required to change history.  Nonetheless, most of us do not have such luck, which makes us suffer enormously.  Never ever should we judge someone for something we do not know, for certain, that he/she did… not even when seeing a famous rabbi with food and drink on Yom Kippur!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky

B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica