Do Individual Actions Count ? (Or is it all or nothin' ?)

What happens if I don't do everything I set myself up to do ? What happens if, when I get the opportunity - I falter - and don't complete my tefilla / mitzva / torah regimen for the summer ?
The answer lies in the contributions of the Nesi'im to the Mishkan.

So the Nesi'im give their sacraficial contribution to the Mishkan. They all give the same one. And the Torah lists them.

All.

Why ? We could have just given an accounting of what they brought and said - "they all brought that" or something.

To answer we would have to go back to why the Nesi'im were first to bring their offerings for the Mishkan. During the building of the mishkan, there was a donation taken up to get the construction materials for the Mishkan. Everybody contributed. The Nesi'im had said that they would make up the shortfall, that they would give whatever was still needed after the people finished donating. This was considered a big mistake. To understand this better let's relate it to a story :

Jimmy and his friends want to get a ping pong table for their clubhouse lounge. To raise money they decide to hold a car wash. "Let's get old Mr. Preston," says one of the boys, "yeah, he's got three cars !" The boys enthusiastically go and ask Mr. Preston to bring his cars down for a wash. "Tell you what," he replies, "you boys wash all day and whatever money you're lacking in the end - come to me and I'll top off your fund".

In the beginning it sounded great ! Soon, however, like with all carwashes - the boys got tired and wet and fed up with washin' and scrubbin'. "What's the point?,"said a disgruntled Jimmy, "Since we'll just get the rest of the money from Mr. Preston - we shouldn't have bothered to work hard at all."

While it sounded promising - the effect of Mr. Preston's offer was to diminish each individual car the boys worked on. He made their efforts meaningless.

So did the Nesi'im. Not intentionally, perhaps, but nonetheless. That's why their actions at the building of the Mishkan were considered a sin.

So here, when they are called to offer sacrifices to the newly completed Mishkan - they don't take a back seat. They don't offer to finish up what's needed. They are so sincere in their teshuva - about making each individual action count - that the Torah lists each individual action of theirs. Each one.

Which brings us back to our point. Even if we fail to do everything that we set up for ourselves - even if we don't get to the tenth perek tehillim, even if we don't do our two hours of learning - don't get discouraged. Every action that you do counts. Every one. That's the lesson of the Nesi'im (and of the Mishkan - the place where we offer our services and prayers to Hashem).

'till next time,
R' Druyan