I am Blessed Today

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, I'm Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation Beth Israel in Houston.
In the cycle of weekly tour aportions, we come nearly
to the end of the Book of Exodus in a
portion called vy Jakal, not a fancy Hebrew word, but
it means when Moses gathered the people, and Moses was

(00:21):
gathering up the community of people the Kahal called in
Hebrew to build the Tabernacle. Everyone was due to bring
something that they could contribute to its construction and its
presence in the community of the people that would help
them to identify God's presence when they traveled along the

(00:42):
way and when they settled for the night. In the
portion basal Ale and Holy of the Contractors, the craftsmen
who were going to lead all the people in assembling
them the tabernacle were called into service. And the tour
aportion and the rabbinic interpretation help us understand that while

(01:02):
God commanded Moses according to all the instruction about how
to construct the tabernacle and all that needed to be done,
God didn't directly invest batsal Ale with the same instruction
basal Ale and Ohliov did like or according to moses
instruction as Moses heard it. The point is that is

(01:26):
bittsal Ale and Oholiev went about their job helping all
the Israelites fulfill their role in constructing the Tabernacle. They
guided the people according to how they understood what needed
to be done, and in that little gap between what
God commanded Moses and what basal Ale and Oholiev understood

(01:49):
needed to be done, was very little misunderstanding. And the
point is that even in our own way, we understand
with all our heart and soul very often what needs
to be done. And even if we didn't hear it directly,
or we weren't commanded specifically like God commanded Moses, the

(02:12):
people whom Moses entrusted with the job, the instructions, the blueprints,
so to speak, were prepared and ready to do that
very sacred work. And in fact, we come to the
end of the purer portion where Moses brings all the
people together and says, first, you've brought more than is

(02:33):
needed for this project. The capital campaign is done and
even oversubscribed, and God blessed all the people for all
that they had done. It doesn't say that Moses would
bless them in the future perhaps after checking all of
their work, but that in fact all the people responded

(02:53):
in such a fulfilled way, a sacred way, that Moses
blessed them for all that they did. So let's take
the lesson to heart and realize that sometimes those of
us who are in a position of some authority or supervision,
we have people who respond to our orders, our instructions,

(03:14):
our direction. Their job description is clear to them, but
what they need to do often come from somebody above them,
from you or from me. And when we do we
have a tendency either to be a micromanager or to
be the kind of leader who lets them get on
with the job that they were called up to do

(03:35):
and hire to do well. Micromanagers are known to look
over people's shoulders and never let them really make the
decisions they know they need to make, and makes them
nervous along the way. And when the job does get done,
everyone can celebrate the achievement, but the person in whose
hands it was meant to get done doesn't always feel

(03:58):
that he or sheep everything that needed to be done.
Maybe they don't feel completely satisfied because somebody was always
over them looking at it, and those who leave it
in the hands of the ones who are instructed can
go about their business, do what they need to, and
then when the job is due and the deadline is met,

(04:21):
everyone can celebrate in the person in whose hands it
was really entrusted to get done, can feel accomplished and
can feel congratulated. That's really what was going on in
the tour portion. It isn't that Moses needed all the
accolades and all the recognition for the job that got done,
but rather to lift up the people to be sure

(04:43):
that they understood that as they knew the sacred work
that they were contributing to, that they felt accomplished, they
were connected to the construction of the tabernacle, and that
when God led them, the people would follow. So let's
break it down even a little bit more. Many of
us are parents at home with children, and we give

(05:05):
them an instruction for the day. They know they want
to do well. We know that we know that they
should do well, and we want them to. But do
we follow them along? Do we track their phone? Do
we follow every footstep? Do we sort of check on
them at every moment? Some parents do. Oh, and they're

(05:27):
all kinds of names that are given to such parents.
As helicopter parents or just two invasive parents. And sometimes
it works, sometimes it doesn't. You'll have to pick your
own style. But what we're really training our children to
do is to grow up, to spread their wings and
define their way, because they know inherently when they've done well,

(05:51):
and they know instinctively when they've done badly. The punishment
should meet the crime, so to speak, but so should
the forgiveness and the conditional love. And when we lay
out expectations, we lay out what needs to be done.
We should give that trust and that sense of responsibility
to our children with confidence that when the job is done,

(06:14):
we can all look at it with pride and we
can congratulate our children for what they did because they listened,
they understood, and even if it wasn't perfect. You know,
I learned in school that even in ninety percent is
a pretty good a grade. And while many of us
were perfectionists and aim for even higher grades, we had
to accomplish so much, sometimes at once, that we had

(06:37):
to settle on doing as well as we could, even
if it wasn't perfect. And children need to know that
practice makes perfect is just an old saying. We do practice,
but even if it isn't perfect, it's acceptable, it's loved,
and it's appreciated. They also grow up to feel confident

(06:58):
in themselves as they go along their way. So let's
take it out of the parents' household in parents' hands.
What if we are supervisors at work? What kind of
work do we want people to do well? Obviously the
very best that they can do for the company or
the organization, the nonprofit. But as long as they understand
what our expectations are, what the strategy is, what the

(07:21):
outcome should be, what we're delivering to others, then we
need to trust that the decision first to hire them
in the first place was the right one, and second
that the work that they do will meet the standards
of the organization because you yourself made them clear. And
then evaluate honestly and carefully the work that was done.

