In last week’s Torah portion of Pekudei, towards the end, we read how Moshe basically finishes building the Mishkan. He stops all donations, no more money is necessary, all the vessels have been constructed, everything’s ready to roll, and they put up the Mishkan. Moshe supervises that, and then it says that the cloud of God, representing the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, rests on the Mishkan, the tabernacle, and after that, Moshe can no longer enter the tabernacle, because at the end of the day, even though he is the greatest prophet of the Jewish people that ever lived, he’s still not a Kohen, he’s not part of the priestly class, so he’s not allowed to enter into the midst of the Mishkan.
It’s such a powerful lesson that we learn from this, because we see that Moshe, putting all his energy, everything that he has, into building this Mishkan, and at the end of the day, he can’t fully benefit from the fruits of his labor. And, in fact, we see this also later on, where he does everything to bring the Jewish people to the land of Israel, and yet he himself cannot partake in that incredible reward of actually entering the land. And the lesson here is that the purpose of our work, and all the effort that we invest, is not necessarily to enjoy the fruit of our labor, it’s the actual, the work itself, the investment, because what we’re really doing is investing in the next generation, and by them being able to benefit from that, then that’s how we gain our reward, that’s how we partake in the fruit, through our generations, through our children, through our grandchildren.
So, we should just understand that even though we might not see the fruit of our labor, that doesn’t mean that all the effort that we’re expending, all the investments that we’re making, are not worthy. In fact, just the opposite, it’s all the work, the effort that we’re investing, that’s how we get our reward, and the fruits of our investment in our labor will come, God-willing, from our children, our grandchildren, and the generations that we will, God-willing, be leaving behind.
So, may God bless us all to be able to make these kinds of investments, and give us the strength to put the effort in, and that even though we might personally not see the fruits of our labor, that shouldn’t discourage us, but it should give us chizuk, it should give us strength, in the knowledge that we will be benefiting through our children, and grandchildren, and all the generations that we leave behind.