Parashat Pekude

EVERYTHING WAS READY! After Am Yisrael brought the donations of gold and silver, the wood and the hides, and after they built the menorah, the table and the altar, and after they made the Cohen Gadol’s garments, God finally had His dwelling place where He could rest His providence. But, why could only Moses enter the “tent of meeting” of the tabernacle when God wanted to communicate something to the people? Wouldn’t it have been right for everyone to feel the maximum closeness to God? No, since before receiving the Ten Commandments, Am Israel wished to hear them directly from God, and not from the mouth of Moses. However, after hearing the first two commandments and realizing that they were not on the proper spiritual level to hear them from God, they pleaded with Moshe, “Speak to us and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” What was so special about Moshe that he could enter the “tent of meeting” to speak with God? That he had worked hard to become who he was and that made him worthy to serve as God’s emissary. Probably, among all his good qualities, the one that stood out the most was humility, as it is written: “Moshe was a very humble man, more than any other man on the face of the earth”. But, what is so special about humility, is there not other equally important qualities, such as wisdom, mercy or strength of spirit? The Sages say that humility is the gateway to the fear of God, for when we realize that everything we have is a Divine gift, and that we are in His world to fulfill a mission, we try to rectify our bad habits, and increase our good deeds.