Vayakhel - Turning the Week Into Shabbos

2:19 There's one more question I have just before we get to you. Number one, what does it mean sheishes yom mitasa malacha? Number two, what does it mean Shabbos? Last question: This is all in the context of what Moshe Rabbeinu assembles everybody together, and really, what's the parsha about the Mishkan? The obvious question is why, as an introduction to the Mishkan. Do we have Shabbos? What's the connection between Shabbos and the Mishkan? You gonna give an answer? Four questions. Three questions. One is what does it mean? Sheshes yamim tasa malacha. Six days a week work shall be done. It's a weird phrase. Number two, what Shabbos Shabbason? Number three, what's the connection between the Mishkan and Shabbos? Everyone got the three questions. Those are the only three questions for the night. I want to share with you something that's pretty deep but I think really meaningful.

3:20 The Mishkan comes as a response to the Chet Egal. What was the Chet Egal? That they were worshiping a golden calf. They seem to be at first glance two completely separate things, but when we start to think deeply about the Mishkan and the Egal Hazav, you'll see that there is. Something very similar about both of them. They're both They're both physical. The Mishkan is physical. The Aghel Azov is physical. The Aghel, the golden calf is physical. And they're both places of worship. You worship the golden calf. You worship in the Mishkan, right? There's something physical about the Aghel Azov. There's worship of the Aghel Azov. There's something physical about the Mishkan. It's a physical representation that we worship Hashem within the Mishkan. What's the difference then between the Egal Azov and the Mishkan? Why is one the pinnacle of kedusha and the other is Avodah Zarah?

4:28 Let's explain. We're going to see something very deep now. There's a difference between worshiping the physical and subjugating the physical. In order to serve Hashem Let's say it again. Make sure we get it. There's a difference between worshiping something that's physical. That's idolatry. Versus because Hashem is infinite, and Hashem wants to be where? Where does Hashem want to be found? In our world, in our physical world. So I engage the physical in order to reveal its divinity, in order to reveal the infinite nature of God within the physical world. But really, I'm not worshiping the physical. I'm subjugating the physical in order to elevate the godliness that's within it. So there's two approaches to the physical world: either we could worship the physical world, or we could worship Hashem in the physical world. They're very, very close to each other, but they're worlds apart. They appear to be very close to each other, but they're really very far apart.

5:34 And as we're going to see in a moment. It's going to be the avoda for every one of us. Every one of us is going to have to ask ourselves the question: Are we worshiping Hashem in the physical world, or are we worshiping the physical world? But at least now we have the answer to a very basic question: Why does the Mishkan come as a response to the Chet Ha'Egel? Because what did they do wrong by the Chet Ha'Egel? By the Chet Ha'Egel, they worshiped the physical. So what does the Mishkan come to teach you? Don't worship the physical. Use the physical to worship Hashem. Do you see why they go together now? Originally, we thought that they seemed very distant from each other, and now we see they're very close to each other. How do you engage with the physical world? Are you beneath the physical world, worshiping it, or are you above the physical world, conquering it to use it in the service of Hashem?

6:28 Does that make sense? When you worship something, by definition, that means you're below it. When you use something, by definition, that means you're above it. Are you below the physical world that you worship it Or are you above the physical world that you use it in the service of worshiping Hashem, which you're beneath? So far, so good. Everyone got this concept. You said what was the pasuk was it Vayom Hashvi? Vayom Hashvi, ba. Yielachem kodesh Shabbos. It shall be a day of kedusha for you, Shabbos, a double Shabbos. So that's step one. Step two. Girls, everyone clear on that concept? Step two. Does anyone know how idolatry really started? That's true. It did exist in the times of Avram Avinu, but the Rambam tells us how idolatry started. It is very important to understand this. What was that? They worshipped the What did you say? I don't mean who started it. I mean how did it start? I'll teach you this Rambam. It's an amazing Rambam.

