Parshas Terumah 5781
“Why I am I stuck with this task?” “This isn’t what I signed up for.” “I’m a leader, not a gopher.” “This is beneath me.”
I hear (and, admittedly, make) comments such as these whenever talking to rabbinic colleagues. I have no doubt, though, that similar frustrations plague people in all sorts of other professional roles. You’ve advanced, hold a position that should be defined by high-level objectives, and somehow you end up copying and collating, stuffing and shlepping. Shouldn’t this be someone else’s job?
The Mishna in Menachos (96a) notes that the Mishkan was arranged symmetrically, with the various furnishings of the Mishkan arranged by length and breadth according to the layout of the Mishkan itself. The length of the Shulchan and Mizbeach ran parallel to the length of the Mishkan; the breadth of these objects were parallel with the breadth of the edifice that surrounded them.
The outlier seems to be the Aron Kodesh. As the Kohen Gadol walked the full length of the Mishkan, on that fateful once-a-year procession into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, what he beheld upon entering was the length of the Aron Kodesh, not its breadth. This means that the length of the Aron ran parallel to the width of the Mishkan. Why didn’t the holiest object in the Mishkan match the overall motif?
Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky explains simply, that this is just a question of what you include when measuring the Aron Kodesh. The Aron was equipped with poles that ran along each of its shorter sides. If you measure only the box, then the length of the Aron was misaligned with the Mishkan. But if you include the poles, everything changes. The poles were mounted on the breadth of the Aron, so that if we consider the poles as part of the Aron itself, what was the length is now the breadth and vice-versa. The Aron becomes aligned with the Mishkan and the other furnishings. Problem solved.
But a different problem surfaces. Why would you count the poles as part of the Mishkan itself? The Mishkan stood at the apex of the Mishkan because it housed for the luchos—the actual word of G-d—and because it served as the “landing pad” for the Divine Presence. The poles existed for utilitarian purposes alone. Why include the poles in the measurement of the Aron itself if they existed only to transport the Aron?
Perhaps this is precisely the point. Yes, the Aron fulfills its true purpose only once it is installed into the Kodesh HaKodashim. But the poles are what make that possible, and are therefore considered no less a part of the Aron than any other component. If you want a Mishkan that is built around the Aron Kodesh, if you want the luchos given to Moshe to serve as the mainframe for the sanctity pulsating throughout the rest of the Mishkan, if you want a vessel for the Shechinah, you need the poles as a means of transporting the Aron to the Mishkan. If without the poles there is no Aron Kodesh, then the poles are the Aron Kodesh.
To be sure, every organization needs to ask itself how best to utilize its employees and volunteers so that each can make the highest level of contribution possible. If the VP of Sales is handling all the tasks that should be going to interns, you’re underutilizing your talent and paying too much for photocopying.
But leaders invariably do end up with tasks that are not part of the job description and don’t appear to serve as a fulfillment of their stated goals. So how do we cope with this reality? How do we not bemoan dealing with the nuts and bolts critical to the fulfillment of the goal that doesn’t bear the same appeal and luster as those higher-level tasks? By viewing that work in the same way the Torah views the poles of the Mishkan. That whatever is necessary in reaching the objective is of equal importance and value.
Part of the key is to consider in advance what it will take to cross the finish line. If we can anticipate from the outset that there will be less glamorous chores that will by necessity need to get done, we’ll be in much better position to whistle while we work. What ambitious people crave more than anything are results. By reminding ourselves from the outset of what it will take to achieve those results, every necessary task along the way takes on greater meaning and can be accomplished with greater joy. If we anticipate the poles being there, we’ll be more welcoming of their presence at the sides of the Aron Kodesh.