Making sense of the sedra: Pekudei

Rabbi Abe Goldberg was distressed at the lack of generosity among his congregants, and he prayed that they should give more tzedakah (charity) to help support the shul expenses, namely the renovations that were long overdue. On Shabbat, he announced to his congregation: “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we have enough money to pay for our new project; the bad news is that the money is still in your pockets.”

There are many worthy causes that we need to raise money for, and it is often up to the leader of the community to raise those funds and oversee the projects. Being in a position of power is a huge responsibility and also a big test. What expenses are truly needed for ‘the cause’? Money raised by the community should only be used for the purpose for which it was collected. And yet, money and power can corrupt people, leading them to rationalise and justify expenses that are not actually needed.

“Veheyisem neki-im – you shall be clear before Hashem and before Israel” (Numbers 32:22) . As Jewish people, we are warned of the importance of transparency and responsibility. Even if we keep to the letter of the law, we should make sure to be open and clear with others to ensure that they know how we are spending communal funds.

We learn this from Moshe in parashat Pekudei when he announces, in great detail, a long list of every item produced for the Tabernacle and the materials used to create them. Why was it necessary for him to do this? Rabbi Sacks quotes a Midrash that describes how the community viewed him: “People criticised Moses. They used to say to one another, ‘Look at that neck. Look at those legs. Moses is eating and drinking what belongs to us. All that he has belongs to us.’ The other would reply: ‘A man who is in charge of the work of the sanctuary – what do you expect? That he should not get rich?’ As soon as he heard this, Moses replied, ‘By your life, as soon as the Sanctuary is complete, I will make a full reckoning with you’ (Tanchuma, Buber, Pekudei, 4).”

Either in response to this complaint or in order to prevent the people from accusing him of misappropriating the money for himself, Moshe took the time to explain all his expenses.

It is not only leaders who need to consider these laws. Anyone in the working world could inadvertently waste resources or spend unnecessary company funds. Mistakes can happen, but an awareness of our responsibility to remain ‘clean’ in the eyes of our fellow workers can help us to be careful when spending. Every day, we have opportunities to not only be honest in our dealings, but to be so squeaky clean that others are impressed with our integrity.

Especially now, when the world seems to be searching for what we are doing wrong, let us work together and show them how hard we work to make sure that we do things right – with honesty, integrity and generosity.