Pearls of Wisdom from the Parshah
“And Moshe blessed them.” He said to them, “May it be His Will that the Shechinah should rest upon the work of your hands. ‘And may the pleasantness of Hashem our G-d be upon us....’” (Rashi)
After all the work of constructing the Mishkan was finally finished, Moshe blessed the people. Simply understood, this was a blessing to them for their efforts in building the Mishkan.
But the pasuk emphasizes that “as Hashem commanded, so they performed it.” This was not a voluntary act on the part of the people. They were obligated to make the Mishkan, and had they been lax in doing so, it would have been a serious sin.
But when they did the work well, all according to Hashem’s command, Moshe showed his pleasure and approval, and blessed them that “the pleasantness of Hashem” should rest upon them.
This teaches us an important practical lesson. At home, the wife prepares the house nicely, and sometimes it takes hard work, for instance on Erev Shabbos, when a lot of effort goes into preparing various tasty foods and cleaning up the house, with all the toil it entails.
It is common for the husband to think to himself that it’s simply her job. That’s what she’s supposed to do. Due to this attitude, he forgets to smile to her and bless her that Hashem’s pleasantness should rest upon the work of her hands.
The husband should rather learn from Moshe Rabbeinu who blessed the Jewish people that the Shechinah should rest among them. This is the most wonderful of all blessings. It includes all the blessings and all the pleasant things.
We see this also in Parshas Shemini. After Moshe and Aharon finished offering korbanos in the newly erected Mishkan, it is written:
Moshe and Aharon came to the Tent of Meeting and went out and blessed the people.
Also there, Rashi explains that they blessed the people this same blessing, that the Shechinah should rest upon the work of their hands, “And may the pleasantness of Hashem our G-d be upon us....”
So we see that the people were worthy of a blessing twice. Once here, when they made their efforts to construct the Mishkan, and a second time in Parshas Shemini, when Moshe and Aharon actually made use of the “work of their hands.”
The wife puts her efforts into her work in the “miniature Beis Hamikdash” of the Jewish home. This is a form of avodah. And the Jewish home is a place where the Shechinah and peace dwell when husband and wife act meritoriously.
She deserves a double blessing and pleasantness and a smile. Once, right away on Erev Shabbos when the work is done, and everything is ready for the evening meal. And again at night after the se’udah, when the avodas hakodesh of the Shabbos meal has been completed and all the tasty foods were tasted and eaten. At that point, the wife deserves a second blessing.
Chazal say:
Someone who is ungrateful to his friend will eventually become ungrateful to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
Showing appreciation to human beings is equated to showing appreciation to Hashem. When it comes to Hashem, we must bless twice, once before and once after. The same goes with showing appreciation to our fellow human beings. We should bless them twice for what they did, once before we benefit from their efforts and once afterward, as Moshe blessed the Jewish people.
