ויבא משה בתוך הענן ויעל אל ההר, ויהי משה בהר ארבעים יום וארבעים לילה
“And Moshe came in the midst of the cloud and ascended the mountain, and Moshe was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.” Generally speaking, a day includes a night. Thus, had the Torah said, “forty days,” the assumption would be that it was forty days with forty nights. Why does the posuk have to say, “וארבעים לילה,” “And forty nights”?
“ויאמר ד' אל משה עלה אלי ההרה והיה שם” – “And Hashem said to Moshe: Ascend to Me, to the mountain, and be there.” It appears that the words “והיה שם,” “And be there” are extra, as if Moshe will ascend the mountain to Hashem, then he will be there. If one is in a room where his rebbe is giving a shiur, but his thoughts are completely elsewhere, while he may be physically in that room, he is not there. This is what the Torah is stressing here, that the command was to ascend to the heavens to learn the Torah Hakdosha, and “to be there”! It is known that the Ba’al Shem Tov used to say that where a person’s thoughts are, that is where he really is. (דברי ישראל)
There are so many days that we just traverse; we go through them, the days and the nights. We don’t focus on what we need to do; we just go through life. There is an important message that the Torah is giving us here, that we must take with us throughout our entire lives. Every moment that we are on this world is a gift from Hakodosh Boruch Hu, and we must utilize it to its fullest. The Torah tells us that there are days and there are nights. There are twenty-four hours to the day, sixty minutes to the hour, and sixty seconds to the minute. We must seek to utilize all of them.
We are human beings and have many physical needs that have to be attended to. However, the main question is what is one’s focus. Is his focus on avodas Hashem, doing what he needs to, and can’t wait to get back to the bais hamedrash, or is his focus on when he will get to enjoy all the gashmiyos of this world? There are times that one can do the proper thing and be in the bais medrash, but he is not really in the bais medrash. His mind is elsewhere, and he is not focused on the Torah he should be learning or the mitzvos he should be performing.
Klal Yisroel were commanded to give a half shekel so that they should think about what they are doing. Where is the other half? Why are they only giving a half? It is to remind us that we are not complete. No matter what one accomplishes in this world in coming close to Hashem, there is always more to do. One gives half a shekel to the Mishkan and remembers that he must constantly seek to give the “other half.” May we be zoche to utilize our days and nights and serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu lishma, for His sake, and not for any ulterior motives.
RABBI YAKOV YOSEF SCHECHTER
