True Accounting

These (eileh) are the accounts of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were rendered according to the commandment of Moses, through the service of the Levites, by the hand of Itamar, the son of Aaron the priest.                                   Exodus 38:21

My father commented that the true accounting of one’s life is in what he has contributed to others, for only this, and not what he amassed for himself, accompanies him eternally.

          Our Sages taught that the word “eileh” (opposed to the word “v’eileh,” with the conjunctive letter vav) delineates what is written from what preceded it. Perhaps in our Parasha the Torah wishes to distinguish between the contributions the Children of Israel made to the construction of the Tabernacle and their contributions toward the golden calf. Beyond the simple message of disqualifying the people’s contributions to the golden calf, there is an additional significant point. The people did not ask for an accounting of the use of their contributions to the golden calf, while here Moses offered an accounting of the use of the contributions to the erection of the Tabernacle. While, clearly, Moses was above suspicion of malfeasance in supervising the use of communal funds, the Torah teaches the moral lesson that even the greatest leader must be accountable for all of his public actions.