7:44 I'll teach you the Rambam. It's an amazing Rambam. You don't have to guess. I promise. I'll share everything that I know. The Rambam says as follows: We know that our Kadosh Baruch Hu operates in our world. Hashem operates in our world through Ashkacha Pratis. And He uses natural forces, natural objects in the world, like the sun, the moon, the stars. Hakadosh Baruch Hu uses physical things to engage in our world. The original idolaters, the Rambam writes, the original balei avodah zara, they understood that these things were instruments in the hands of Hashem. But what they did is they worshipped them. In other words, they didn't just see them as instruments that Hashem uses, but they said Therefore, they are worthy of being worshipped. They understood that Hashem operates in our world through the sun, the moon, the stars, but they said these things are divine.

8:47 In other words Where does idolatry begin? Idolatry begins when you stop seeing something as a tool of Hashem. And you start seeing it as divine buying for itself. So this is a very important concept. I'm gonna say again: the sun, the moon, the stars, the physical world. These are things that Hashem operates with. They're His tools. What was the mistake that the Balyavod Zara made? The original idolaters. They didn't just say they're tools in the hand of Hashem. They said they are also divine. They are also godly. They are also meant to be worshipped. So here's the big mistake. Make sure everybody gets this. I'm distracted by it too, but it's worth it. You're cold. Just a little bit though, not a lot. Here's the big mistake. Whenever you're looking at something physical You have to ask yourself Is this a tool? Or is this something to be worshipped? Once you turn it into something that you worship Then it's idolatry. Once you recognize it's just a tool in the hands of Hashem.

9:59 Then it's not idolatry anymore. Then you recognize and appreciate it for what it is. This is where it's going to get really tough. I hope you're going to come with me on this. I don't mean this to be musar But it's probably going to sound a little musari, even though I hope that you girls won't take it as musar. Just take it as something to think about. There's something, a conversation that needs to happen. Baruch Hashem, I'm sure in Par Meriim that conversation is happening a lot. I know it's happening a lot in yeshivas today. Conversation is like this: What's the role of money? What's the role of money in our lives? Today, very different than 30 years ago. If you asked a kid 30 years ago, "What do you want to be?" They told you what they wanted to be. Today, when you ask a lot of guys in yeshiva, "What do you want to be?" You know what their answer is? Rich.

10:55 Rich. You ask a guy in yeshiva, 'Who do you know more of? Do you know the names of the gedolei Torah, or do you know the names of the wealthy people in your community that support Torah?' It's far more likely that many of us know the wealthy people than the great gedolim of the generation. It's called. Gvir culture. A gvir means a wealthy man. There's a culture today of being wealthy. I don't want to talk nasty things about Chasra Shalom, but it's something that in the world became obsessed with money, and our community has been infected with this disease of idolizing money. We've turned money into an idolatry. And if you think about what's, if you think about the sheir that we're giving tonight. Remember, when is something idolatry? When you worship it. When you not use it for something else, you worship it. The only thing that we should worship is Hashem. Everything else is just Hashem's tool.

11:59 So let's talk about the following idea. If a person is excessively occupied with business, or if a person is ridiculously focused on making money. The question is, are they attaching significance to the money itself? Or is money a tool that they're using to worship Hashem? Obviously, it goes without saying that money is very important. Why is money important? Because if I have money, I can do really good things with that money. But let's say I make the mistake, like those original idolaters, and instead of just recognizing the significance of money, I start to attach significance to the money itself. Now we all know that's not true. Any normal person in this room right now knows that's not true. If you have money, money is meant to be spent. When and how? That's a good question. But money, the nature of money is that money is meant to be spent.

13:07 For example, if you're working, you and your husband are working. What are you doing with your money? What are you spending it on? We could be frum about it. Let's be frum about it for a second. Shabbos, yom tov, tuition. All the beautiful things. Let's even take it a step further. It's important for us to have money so that we can have a roof over our heads. It's important so that we can provide food and nourishment for our children. It's important to take good vacations with your family to build up that good family feel. Those are all really important things that money can do. But what happens when you attach significance to the money over the things that you're spending on? For example If I'm a dad and I'm not able to be a dad because I'm all the time making more and more money, money that maybe I don't need anymore, and I'm spending less and less time with my children.

