Holy Dumpster Diving (Vayakhel)
Sometimes I wonder if I am in the right profession. After recently painting my home, I had the opportunity of noticing many of the random paint color names that are out there. After seeing incredible and jaw-dropping names, such as, “Mouse’s Back,” “Dead Salmon,” “Broccoli Brown,” and “Un-teal We Meet Again,” I literally had the thought of going into the paint naming industry. I heard it pays well.
More unbelievable, though, than these paint names, is David Charles Milke – owner of DCM Custom Painting, LLC – who is the painter that we used for our home. Now, you are probably wondering what could possibly be so unbelievable about our painter. In the lines that follow, I would like to share with you something incredible that David did, and how it actually connects to this week’s Parshah, of course!
The name David, we all know is a Jewish name, after all, David was one of the greatest Jewish kings to ever live. In fact, the Messiah will come from the Davidic dynasty! David C. Milke, our painter, however, is not a Jew; he is Catholic. But he did something that a Jewish leader would do, that is, to be moser nefesh to do the right thing.
Our painter, David, has painted Jewish people’s homes before, and he knows not to remove the Mezuzah’s from the doorposts. He knows they are sacred scrolls that must be treated with respect. While doing the paint job at our home, one of David’s workers mistakenly threw a couple of the Mezuzos into the garbage. Without realizing it, at the end of the day, David took the garbage bag and disposed of it in a commercial dumpster near where he lives.
As soon as I noticed a couple of our Mezuzos were missing, I immediately called David, who told me that they must have been in the black garbage bag that he threw out. I didn’t feel settled. I called my Rav and asked him for guidance, and he told me to try and locate the dumpster so that I can go dumpster diving to search for the sacred scrolls. There were two problems. First of all, I had no idea where the dumpster was located (and it was already late in the evening, so David wasn’t answering his phone!). Second of all, it was a commercial dumpster that was completely illegal to rummage through.
I went to sleep that night feeling bad, frustrated, and hopeless. I thought I would never get these Mezuzos back. The end.
I’m kidding! The story did not end there. The following morning, at 7 o’clock, I received a phone call from none other than David C. Milke. With enthusiasm and excitement in his voice, he told me, “I got them. I got the Mezuzos!” As he told me what happened, I was almost in tears. He explained to me that he realized that these scrolls must be very special and holy, and so, he woke up at 3 a.m., brought his ladder to the dumpster, and went dumpster diving until he found the very black garbage bag that he threw out several hours before. He emptied the bag and found two precious Mezuzos!
This is what a true leader does. A true leader is willing to go dumpster diving to retrieve the lost holy scrolls. A true leader is moser nefesh to do the right thing not because he will get credit and recognition, but simply because it’s the right thing to do.
The Torah (Vayakhel, 37:1) says that, “Betzalel made the Aron.” Rashi points out that although others were involved as well, the Torah attributes it to Betzalel because he was moser nefesh more than everyone else. Let us strive to be a leader and be moser nefesh to do what is right.
Have a holy Shabbos! Ori Strum