Moshe Rabenu was probably one of the wisest people that ever lived. This week’s parsha, though, points out a problem Moshe had. Hashem instructed Moshe to construct the Menorah, but Moshe did not understand. He worked on figuring it out but could not. Hashem after seeing that Moshe did not understand it showed him a picture of what it should look like. One of the lessons we see from this story is that even Moshe, the greatest prophet that ever lived, did not understand everything immediately.

My mom has reminded me a few times of one time I was having problems doing my math homework when I was younger. I could not understand the question. Therefore, I threw my textbook across the room while yelling and screaming. That is the way a child reacts when they cannot understand something.

Our gedolim (great rabbis) react differently. They admit their fault. They say “I don’t know.” There’s a famous story of one of the gedolim of the last generation, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. He was applying to be Rosh Yeshiva at Kol Torah and was asked by the administration to give a class. During the class, he was asked a very difficult question that he did not know the answer to and admitted this to the students. After the lecture, he told his wife how he did not know an answer and felt that it would be impossible for him to get the job of Rosh Yeshiva due to this. A short time later, the administration of the yeshiva came to his house inviting him to be the new Rosh Yeshiva. They explained that since he was willing to admit when he does not know an answer, this makes him a great person and definitely is someone that the students can learn a lot from.

Many people get annoyed if they do not know an answer. They think they need to understand everything. People are not perfect and people do not know everything. Even Moshe did not know everything! We can respond like a child throwing a book across a room or we can respond like our gedolim. I recommend following our gedolim (for some reason, they are always doing good things!)

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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