14:04 You understand how, in a certain way It's like you're worshiping the money and not what the money is meant to be a vehicle for. I'll share with you. So you make what you need, and this is the key word. There's a difference between making enough money and having an excessive amount of money. Nobody's arguing for poverty. There's no dignity in poverty. In Judaism, we daven that we should have parnasa tova. We're not looking to be poor. But there's a difference between I have enough versus I have an excessive amount. Some parents have to overwork themselves. Correct, and if you need to work very hard in order to make enough, that's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is the significance that you attach to it. So let's say, for example, you had a job and a job, and you have enough money, and you're able to pay tuition and have shabbos and have yontif and take nice vacations and have a nice car. You have what you need, right? I'm not talking about people that are living not well. But now you have a job, and the job will pay you—I don't know—another two hundred thousand dollars. But it means you don't get to spend time with your family anymore.

15:03 At what point—and I'm not saying where to draw the line—but a person has to ask themselves: At what point did the money become more important than the things I was spending it on? For example, for me, I'll share with you: My father worked exceptionally hard. And Baruch Hashem, he was very successful. But there were a lot of years until he was very successful building up. You know what some of my best memories are with my dad? Sunday afternoons, my father was my little league coach. So because my dad grew up and he was a big baseball player, that's what he was. Maybe you don't get this because you're girls, but for guys, being a baseball player is an identity. You know what I'm saying? It's not something you do; it's something you are. So if you grow up and you're a baseball player, you know what you want to do when you get married and have sons?

15:50 You want to teach your kids how to play baseball, right? What's more wholesome? What's more American than having a catch with your son? The only event that's more American than that is being your son's little league coach. So my dad was my little league coach. Big point of pride for him, and honestly for me. Huge. Even when I was a kid, I realized how huge it was. As I got older, I realized it even more. Why? Because if you work really hard during the week, where do you want to be on Sunday afternoons? Relaxing. Relaxing. I doubt you want to be hanging out with a bunch of ten-year-olds. Doing, being a little league coach. And maybe you deserve that relaxation for sure. But if the money outweighs the spending time with your family, then maybe we got our values mixed up a little bit. Maybe we're worshiping the money and not seeing the money as a tool. If you take that job and now you make two hundred thousand dollars more, which means you get to go on the most extravagant vacation.

16:48 But you had to sacrifice so many things in terms of spending time with your children. You have to ask yourself Was it really worth it? That's not a simple question to answer. Again, I want to be very clear because I know somebody's going to misquote me. I am not advocating for poverty. I'm advocating for enough. The question is, everybody has to figure out for themselves what is enough. But we can all agree That at some point we've gone past the level of enough. And now we're in the level of an excessive preoccupation with money. If you have a house and it's a nice house How much more do you need to work in order to go from being a nice house to being in a mansion? How much more do you need to work to move from driving a very respectable car like a Kia, which is fine, to driving the Maserati? And at what cost does that money come? To quote Rev Wenglin, because I know he works here now. Time is not money. Time is time. The only question is, what are you spending it on? One of those great Riv Wingland lines. There's an amazing question at the core of our relationship with the material world.

18:03 Do we worship the material world, like the literal golden calf that they built? One way of thinking now about the Chet Egal is what they were really worshiping. Is the gold of it? They're worshiping the money. Look at this money. They worship it. They put themselves beneath it, as opposed to going into the mishkan, which is the consecration of the physical. The physical is a tool that Hashem uses. It is not divine by and for itself. What's our hashkafa? What should our hashkafa be? I know that's a trigger word in Beit Miriam because everybody's trying to figure out what is the hashkafa of this seminary. We asked Rita. And I still can't figure it out. We asked the rabbinson, and it just seems like she takes the best of all worlds. When I say hashkafa, I don't mean charedi, dati, mi chadal, modern Orthodox, or yeshivish. What is our worldview when it comes to money? This is, I believe, a Torah hashkafa when it comes to money.

