Parsha Pekudei: We Are All Important

This week a letter was published from a woman who wrote to Rabbi Chalkowski, the rosh yeshiva of Neve Yerushalayim, where I studied.  She married and moved away from her community, making a new life with her husband far from home.  However, she maintained contact with her best friend who remained behind.  She watched as her friend remained popular in the community and met with great success in her career. Yet, she was in a new community where she had a hard time making friends and her career – in the same field as her friend – remained stagnant. She wrote to the rabbi because she felt disappointed with her life, especially in comparison to her friend.

Haven’t we all felt this way at some point or another?    It is so easy to look at another person and think their life is better, that it is the one you want.  He got a promotion. She got rich. He is popular. She is famous. Why him? Why her? Why not me?

Such comparisons might leave us feeling down at times.  There is always the temptation to think we have not achieved as much, even if we have tried our hardest.

In this week’s parsha, the precious metals and gemstones donated for the mishkan (tabernacle) are accounted and then assembled.  As to be expected, gold is the most precious.  There is more silver and much more copper than gold.  It seems like the gold must be the most important and the one G-d likes the best.  If metals had feelings, how would the silver and copper feel?

The gold is used to cover the ark, which means it is pretty important. However, the gold could not do its job covering the ark if the silver and copper were not part of the surrounding mishkan that protected the ark.  Although it seems like the gold is the most important, the mishkan could not have been built without all the metals contributed.  If only gold was given, there would be no mishkan.

It is the same with people.  Although it may seem that someone else has more success, we are each equally important.  Sure, the boss is important in the company, but the company would not function without the lower workers. The boss alone could not make the company run.

The world would not function without each and every one of us to make our contributions.  We may feel that our jobs are unimportant or our success is less than others’ but the truth is that we are all equally important, just in different ways.  Just as the silver and copper had essential roles in the building of the mishkan, so too do we each have an essential role in this world we live in.

Shabbat shalom!

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