The Value of Our Bekishe | Rabbi Nosson Muller

The Pasuk tells us, And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst. We don't have a Beis Hamikdash today, we don't have a Mishkan, but we know what Chazal tell us, that ‘in their midst’ means in each and every one. Every human being, every Yid, is a walking Mishkan. There's something fascinating. There are two Parshas in the Torah, Teruma and Tetzaveh, which discuss the building of the Mishkan, the vessels, the garments. And then comes Vayakhel-Pekudei and literally repeats, step by step, move by move, brick by brick, of building the Mishkan, the garments, the altar, all the vessels. What is going on? No extra words in the Torah ever. Every letter, every Kotz is darshened, and all of a sudden, the Torah has no problem spending literally over 150 Psukim, repeating specifically, exactly, what was just said in Teruma and Tetzaveh. There are dozens of ויעש ויעש ויעש ויעשו ויעשו ויעשו again and again. All we needed was one Pasuk, And Bnei Yisroel had done according to all that Hashem had commanded Moshe. That's it. What's this whole lengthiness? But I believe the question isn’t a question. You could only ask that question if we think that the things that we do to Hakadosh Baruch Hu are minimal. ויעשו, we did it. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sending us a message here. Every time a Yid does something and every time a Yid doesn't do something that he isn't supposed to do, you know how important it is by Him? You know how special it is by Him? Hakadosh Baruch Hu writes on every ויעש that a Yid does, every single one is so precious, that he's going to write it again and again and again. ויעש, ויעש, ויעש and ויעש. The heiliger Rebbe, R’ Shmelke from Nikolsburg, a Yid once came to him, a poor man came, Erev Shabbos. He said: Rebbe, Shabbos is coming. I don’t have what to eat. I have nothing. Not Challos, not wine, not fish. And the Rebbe, R’ Shmelke, looked around in his pockets. He looked in his drawers. Nothing. He said: R’ Yid, I have nothing for you. He said: Rebbe, what am I going to do? And the Rebbe, R’ Shmelke, remembered. He says: You know, I have an old bekishe sitting in my closet. I don't need it anymore. I don't use it. Maybe you'll sell it and whatever money you have you can use for Shabbos. And he gives it to this poor man and he wishes him a good Shabbos. A few minutes later, the Rebbe, R’ Shmelke’s Rebbetzin comes into the room and says, Where's your old bekishe? So he says: Oh, there was a poor man here. He didn't have what to eat. I figured: Let me give it to him. Who needs it? It's ripped a little bit here, there. And she says: You don't understand. The one piece of jewelry that I had left, the one piece of jewelry that my mother left me, a gold chain which I wear every single Shabbos, I used to hide it. There's so many people always in the house. I hid it in that pocket of the bekishe. And R’ Shmelke says: What? And he goes and he starts running after this Yid. He was a few blocks away and he catches up to him. He says: R’ Yid, R’ Yid. And he says: Rebbe, what? What? You gave me permission. What’s this? He says: No, no, no. I just want to tell you that when you sell the bekisher, you should know that there's a gold chain in the pocket. Don't take cheap money for it. Take big bucks. It's worth a lot more than you think. Hakadosh Baruch Hu needs our bekishe. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants every act of Mitzvah. But we, we have to know that it's not just an act of Mitzvah. It's gold. Every time we do something and every time we don't do something then Hakadosh Baruch Hu looks down and says, It's not just what you're doing. The value, the ויעש that you did, the ויעשו that you did, is a ‘And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst.’ We have to remember that every day, we have to live it every day, and most importantly, we have to treasure it every day.