The NFL Combine

It wasn’t long ago that the typical football fan simply watched his team’s games each week and checked in again for the Super Bowl.    During the six month offseason, the fan would focus his attention to other sports, or to his family. 

Following football has evolved since then, and one clear sign of this phenomenon was this past week’s obsession with the NFL Combine, a way for NFL teams to assess players joining the league from college. 

These young men participate in a 40-yard dash, bench press, and vertical leap and more.  Interviews, personality tests, intelligence tests, medical evaluations.  The goal of the combine is to gather objective raw data for scouts and managers to more accurately assess a player’s value. 

But the combine is flawed.  Treating football players like specimens causes teams to pass on shorter quarterbacks such as Russel Wilson and Drew Brees, the combine failed to measure the grit of a Tom Brady, and impressive performances have led to countless busts in NFL history (ask any Jets fan for some examples.) 

For the past month, we have been reading about the Mishkan.  We studied the intricate details of the physical structure down to the most minute detail of the clasps, beams, and bolts.  We read vivid descriptions of its beauty: the colors of the curtains, the magnificence of the menorah, the clothes of the kohanim, etc.

In our parsha the project is finished.  The proud workers have crafted, fastened, and stitched exactly as they were commanded, and they bring their work to Moshe for his blessing. 

וַיַּ֨רְא מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶת־כָּל־הַמְּלָאכָ֗ה וְהִנֵּה֙ עָשׂ֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה כֵּ֣ן עָשׂ֑וּ וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֹתָ֖ם מֹשֶֽׁה׃

And when Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks—as the LORD had commanded, so they had done—Moses blessed them.  (39:43)

What was Moshe’s blessing?

Rashi shares with us:

ויברך אתם משה. אָמַר לָהֶם יְהִי רָצוֹן שֶׁתִּשְׁרֶה שְׁכִינָה בְמַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיכֶם, וִיהִי נֹעַם ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ עָלֵינוּ וְגוֹ’, וְהוּא אֶחָד מִי”א מִזְמוֹרִים שֶׁבִּתְפִלָּה לְמֹשֶׁה (ספרא):

AND MOSES BLESSED THEM — He said to them “May it be the will of God that His Shechinah rest upon the work of your hands; ‘and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us’”

יְהִי רָצוֹן שֶׁתִּשְׁרֶה שְׁכִינָה בְמַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיכֶם

May it be the will of God that His presence rest upon the work of your hands. 

The bracha is simple. That’s the point. 

Building the Mishkan began with a command:

וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃

And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. (25:8)

For the past few parshiyot, the Jewish people became architects, craftsmen, and carpenters.  They obsessed with “vassu li mikdash.”

Moshe now shifts their focus.  “Vshachanti btocham.”

Realize that the physical Mishkan is just a shell.  A 40-yard dash time means nothing if a player can’t catch a football. 

Throughout history, temples and sanctuaries have been built that are empty.

יְהִי רָצוֹן שֶׁתִּשְׁרֶה שְׁכִינָה בְמַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיכֶם

A house of G-d is meaningless if G-d is not welcomed inside. 

In our lives as Jews, we structure our lives for religious expression.  We daven, we have shabbat meals, we dress and act a certain way.

As a community, we build an infrastructure of Jewish institutions.  We have solid shuls, a beautiful mikvas, and wonderful schools. 

Moshe Rabenu reminds us to remember our objective.  Not just to build a framework, but to bring G-d into our lives. 

Sefer Shemot ends with G-d’s cloud descending, representing His presence in the Mishkan. 

Unfortunately, we no longer are privileged for G-d to show us such a clear symbol of His presence.

But our goal remains the same: יְהִי רָצוֹן שֶׁתִּשְׁרֶה שְׁכִינָה בְמַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיכֶם