Once the Mishkan and its utensils were completed, the Torah tells us that Moshe assembled the Mishkan and set everything up.
“He (Moshe) took the Tablets and placed them in the Ark; he fixed the poles to the Ark, placed the cover on top of the Ark, and brought the Ark inside the Tabernacle. Then he put up the curtain for screening, and screened off the Ark of the Covenant ... He placed the table in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain, on the north side of the Tabernacle. Upon it he laid out the setting of bread before G-d .... He placed the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the table, on the south side of the Tabernacle. And he lit the lamps before G-d .... He placed the altar of gold in the Tent of Meeting, before the curtain. On it he burned aromatic incense—as G-d had commanded Moshe.” (40:20-27)
We see that once Moshe would situate a utensil, e.g. the Table, then he was to place the showbread on the Table. When he placed the Menorah, he was to light the Menorah. This was despite the fact that the rest of the Mishkan was still not set up.
Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to place everything first before lighting the Menorah or placing the luchos in the Ark or loading the bread or burning incense.
MANY YEARS AGO one of my sons was always challenged when getting up for school. He could never find his shoes. For some reason he would misplace them and because he could not find his shoes he was unable to start getting dressed despite the shoes being the last thing he would put on.
When I started in my current position, I reviewed an organisation that was 35 years old and hadn’t achieved a lot. So I had one strategy – to chase down every opportunity and not get fussed about how success was achieved. I reasoned that we could go back and tidy things up at a later stage. This approach has generated in almost two decades a 6000% increase in results.
Sometimes waiting for all the stars to align, means waiting a long time and not getting things done.
As soon as Moshe had the opportunity to achieve something, he did it even if other aspects had yet to be completed. Action trumps waiting for everything to be just right.
