וַיַּרְא מֹשֶׁה אֶת־כׇּל־הַמְּלָאכָה וְהִנֵּה עָשׂוּ אֹתָהּ כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה' כֵּן עָשׂוּ וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם מֹשֶׁה׃
And when Moshe saw that they had performed all the tasks—as Hashem had commanded, so they had done—Moshe blessed them. (39:43)
What was the blessing? Rashi writes: "He said to them, יְהִי רָצוֹן שֶׁתִּשְׁרֶה שְׁכִינָה בְמַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיכֶם, ‘May it be the will of God that His Shechinah (Divine Presence) rest upon the work of your hands.’" And then he said the verse found in Tehilim (Psalms) 90:17 that we recite at the conclusion of every Shabbat: וִיהִי נֹעַם ד’ אֱלֹקינוּ עָלֵינוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ כּוֹנְנָה עָלֵינוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ כּוֹנְנֵהוּ, ‘and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and let the work of our hands be established upon us (i.e. prosper), the work of our hands be established!’
When Moshe said, “the work of your hands,” which work was he referring to? Simply understood it was referring to the construction of the Mishkan, its vessels, and the Priestly Garments.
Rabbi Chaim Freidlander, of blessed memory, suggested a broader interpretation. The work of your hands means not only the construction of the Mishkan but everything that you do! Moshe was saying that with the Mishkan as the center of the nation’s focus, the holiness of the Mishkan will permeate through everything they do. And then the Shechina will rest upon every facet of their lives.
We mentioned above that the verse, וִיהִי נֹעַם ד’ אֱלֹקינוּ עָלֵינוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ כּוֹנְנָה עָלֵינוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ כּוֹנְנֵהוּ, ‘and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and let the work of our hands be established upon us, the work of our hands be established!’ is recited at the conclusion of every Shabbat. As we return to our daily activities, we use Moshe’s blessing as a prayer of success for the coming week. Rabbi Freidlander commented that based on the interpretation presented above there’s a deeper message in these words. Just as Moshe blessed the Jewish people that through the Mishkan the Shechina would rest upon everything that they would do, so too we are praying that the Shabbat we have just observed should bring the Shechina to rest upon everything we do the coming week! Just as when the Mishkan was the focal point of the Jewish people its holiness brought the Shechina into everything they would do, so too when Shabbat is the focal point of our week, its holiness permeates the coming days and all its activities.
It’s up to us to utilize Shabbat to its fullest through prayer and Torah study so that we can receive Moshe’s blessing.
May we all be blessed with the parsha’s blessing of:
יְהִי רָצוֹן שֶׁתִּשְׁרֶה שְׁכִינָה בְמַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיכֶם
May it be the will of God that His Shechinah rest upon the work of your hands!
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak