Toras Avigdor Junior
Parshas Pekudei
Important Details
Shimmy and Yitzy Greenbaum walked home discussing the Mishkan. Their cheder was having a contest to see who could remember all of the details of the Mishkan and they both wanted to win the grand prize. But it was really hard – there were so many things to remember, there were kerashim, vavim, amudim, taba’os, and of course all of the keilim and their measurements…
“Hi Shimmy! Hi Yitzy!”
The Greenbaum boys looked up and saw Stevey Risnik, their next-door neighbor waving to them, holding what looked like two small cards in his hand.
“Hi Stevey,” both boys said politely.
“How are you?” Shimmy asked.
“Oh I’m doing so great!” gushed Stevey. “Look, I just got two new candy cards!”
“Candy cards?” asked Yitzy, confused. “What’s that?”
“You mean you don’t collect Jolly Munz candy cards?” asked Stevey in disbelief.
“No,” said Shimmy and Yitzy together.
“Seriously? You have to! I just got the two rarest cards, Sticky Stu and Mo Munchy! Look at their statistics and how much candy they make! Stu’s best year in candy volume was 2021 but he hit a 94.6% in tastiness back in 2019, no one ever scored so high in tastiness. I know the names of all of the Jolly Munz candy workers by heart and these two are the best! Mo Munchy has the highest sugar factor of any employee – he did over 700,000 candies in 2020 – and Sticky Stu is the reason Jolly Munz candies are stickier than any other candy, thanks to his secret formula. And that’s not to mention “High Fructose Fred” and “Caramel Craig” and all of the other people who make these delicious candies. And did you know that Chewy Charlie is the only person in the world to have successfully planted and grown candy corn in his backyard?”
Shimmy and Yitzy listened in bewilderment as Stevey continued to rattle off facts and statistics about the Jolly Munz Candy Factory and its employees. How did Stevey know all of this in such detail?
After a few minutes, the Greenbaum boys said goodbye to their neighbor and walked inside their house.
“Hi Shimmy! Hi Yitzy!” Totty greeted them with a smile. “How was cheder?”
“It was great,” answered Shimmy. “But can I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” said Totty.
“We were just talking to our neighbor, Stevey Risnik,” Shimmy began. “And he was telling us all about Candy Cards and the Jolly Munz workers. He even knows how many candies every employee makes each year! I don’t get it – why would anyone care about all of those silly details?”
“Hmmm…” said Totty. “That is an excellent question, and I agree with you that it is quite silly. But I think there is something we can learn from that about this week’s Parsha.”
“But Totty,” said Yitzy. “This week’s Parsha is about the Mishkan. What does candy have to do with it?”
Totty grinned. “Well, it doesn’t really have anything to do with candy, but did you notice at all how much the Torah talks about all of the details of the Mishkan?”
“Yes!” said Shimmy. “We have been chazering all of that for the contest in cheider! And besides for going over all of the details, the Torah already told us all of the things that were made for the Mishkan in Terumah and Tetzaveh, yet it repeats them again in Pekudei!”
“Exactly,” said Totty. “And do you know why? Because when something is important to us, even the smallest details are important. You know, when both of you were born, Mommy and I davened that you should be healthy, that you should have working hands and feet, your eyes should work, that you should be able to hear, and countless other things. Why? Because we love you so much that every single detail about your health and wellbeing is important to us. So too, when Klal Yisroel built the Mishkan, we understood that Hashem living among us was the most important thing in the world. Therefore every single detail is important and not one thing can be left out!
“Now, for someone who the most important thing in his life is something silly like Jolly Munz candy, then instead of caring about and memorizing the details of the Mishkan, they may instead waste their time studying all of the details of candy workers.”
“Boruch Hashem, we know what’s really important,” beamed Yitzy. “Who cares about how many candies some worker makes every year?”
“Yeah,” chimed in Shimmy. “I am so happy that we are Torah Yidden who care more about Hashem’s Presence than tastiness percentages and sugar factors.”
“Ah!” Totty exclaimed. “How lucky we are to spend our time learning the details of what is truly meaningful in life. Ashreinu mah tov chelkeinu!”
Have A Wonderful Shabbos!