19:08 Our responsibility—this might bother some of you—and if it does, that means I'm talking to you. Our responsibility is to create a vessel. Our responsibility is to create a vessel so that Hashem can fill that vessel and bestow upon us divine blessings. We are not responsible for the outcome. We are responsible for the vessel that we create. You can make money doing anything; it's only a question of whether or not Hashem chooses to fill up that divine vessel with divine blessing. I'll give you an example of this. I give you an example. I had a friend growing up. I love him very much. He was crazy when he was growing up. With you, he's still crazy as an adult. His kid is coming to Vassar next year, which is wild for me. But he was crazy as a kid. I would drive him home. From practice, from basketball practice, he was always trying to lick my hands while I was driving, which is very strange because then you're trying to avoid having him lick your hands and then you're driving into oncoming traffic. Probably not so responsible looking back on it.

20:16 And whenever we would go to the house, I would drop him off at the house. He did the same thing every week. He would say Give me the keys to the car. I said, "Can I please go home?" He said, "No." Give me the keys to the car. I know that if you don't give me the keys to the car, you're going to drive away. So I would give him the keys to the car. He would go inside his house. I didn't mind driving him home. It was a couple of blocks from my house. He would walk into his house and come out 120 seconds later. With usually one or two, sometimes more, packages of tube socks. Tube socks. Like those big socks. Let's say them Chaim. I do not want any more tube socks. I do not wear tube socks. I don't even open these packages. I have dozens of packages of tube socks in my room already.

21:03 Please, he goes. I'm not leaving the car until you take the tube socks. My dad always told me, you gotta smear them with socks. And I'm like, don't want him. One time, my mother walked into my room and she saw a giant pile. Fifty, sixty packages of tube socks. And she's like, what are these? I'm like, I don't even know how to explain it to you. Chaim's father did very well selling socks. You can make money doing anything if you sell it in volume. You can make money selling socks. You just have to sell enough socks. It's an amazing thing. Sometimes you see people that go into investment banking and they make no money. Some people go into socks and they're multimillionaires. What's the pshat? The pshat is you don't have to be a genius in business. All you have to do is make a vessel for Hashem to fill up.

21:54 And sometimes it almost feels arbitrary to us. Two people open up a business; they're the same exact business. For some reason, one is successful and the other isn't. Our job is not to be. Here's the key words. You ready for it? You ready for it? You ready for it? Not everybody's ready for it. I'm hoping that the three girls are going to be ready for it. You ready for it? It's for you. The key word here is a Jew knows that he's not in control of the outcome. He's only responsible for the process. That's our hashkafa. I'm responsible for the process of making a vessel for Hashem to fill up. I do it with integrity. I put my best foot forward. But whether or not I'm successful, that's up to Hashem. This gives us the gift of less anxiety. Because if I'm in charge and I'm in control, then I have to make sure it happens. But if my responsibility is to live with integrity and Hashem fills up the divine vessel with divine blessing, or He doesn't, that's not on me. That's on Hashem.

22:57 That our responsibility is to make a vessel for Hashem to fill up. That's the process. I was talking. Adunos, you're not responsible. I'm responsible for making a vessel, but I'm not in control of whether or not that vessel gets filled up. Okay. What does Hashem put in the vessel? Depends on what he wants. Meaning, sometimes I'm going to make a vessel and it's going to be wildly successful, and sometimes not. I'm talking about divine blessing, for example. So I decide to start a restaurant. Let's say two people start a restaurant on Central Avenue, next door to each other. One is successful, one is not. Why? They were more or less both the same thing. We don't know. Everyone tries to figure out. They did this wrong, they did that wrong. So many millions of things go into whether or not a business is going to be successful or not. Ultimately, people have to recognize, including myself.

