If We Really Want It, Hashem Will Take Care of the Rest

R. Rafi Rosenblum

In perek לו  pasuk ב the Torah tells us:ויקרא משה אל בצלאל ואל אהליאב ואל כל איש חכם לב אשר נתן ה' חכמה בלבו כל אשר נשאו לבו לקרבה אל המלאכה לעשת אתה - Moshe called to Betzalel, and Oholiav, and all the wise-hearted man whose heart Hashem endowed with wisdom, everyone whose heart inspired him to approach the work to do it. If the Torah is giving us a list of all the people who helped build the Mishkan, why doesn't the last part of the pasuk write וכל אשר נשאו לבו - AND to everyone whose heart inspired him to approach...? It should read that Betzalel, Oholiav, the wise hearted men, and everyone who was inspired to do the work all came to help. The Chafetz Chaim answered that this wasn't another group of people who were helping build the Mishkan. This was a REASON that Betzalel, Oholiav, and the wise-hearted were able to build the Mishkan. Where did they get the skills to know how to build the Mishkan? Why were these men chosen to be the lucky ones to actually build a home for Hashem’s presence in this world? The answer is that they were inspired to approach the work to do it. When Hashem saw that they wanted it so badly, He gave them the ability to do it.

The Gemara in Makkos tells us בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך בו מוליכין אותו - the path that a person wants to travel on, is the path that Hashem guides them down. This is a very important lesson for all of us. If we show Hashem that something is important to us and that we really want it, He will help us obtain it. All Hashem wants is to see that we want it. If He sees that, He will help us accomplish what we have set out to do. The Midrash in שיר השירים פרק ה אות ב says פתחו לי פתח כחודה של מחט ואני אפתח לכם כפתחו של אולם – if you open up an opening the size of a needle, I (Hashem) will open up an opening the size of a ballroom. All that we need to do is start the work and we can then leave the rest up to Hashem. When Rav Shlomo Freifeld, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Shar Yashuv, used to interview people for the Yeshiva, he would ask them if they wanted to learn. If they wanted to learn they were accepted into the Yeshiva, regardless of their background. As the Gemara says, רחמנא ליבא באי - Hashem wants heart. If we show that we really want it, we can rest assured that Hashem will take care of the rest.