Giving credit when and where credit is due

In just about all of the instructions for the making of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), the Torah utilizes the singular “V’asita” – and you shall do or make – the items for the Mishkan. “V’Asu” – and they shall make” – appears only twice.

The Midrash Rabba (35:3) asks what should be the obvious question. These instructions are being given to Moshe who was the conceptual theorist, the instructor, not an architect or a builder. So why is he the one being told “You shall make?” The Torah even tells us that Betzalel and Oholiav made the Mishkan. (36:1)

The Midrash concludes – perhaps also obviously – that Moshe’s role was instruction (“Moshe L’Talmud”) while Betzalel’s role was one of action and doing (“Betzalel L’mayseh”).

But where the Midrash moves from the obvious to the profound is in the very next sentence. “From this the Rabbis said to give merit for a task as if one has done it. This is what we find with Moshe: Betzalel did all the work for the Mishkan, and nonetheless the Almighty made it as if Moshe had done it, as it says, ‘And the Mishkan of G-d that Moshe made in the wilderness (Divrei Hayamim I 21:29)’.”

While the Midrash does not spell out exactly what it means, a simple reading between the lines will enlighten our reading of this passage.

The Midrash is not saying Moshe did nothing. The Midrash is also not saying Betzalel isn’t given credit. The Mishkan was absolutely built by Betzalel, and Moshe did not play any significant role in the physical construction of the building.

How then does Moshe share equal billing as a maker of the Mishkan?

Think of it this way:

If you build a new house or fix up something in your home, who gets the credit? The workmen who poured the concrete and laid the tile? Or you? There may be some people who do the actual work in their homes, but then they say, “I did it myself.” If someone else did the actual labor, the people who sponsored the project will still say, “We built the house. We fixed up the kitchen.” No you didn’t! All you did was pay for it.

Or, as President Obama famously said, “You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”