23:48 We have to live with integrity. What Hashem chooses, whether or not we're successful, that's up to Him. And sometimes we make a vessel; Hashem doesn't fill up that one. We go, we'll make another one, a different one for Hashem to fill up. So many times, you'll speak to people in their careers, and they'll say, 'It's so funny. I started off going this direction, but then I realized this. I ended up over here, and Hashem filled up a vessel that I never even thought I was going to create.' You know what I'm saying? It's a wild thing. If a guy goes to college, he becomes an accountant. But then somehow he becomes a CFO, and then because he's a CFO and that company goes public, he's not an accountant anymore. But the vessel that was created ended up being filled in a way that he didn't even realize. So it's not our job. It's not our job.

24:34 It's not our job. That was my abuse. And a little bit on you for distracting me. But we'll split the difference. It's not our job. Like, like to live with anxiety over like no, this has to work. Our job is to make a vessel. If we make the vessel and it's inappropriate, it's not halachic. Then it's not a good vessel, right? What about in the situation that a person works really hard But all the earnings that they get are not at all for themselves. They don't benefit pretty much from any of it. They work so hard purely for their family. Is that? What do you mean? They have a business. The business makes money, and then they give the money to everybody else. They don't buy anything nice for themselves. Everyone in their family will have a really nice car, but they prefer not to have a nice car. They don't want to spend that money on themselves.

25:30 Is that more towards Hashem? If you're not taking that money I think there's nothing wrong with a person spending money on themselves. I agree. And I don't know what the psychology of this case you're giving me is or where it's coming from. I think that money is meant to be selfless in general. Everything in the world is meant to be used for others, and sometimes we have to buy something for ourselves, as part of our own process. So if a person is incapable of buying something for themselves, I would be curious about that. But I'm not willing to say that one or the other is closer to Hashem. I think that a person who lives their life trying to give to others. Is already oriented towards Hashem. But also, in order to fulfill giving so much to others, they sacrifice, like let's say they work on chol hamoed because they feel like it's something they don't want to.

26:22 So let's not make chol hamoed because chol hamoed could be a more complex case. Let's say Shabbos. Working on Shabbos is aser. If I don't work on Shabbos, then I'm not going to make a parnasa. Your job was to make a vessel. If a vessel needs to be made working on Shabbos, that's not a good vessel, because ultimately Hashem can fill up your cup whether you work on Shabbos or don't work on Shabbos. If you work on Shabbos, that's not a godly vessel. You have to make a godly vessel. If somebody says you can be in this business but it requires stealing, that's not a good vessel because it's not a godly vessel. Your job is to live with integrity, make a godly vessel, and then let go and let God. No anxiety. It's Hashem's responsibility to fill up the vessel. It's not my responsibility to be in control of the outcome, but I'm meant to be responsible for the process.

27:08 That's our hashkafa around money. Thank you for the good. If it really, honestly, it could be anything. You could make money doing anything. It's not. It's not so much about Is this like. We're not focused so much on the vessel that you make. We're focused much more on the person who makes it. So I would tell a guy if he came to me and he said, 'Rebbe, I want to make a vessel. I'm really passionate about this. This is a talent that Hashem gave me. How can I use that talent that Hashem gave me to make a vessel that Hashem could fill up with divine blessing?' That would be the way I would want somebody to approach it. So if let's say you're an artist, make your art, and Hashem, God willing, will fill up your artistry with divine blessings so you can support your family. But when we tell people you must fit into this box in order to make a parnasa. It's a lack of emuna.

28:00 Because it's just a vessel. It's important. Hashem fills up something. He has to. You have to create something for Him to fill up. But if you tell people to ignore your core values in order to make parnasa, or make so much parnasa that you forget who you're actually serving, that's no good. It applies to doctors who are on call on Shabbat, but they're doing it for Pernessa, but they're also doing it to help. So again, that might be a different case because they might be mechuyev to treat people on Shabbos depending on the case we're talking about. Let's keep it clean. Let's just make it a clean black and white case. My draw. I do not need to work in the dry cleaner on Shabbos. I'll tell you, this is a beautiful story. Anyone here from the five towns? So you know Rubens on is a barber.

