Για να το διαβάσετε στα Ελληνικά, κάντε κλικ εδώ
All too regularly, we hear the upsetting news that “Politician x embezzled funds” or “Organization director y was caught in fraud”. Efforts are made all over the world to stop the deceptions and corruption. But we, the modern civilization, are not the first to tackle this problem.
In this week’s Parasha Pekude, Moses does deals with the very same issue. He records and files all the donations that the Jewish people brought to the Tabernacle with total transparency. All the gold, the silver, the bronze, the precious stones, everything was weighted and accounted precisely, so that no one can suspect Moses or his helpers that they may have taken some part for themselves.
Our Sages, learning from this Parasha, tell us that those who raise funds for charities and organizations should be “clean” in front of G-d and in front of the community. It is not enough to be honest, we also need to appear honest to the eyes of everyone. In other words, we need to always be ready to give an account of our actions.
After 120, when we come Above, we will have to give an account There. We will be asked and judged for the actions we did while we were here on earth.
According to the Talmud, the first question we will be asked is not “Did you believe in G-d?” or “Did you fast on Yom Kippur?” but “Were you honest in your businesses?”. We will not be asked about how religious we were but how did we manage our shop.
The second question we will be asked is “Did you study the Torah?”. It seems that study is one a basics of Judaism. It is the key that leads to everything else. It is not by chance that Jews are called the People of the Book… Yet it is puzzling that many very educated Jews are well versed in all the wisdoms of the world except in their own, the infinite wisdom of the Torah and the Talmud…
When we drive and commit an infraction, claiming we did not know the traffic laws will not save us from getting a fine. “I didn’t know” is not a valid excuse.
It is the same with Torah study. It is so accessible that we can not pretext that we did not know how to study. There are so many interesting Torah classes at Chabad of Greece. There are also rabbis who can study with you and naturally, there are endless articles on the internet but also plenty of books. If we sincerely want to study, we will find the way.
Let’s put everything on our side so that when the time comes to eb questioned up There if we handled our businesses honestly and if we studied Torah, the answer will be yes to both questions.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hanna