Establishing the Work of Our Hands

David Ben-Ami

Boker tov, good morning, and welcome. Wherever you are, whatever the light looks like outside your window, I'm glad you're here. Let's take a breath together before the day starts asking things of us. Good. Today's passage is a single verse from the Book of Psalms, chapter 90, verse 17. In Hebrew it goes: Vihi no'am Adonai Eloheinu aleinu, u'ma'aseh yadeinu konenah aleinu, u'ma'aseh yadeinu konenehu. In English: May the favor of the Eternal our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.

David Ben-Ami

Now, Psalm 90 is unusual. Most of the Psalms are connected with David, but this one opens with the words Tefillah l'Moshe ish ha-Elohim, a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Tradition places Moses behind it. And listen to what that psalm is about. It says that before the mountains were born, God was God. It says a thousand years in God's sight are like yesterday that has passed, like a single watch of the night. And it says our own years are seventy, or eighty if we have the strength. It's a psalm that knows how small we are.

David Ben-Ami

So here's the puzzle. If you feel that small, why would you ask for your handiwork to be established? Why bother? The sages give us a beautiful picture of an answer, and it comes from a different book entirely. In Exodus, chapter 39, the people finish building the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. Every curtain woven, every board fitted, every clasp hammered. The Torah says, vayar Moshe et kol ha-melacha, and Moses saw all the work. And then: vayvarech otam Moshe, and Moses blessed them.

David Ben-Ami

And that's all. The Torah doesn't tell us what the blessing was. There's a silence there, right where we'd most like to hear him speak. The sages, in the Sifra and in Numbers Rabbah, and quoted by Rashi, fill that silence. Rashi tells us Moses said to them: yehi ratzon shetishreh Shechinah b'ma'aseh yedeichem. May it be God's will that the Shechinah rest upon the work of your hands. And then he said the words of our verse, vihi no'am Adonai Eloheinu aleinu. Rashi adds that this verse belongs to the psalms that open with Tefillah l'Moshe, a prayer of Moses.

David Ben-Ami

Shechinah, let me explain that word. It comes from the root shachan, to dwell. It's the sense of God's presence settling in, not far off in the heavens, but dwelling among us. Think about that blessing. Moses doesn't say, your work is perfect. He doesn't praise the gold or the blue wool. He says, may the presence dwell in what you've made. The finished work is the doorway, and the blessing asks for something to come in.

David Ben-Ami

Let's look at three Hebrew words in the verse. First, no'am. It's often translated favor, or pleasantness, or grace. I like to hear in it something gentle and unforced, a harmony that doesn't need to be flawless. When you walk into a room and it simply feels good to be there, that's a kind of no'am. Second, ma'aseh yadeinu, the work of our hands. Notice it doesn't say the work of our empires or our careers. It says hands. Cooking breakfast. Typing a message. Folding laundry, fixing a hinge, sitting with someone who's hurting. Whatever your hands touch today is ma'aseh yadeinu.

David Ben-Ami

And third, konenah, and then konenehu. Both mean to establish, to set on a firm foundation, to give something staying power. The verse says it twice. Why? I'll offer one way of reading it, and it's an interpretation, not the only one. The first time, we're asking for help with the effort we're beginning, that it be steady and well directed. The second time, we're asking that what comes out of it last beyond our own control, that it keep doing quiet good after we've gone home and forgotten about it. We can plant the work. We can't follow it down the road. So we ask.

David Ben-Ami

That's why this verse has lived in our prayers. It's sung at the close of Shabbat, on Saturday night, as we step out of rest and back into the working week. It's as if we say: we're about to pick up our tools again. Let it be with grace. And that seems to me the answer to the puzzle. Because life is brief, the work matters, not less. A thousand years may be like yesterday to God, but a warm meal is still a warm meal, and a kind word still lands. We're not building monuments. We're asking that ordinary things carry something lasting.

David Ben-Ami

So here's a practical thought for today. Before you reach for your phone, or the keyboard, or the steering wheel, look at your hands. Really look at them. These are the hands that will do whatever this day holds. Ask one small question: what is one deliberate act of no'am these hands can do today? Maybe preparing food for someone. Maybe writing a short, honest note of thanks. Maybe smoothing over a small tension with a softer word. Just one. You don't need to make it large. Moses blessed curtains and clasps.

David Ben-Ami

Let me close with a blessing. May the Shechinah rest upon whatever your hands build, repair, or steady today. May the work you begin be begun with calm, and may it outlast your own attention, doing quiet good where you'll never see it. May you have no'am in your doing, and steadiness in your heart. Vihi no'am Adonai Eloheinu aleinu, u'ma'aseh yadeinu konenah aleinu, u'ma'aseh yadeinu konenehu. Shalom, and a good morning to you.