28:52 What was that? You say best lollipops? That's so true. Why do you know that? You get lollipops from Reuben. I want to tell you a story about Reuben. This is an amazing story about Reuben. I'm going to tell him next time I go there for my haircuts because whenever I'm going to America, I get my hair cut by Reuben. I'm going to tell him that you said that, and he's going to be happy about it. He's very into his lollipops. The Reuben was a guy. He's Jewish. He was not Shomer Shabbos. He had a he was a barber in a small kiosk in Bay Harbor Mall before Bay Harbor Mall became like a fancy mall. It was like a broken down mall, and there was a barber shop there. He was one of the barbers. Everybody would wait for him. Bay Harbor Mall was bought by a very wealthy guy who cleaned out all the kiosks and he brought in like Best Buy and like Target, all these like fancy stores. And Reuben said to a couple of us, he goes, "What am I going to do for Parnasa now?"

29:43 So we said to Reuben, everybody loves you. Everybody wants to come to you. Just open up your own barber shop. And he did. This is how Reuben opened up his barber shop. And originally he was open on Shabbos. And me and this other woman in the neighborhood said to him Mrs. Chaya Freshman, we said to Reuben, we said Reuben, you shouldn't be open on Shabbos. He said, I just spent all this money that I don't have renting this store. How can I not be open on Shabbos? And I said to Reuben, I'm telling you. If you worship Hashem and you keep Shabbos, Shabbos will serve you. Believe me, you don't need the money that's coming in on Shabbos. He goes, you don't understand. You know how many guys come in for haircuts on Shabbos? Reuben, put a sign on the front of your window that says Shomer Shabbos. Everybody in the community is going to support you.

30:29 To Reuben's credit, he shut down his store on Shabbos, and he said this store is going to be Shomer Shabbos. His business exploded. His business flows. The community supports him. He's an amazing person, Reuben. And I'm and whenever I walk in, he always gives me a big hug. He came all the way from Israel for a haircut here. But the real reason I go is just to support the fact that he keeps Shabbos. I get a haircut here in Israel. I like to come back, even though I'm paying much more. I'm paying like fifteen dollars more in America than I am in Israel. But it's worth it just to support Reuben, who made the decision to be Moser nefesh for Shabbos. A little off topic, but to do with that, is it allowed to get a haircut? That's not so simple. That's to be done by somebody who's not keeping Shabbos. Again, too far afield. We're not going to get it. I know people in Eretz Israel who won't go to stores or amusement parks that are open on Shabbos.

31:20 Wait, is Reuben Shomer Shabbos? Reuben is Shomer Shabbos. It's an amazing thing. It's an amazing, amazing thing. Let's look at the pasuk again. Sheishes Yamin. What does it say? Six days, work shall be done. It doesn't say. What would be a normal way? Six days shall work. Seven. It's like the work shall be done. In other words, what's the focus on? The focus is not on the money. You have to put in the work. You have to make the vessel. But look what it says. Six days of work of week. Six days of the week work shall be done. And then what does it say? Shabbos, Shabbosum. What does Shabbos Shabbosum mean? It's the Shabbos of a Shabbos. When was the first Shabbos? Says the Lebavitcher Rebbe The first Shabbos is the six days of the week. If a person works but they have that anxiety, they need to control the outcome. Are those days of rest? Those are days of anxiety. Those are days of stress. But if you come with this hashkafa I have to make a vessel.

32:31 What does your week feel like? I'm working, but what does it feel like? It's a Shabbos. It's a Shabbosic week. So that by the time you end up at Shabbos, what are you now having? A Shabbos of your Shabbos. Shabbos Shabbason. It's a Shabbos of your Shabbos. In other words, this stress and anxiety that people are experiencing now in this world, right now, we're a very anxious world. Everyone's very uptight. How am I going to make enough money? You see a lot of people in the Jewish community struggling with this. They don't have a Shabbos on the seventh day. Because they don't have a Shabbos during the week Shabbos of the seventh day is meant to be what? The Shabbos of the six days a week that are also supposed to be Shabbosic. So it's a Shabbos of Shabbosos. And listen what Rashi says, and share with you an unbelievable Rashi. Rashi says, "Keshtavo Shabbos, yeh beinecha kol malachducha asuyah shelo tahar herachamalacha." When a person comes to Shabbos, they have to feel like?

