P arshas Vayakhel-Pekudei

“And every man whose heart uplifted him came.” (Shemos 35:21)

The Ramban writes that there were no experienced artisans in Bnei Yisrael to build the Mishkan.

Those who came to work were men whose hearts were inspired with avodas Hashem. They approached Moshe and offered to accept upon themselves whatever job necessary.

If you take a look at the successful people of the world you’ll find that the secret of their accomplishments is dependent on their inner drive. Someone who takes the initiative and accepts upon himself challenges will be among those who thrive. (Rav Yeruchem Levovitz Daas Torah) “

“So Penina will need modified worksheets and she does best with oral exams. She can’t translate pesukim at all and her Hebrew reading is pretty poor.”

I nodded making notes in my roll book but not really paying attention. While I appreciated the heads up I generally didn’t put much weight in these pointers before the school year started. I’d figure out my students on my own and it never took long.

Sure enough the first day I spotted Penina within moments. Chair tilted against the back wall she sat doodling in her notebook barely tuning in to the class. When I called on her her black eyes sparked in annoyance at being disturbed. But I wasn’t surprised when she quickly shot out the correct answer and went back to her doodles.

Within a week I had her pegged. It was true that Penina couldn’t translate a pasuk but she was also extremely quick and sharp offering insights that were right on target. Despite her reading difficulties and lousy grades she had a cocky self-confidence.

Recess found us debating subjects from politics to philosophy; her acuity belied her age. She kept me on edge and I was crazy about her. She probably knew it too.

“Shlomo Hamelech says in Mishlei (6:6): “Go to the ant you lazy one and see her ways and become smart.”

Why did Shlomo pick the ant to teach the lazy person?

The ant doesn’t have a supervisor or a policeman; it relies on its own diligence to spur itself to work. During the summer it steadily gathers tiny pieces of grain and stores them for the winter. Yet an ant’s whole lifespan is approximately six months. Why bother collecting for winter?

The midrash tells us that the ant hopes that despite the laws of nature perhaps Hashem will change the decree and it’ll live into the winter. Therefore it prepares for that remote possibility.

From here Shlomo said a lazy person can learn to store mitzvos from Olam Hazeh for Olam Haba. (ibid.) “

Circling the room one day I glanced over Penina’s shoulder. I knew she was an avid doodler but these drawings were incredible! Before the next lesson I handed her the summary of the perek of Navi and asked her to draw me a comic strip. Bingo! We were in business and her serial story progressed throughout the year.

The following summer as I sat in on the pre-year orientation I glanced down at my notes for the incoming teacher.

Penina: smart sharp tremendously gifted.

That was how I saw her. And I hope she knew it too.

“Tanna D’vei Eliyahu (25) says “A person is obligated to say ‘When will my actions reach the actions of the Avos?’” This is not an optional incentive for a person but a mandatory obligation to strive to achieve.

This is the secret of those towering pillars of success. It’s not their abilities that define their success but their inner ambition that fuels their accomplishments. (ibid.) “

Recently I was in the States at a local bagel shop. At the next table sat three adorably dressed little girls. Their mother was also well dressed sporting tasteful clearly expensive jewelry. When she turned it only took me a second to recognize those sparkling black eyes. “Penina!”

She introduced me to her kids and I moved over to catch up.

“Fill me in! What does your husband do?”

“He learns full-time.”

“Nice! And what do you do with yourself?”

“I’m creative director at Ace Marketing.”

“Wow. Even I’ve heard of Ace! Like it?”

“Love it! It’s a lot of hard work but so up my alley. Sometimes I can’t imagine how I got to this point!”

“There were never any limits to your imagination Penina. And you were the driving force that got you here…”