(07:44):
If it wasn't done as well as you needed, then
timely appropriate comments are helpful and instructive. But if it
was done well, then lift the person up congratulate that
person as well, because even if they didn't hear it
from the time as God spoke to Moses, they understood
exactly what needed to be done and probably knew well

(08:07):
what the expectations were, the same is true in so
many areas of our life, and even in our own
relationship to God. We study Torah, we study our sacred
texts in our respective faith traditions. We study well to
be sure that we understand what is obligated of us.
But sometimes when we can't get it perfectly, or just

(08:28):
because we didn't hear it straight from Moses, doesn't mean
that we don't understand it, doesn't mean that we need
somebody to tell it to us in specific words all
the time. If we've listened, we've studied, we've regarded it well,
then we too are in relationship to God, and we
too can come to our own conclusions about what God

(08:49):
meant by this. And if it is in the by
means of a teacher, a rabbi, and imam a minister,
then we might get closer to what is expected, also
understand how to interpret that expectation, to be sure that
in our own way and our own household and our
own life, based on our own circumstances, we can get

(09:12):
it right too. And if we do believe in an
unconditionally loving God who is forgiving, then there is room
for air and one hundred percent is not the grade
that we need to achieve every day. We can achieve
ninety five percent. But you know what, seventy five percent
is a C grade too, and that's average. And sometimes

(09:35):
we are just average on some days. But at the
end of the day, when we put our head on
the pillow at night, if we can say to ourselves
that I made a difference, I did the best that
I could, I didn't harm anybody, I didn't upset any circumstances,
then we did well. We passed the grade, and we're

(09:56):
at peace, and we can sleep at night looking forward
to the next day to do a little better if
we need, or to do the same if we must.
But always to know that in covenant and relationship with God,
we don't always have to tune in to the religious leader.
There's no one today that sits on the mountain as
Moses did on Sinai. No one hears a direct line

(10:18):
or word from God. And though there are insights and
moments of inspiration and epiphanies, we have to be cautious
not to believe that they are actual words from God,
but inspirations from God's presence in our life. Because as
seekers of God. Sometimes there are those moments of insight

(10:42):
and enlightenment that help us to see more clearly than
ever before what our teachings are meant to help us
to do and to be. But getting it right all
the time isn't a God and Moses moment. It is
a moment between God and us. And those moments are
filled with our sense of good intentions, our sense of

(11:05):
honesty and sincerity. And because they are, we don't really
have to doubt or be doubted about what we're aiming
to do. So in Vya Khale, in this Tora abortion,
when God instructs Moses about all that needs to be done,
but sal al and aly of and all the people

(11:28):
did just as Moses would have wanted them to do,
and they were not judged, they were not disparaged, they
were not criticized. All that they brought was something that
came from their sincere hearts, and in that relationship it
all got done. So as Moses assembled them later and

(11:49):
said that everything had been brought and nothing more had
to be attained, Moses blessed them in that place. And
that's the privilege we need to provide ourselves to not
only to give the blessing, the okay, the high evaluation
for a job well done. To those who are our employees,

(12:10):
or our underlings or our children, they need to hear
from us, good job, thank you for living up to
our expectations. I'm proud of you. All of those words
help them to know that they understood the power of
the relationship, the need of the job to be well done.

(12:30):
And even if there was room for some improvement, it
can be couched and wrapped in positive words because we
know that their intentions were good even if the deed
didn't completely succeed. The room for improvement is an opportunity
to feel lifted up and the opportunity to do better.

(12:51):
And sometimes when we have to separate employment from a position,
it's not to say they fail, but they would succeed
better somewhere else where the fit would suit them in
a better way. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation Beth
Israel and Houston. To listen again or to share this message,

(13:11):
you'll find it on my podcast called Heart to Heart
with Rabbi David Lyon at Sunny ninety nine dot com,
on the iHeartRadio app and so as the week continues,
let's consider all the jobs we're in. Some we direct,
some we listen too. Sometimes we're the supervisor, sometimes we're

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the supervised, and all the different roles that we play.
If we bring our best intention, our sense of sincerity,
our sense of usefulness and helpfulness, then we are like
all the people whom bitsal Al and Holy off instructed.
We are the people who understood what God and Moses
wanted of them. We too are like the children of God,

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whose God has taught, who has ministers and rabbis and
he moms to guide us. But ultimately, in personal relationship
between God and us, we will do the very best
that we can. I hope that at the end of
each day you'll put your hat on the pillow and
say I did my best. I didn't hurt anybody. I
help someone today and tomorrow can be another opportunity to

(14:19):
do the same a little bit better or maybe even
much better. But let's do the best we can today,
because in this world of hurt and hurting in many places,
it depends on each of us to understand what God
has commanded us personally to do at the very best,
and even when we can't, to try again the next day.

(14:41):
Thank you for joining me now, and I look forward
to being with you again next time.