33:31 All the work was done. I'm not thinking about work anymore. The second Shabbos hits, you're not thinking about work. I just got out of a big business meeting Friday afternoon, and I ran into Shabbos. How am I going to not think about what's the outcome of that meeting? You know what the answer is. If you were anxious during the week about Shabbos I'm sorry. If you're anxious during the week about the outcome, you're going to be anxious on Shabbos. But if you work during the week in a Shabbosic way, then when Shabbos comes, you say, I was never in control of the outcome anyway. You understand? This is the big deal. Everybody in this world is vulnerable because things are uncertain. What do we do in the face of uncertainty? What do we crave? Certainty. In the face of vulnerability, what do we crave? Safety. But what does a Jew do in the face of uncertainty and vulnerability? We say, I have emuna that it's my responsibility to make the vessel. Whether Hashem fills up the vessel or not, that's up to him. So that by the time Shabbos comes.

34:31 Shabbos stick. In Eretz Yisrael, we see this tremendously. In Eretz Yisrael, there's a guy who had been living here for over 30 years, and he told his friends, "I'm making Yerida. I'm going, I'm moving back to America." Somebody said to him, "Why?" He goes, "Parnasa." He goes, "What are you talking about? You've been living here for 30 years. You have a roof over your head. Your kids have money." He goes, 'Yeah, but I'm tired of living on miracles.' What did he mean? Like sometimes in Eretz Yisrael, you never know how it's going to work out, but it ultimately works out at the end. That's like a very Israeli way of living. I don't know exactly how this is going to work out, but it somehow works out in the end. That's because you made a vessel and Hashem filled it up. But it is hard to let go and let God control the outcome, even though that's always the case. I'm not ever really in control of the outcome.

35:19 But there's a certain submission you need in order to have that. So we answered two out of the three questions so far. Question number one was why does the Torah say it in a passive way? Because ultimately, work is passive. Work is my job to make the vessel, not the outcome. Putting emphasis on the vessel Not on the outcome. But not on the outcome. Very good. Then there's Shabbos Shabboson. If I put the emphasis on the vessel, my week becomes more relaxed. My meal on my Shabbos becomes a real Shabbos. It's the Shabbos of a Shabbos. I'm not living with this crazy stress and anxiety during the week. What does this have to do with the Mishkan? Why does Moshe Rabbeinu gather together the entire nations? We're going to talk about the Mishkan, but before we do, let's talk about Shabbos. If you want to make sure that the Mishkan doesn't turn into a chet ha'eigel, what's the introduction?

36:17 First, you have to talk about Shabbos. Because what could have happened by the Mishkan? The same way they worshipped the golden calf. They could have Chassvah Shalom come to worship the Mishkan. It's an amazing structure of the Mishkan. Look at all the kedusha in the Mishkan. I could worship the Mishkan. The Mishkan is just a tool in the hands of Hashem. What does Shabbos teach us? Shabbos says Don't look at the thing. That's just a vessel. Look at the thing beyond the thing. Hashem fills up your vessel. You're not in charge. You make the vessel. Hashem is in charge of filling it up. That's an introduction to the mishkan. The mishkan is a tool to serving Hashem. It's not the thing itself. Don't misplace where you put the importance. I'll share with you an amazing story that I learned from my father. My father, Baruch Hashem, was successful in business.

