Parshas Pekudei - Building Again and Again | Rabbi Shay Schachter

Parshas Pekudei we read about Moshe Rabeinu and Hakamas Hamishkan. And at the very end of the Hakamas Hamishkan, we are told that the culmination of all this hard work finally, Rashi there, quoting Chazal, tells us that this was something that was not a one-time event, but every day, היה משה מעמידו ומפרקו. Every day, Moshe Rabeinu would construct the Mishkan and then Moshe Rabeinu would take it down, once again. And, of course, that's something that needs a lot of explanation. What was it necessary for Moshe Rabeinu to be involved in building the Mishkan every day and taking it down? After all, he had many other important things to be busy with. The Nesivos Shalom has a beautiful Pshat and he says: The truth is it's not only about Moshe Rabeinu. It's really about all of us, who live our own journey of our own lives, trying to build and construct our own personal Mishkan. And he says: As we all know, people, unfortunately, sometimes face adversity, and sometimes they even fail. They have Nisyonos in the way. That is the journey of life. That's what it is for all of us. The greatest of people, even, says the Nesivos Shalom, like Moshe Rabeinu, can be faced with great Nisyonos. But he builds again and he knows that he can build again, over and over again, every single day, to bring himself to the point of הוקם המשכן, when he knows that, ultimately, it will be successful, and I'm going to overcome all of those hurdles, all of those struggles, all the difficulties that come my way, and I'm going to be successful, in the end, to get to where I need to be, to build that beautiful Mishkan that is the journey of my life. And perhaps sometimes the reason why this is so difficult for us is because we may lack that sense of understanding, of self-confidence, to know that we have it in ourselves, within ourselves, to be able to overcome and to be able to do. We all say on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, In fact, it's borrowed from the Pasuk in Parshas Haazinu, And the Medrash there, in Parshas Haazinu, wonders, What does it mean that the Ribono shel Olam is a אל אמונה? It should be that we are the ones who believe in Him. Says the Medrash on that Pasuk, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu was האמין בעולמו ובראו, Hakadosh Baruch Hu believed in His world and that is why He created it. He believes in us. He took a great risk in creating us because He knew we all have Bechira, and we can make choices that perhaps are against everything that the Ribono shel Olam stands for. But He believed in us. And if the Ribono shel Olam believed in us, it means we need to believe in ourselves. And it's what we say every morning, רבה אמונתך. It's a gratitude to the Ribono shel Olam that He has a tremendous amount of belief in us, in our capacity to overcome and to be successful. That is what we all try to do in this Vayimaen campaign, to look adversity in the face, to look at a challenged world, and to see what everybody else is doing, and yet to say to ourselves, I believe in myself that I do have the ability, I do have the strength, and I do have the capacity to say: רבה אמונתך. I have it inside of myself to build that Mishkan, that is going to be the journey of my own life.