“Moshe said to the Children of Israel: See, Hashem has proclaimed by name, Betzalel son of Uri, son of Chur, of the tribe of Yehudah.” (Shemos 35:30)
The Chumash relates the lineage of Betzalel in great detail, as outlined also in Divrei HaYamim I, 2:19-20): “When Azuvah died, Calev married Ephras, who bore him Chur, Chur begot Uri, and Uri begot Betzalel.” The Medrash Shemos Rabbah tells us that Azuvah is Miriam, because no one wanted to marry her. The expression “she died” indicates that she contracted leprosy, and a leper is considered dead, so to speak. After her recovery, she was called Ephras, a reference to her role in aiding the Children of Israel to be fruitful. Thus, Betzalel’s ancestry traces back to Calev and Miriam.
In contrast, the name of Oholiav, who helped Betzalel in the construction of the Mishkan, is only recorded as “the son of Achisamach of the tribe of Dan.” Obviously, there must be a reason why mention is made of the name of Betzalel’s grandfather in connection with the Mishkan.
The Medrash Vayikra Rabbah expounds that when the Jews wanted to make the Golden Calf they approached Chur first. When he refused to listen, they killed him. Afterwards they went to Aharon. The verse says (Shemos 32:5), “And Aharon saw this and he built an Altar.” The Talmud (Sanhedrin 7a) explains that Aharon saw Chur had been slaughtered, and he realized that if he did not listen to them, they would kill him as they had done to Chur, and the verse (Eichah 2:20), “Shall the kohen and the navi be killed in the sanctuary of Hashem?” would be fulfilled through him, without any remedy for such a sin. Since kohanim and nevi’im are an integral part of the nation, their murder is unforgivable.
Because Chur’s objection to the Jews’ resolve to create the Golden Calf resulted in his death, Hashem wanted to reward him by appointing his grandson to build the Mishkan. Thus the Torah traces his lineage back so many generations. R’ Bentzion Mutzafi offers the following comparison: When a trusted member of the king’s cabinet was killed, the king appointed his son in his place. So, too, after Chur was killed, Hashem chose to appoint his grandson to a position of prominence to compensate for his death.
Our Sages tell us that righteous men and women merit that their descendants continue in their ways. Moreover, when they dedicate themselves to a particular effort in the service of Hashem, they are rewarded that their future generations continue to be involved in their holy work on behalf of the community. This is not so in the case of the wicked, whose descendants continue their corrupt ways.
A Mother’s Chesed Rewarded
A righteous woman contributed money on a regular basis to the yeshiva in her city so that the students would recite Kaddish and learn Mishnayos for the departed souls who had no one else to say Kaddish for them. When her husband passed away, though, she no longer had the money to pay for this chesed. Nevertheless, she made a special request to the administration that they continue the practice, promising that she would pay them whenever she had the funds. The administration agreed.
At this point, the woman also had daughters at home who had always hoped to be able to marry talmidei chachamim. Her financial situation, however, now seemed to eliminate any possibility of such a match. As time went by, with no prospects in sight, the woman would sometimes despair.
One day, as she was walking in the street, an elderly, distinguished-looking man stopped to ask her why she looked so upset. Uncharacteristically, she suddenly found herself telling the stranger all her woes. The man pulled a banknote from his pocket, signed it in the presence of two witnesses – one of them being R’ Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, who would later be a renowned Rav in Yerushalayim – and instructed her to take it to the bank.
When the widow showed the teller the banknote, she was immediately escorted to the president of the bank. When she presented him with the banknote, his face turned pale, and he asked, “Who gave this to you?” The woman related what had happened and brought the two witnesses to vouch for her story.
“This is difficult to believe,” the bank president said in amazement.
The widow then noticed a picture on his desk of the man who had given her the banknote. “That’s him!” she exclaimed.
“The elderly man is my father who has passed away. He must have come from the World-of-Truth in order to thank you for the Kaddish prayers that you arranged. I am ashamed to admit that I never said Kaddish even once for my father,” the bank president said.
“Last night my father came to me in a dream and told me that you would be coming into the bank. He instructed me to give you due honor and take care of you. When I awoke I totally dismissed the dream. But now that I see my father’s signature on the banknote, I have no doubt that the entire incident occurred just as you stated.”
Such is the effect of one who leads a noble life. He paves the way for his children to receive abundant good in the world, as it is said, “Biglal avos toshi’a banim – because of the parents the children are saved.”