37:08 He had three successful things that he did in his career. The first is that he rose to be president of his company. Then he became the CEO of another company, and ultimately became the CEO of a third company. The second company, he was only there for a year and a half. He did very well there, but he really hated it. The first company is a company that he started in the mailroom, at the bottom of the company, and he built his way up until ultimately that company spun off, and he became the president of that company and was very successful. We moved from Far Rockaway to Lawrence. For those of you that don't know, in the five towns, back in the eighties, Far Rockaway was poor. Today, Far Rockaway is not poor, but back in the day, Far Rockaway was poor, and Lawrence was very wealthy. Moving from Farquhar to Lawrence was a huge social thing And not that long after we bought the house in Lawrence, my dad lost his job.

37:56 And as a 16-year-old kid, I was a little nervous. Maybe I was 15. I was a little nervous and I went to my dad. I said, Dad, what's going to be? It's weird if your dad doesn't go to work in the morning, especially if your dad's a hard worker who gets out of bed and doesn't go to work. That's a strange feeling. So I said to my dad, Dad, what's going to be? And my father is not the guy who speaks in a frum way at all At all. My father is the guy who, when I was growing up, he used to say, "A little learning never hurts, so let's learn as little as possible." He was not pushing Judaism on me. Far from it. So I said to my dad, "What's going to be?" And my father said to me, "When I had money" I was privileged to give tzedakah, and I hope that Hashem will give me money again. So that I could be privileged to give tzedakah again.

38:42 I've never heard my father say anything as from since, and he certainly never said anything that from before that. It was like one shining moment where my dad showed me who he truly was. I realized in that moment that my father wasn't making money for the sake of making money. He gave it over to Hashem, whether a matzliach or not. That's up to Hashem. He had his values in the right place. What was his money for? His money was for feeding his family. His money. We didn't take fancy vacations. We took the same vacation every single year. My parents are the type of people that once they find a vacation that works for them, they don't go on a different vacation. Some people like to take something new every year, and some people go to the same place. We went to a place called Anset, Massachusetts. The first summer that we went there, we rented a house on the beach. Anset, Massachusetts.

39:30 So you know Cape Cod. You know Anset. That's where I went every summer. We showed up day one. And the cops came around. They said there's a hurricane warning in effect. Everybody has to evacuate the area. We went to a hurricane shelter. There was a massive hurricane. All the boats washed up on houses, literally destroying houses left and right. All the houses had massive water damage. There was no electricity for a week. My parents decided it was such a good vacation. We went there every single summer for the rest of our lives. If you go to the shul in Hanset, Massachusetts, even today, you'll see on the wall a project that my brother did when he was in third grade. That year, after I think it was third or fourth grade, after the hurricane, my brother did his science project on that thing, and my parents sent it to the school. It's still up.

40:17 It's still up. It's over 30 years later. My brother's project is still up. It was the worst vacation ever. How come we didn't go on these exotic vacations? My dad was a CEO. My parents never cared about that. We never went to any of these fancy programs. We never wanted to spend time with their family. For my parents, the fact that there was a private beach, and we could just chill on the beach, play ball, hang out, take walks, and ride bikes, that was vacation for us. It didn't matter how much money my dad made. He wanted us to have time with the family. He wanted to give tzedakah. My father never put his name on any buildings. You'll never find my father's name on anything. He said, "Hashem gave me the money. I'm the steward over His money. All I am is responsible for doling it out. I want to put it in good places."

41:06 But whether or not I'm going to make the money That's not up to me. That's up to Hashem. A person cannot walk into the house of Hashem and serve Hashem in the Mishkan unless he has that value system, because otherwise he's going to look around the Beis Hamikdash and he's going to say,'Whoa' Look at the kedusha of the Beis Hamikdash. They're going to get distracted. They're not going to serve Hashem. They're going to serve the Beis Hamikdash. They're going to worship it like a golden calf. You want to make sure that you're actually worshiping Hashem. You're above the material. Hashem will give you the material that you need. Just make a vessel. Make it with integrity, make it according to halacha, and then give out the funds in the appropriate places. Do not fall for the trap of an excessive preoccupation with making money. Then your week is not a Shabbatik week, and your Shabbat is Chas v'Shalom, not a Shabbatik Shabbat. And on that note, girls, have a wonderful Shabbos.