Shlomo's Thoughts on the Torah

The Torah is very clear that the Temple service is for us and not for God. The purpose of the service is to make us better people.

We finish the Book of Exodus with the completion of the building of the Tabernacle. We start the Book of Leviticus with how to use this building. The use of the building is what makes it special, not its beauty.

The Book of Exodus ends with the Pillar of Fire to guide the Jews by night & the pillar of smoke in the day.  This is to show the Jews that they are to follow God's ways throughout their lives

The reason that we have so much detail in the Torah about building the Tabernacle is that people need ritual in order to remember.  As has been observed, more than the Jews have kept Shabbat, the Shabbat has kept the Jews.

The Torah goes into detail about everything in the building of the Tabernacle.  Why?  To avoid misinterpretation by the artist.

The Torah stresses that keeping Shabbat is more important that building the Tabernacle.  That if we do not keep Shabbat then what is the Tabernacle for?

We all have to remember that we all have talents and they come from God. That after we return God will ask what we did with the gifts that He gave us.

After the incident of the Golden Calf Moses rebukes Aaron for allowing the situation to get out of control. He reminds him that a leader is responsible for the actions of his subordinates.

When Moses seems to be delayed coming back from Mt. Sinai the Jews build an idol.  It seems strange until we remember that they were only recently freed from Egyptian bondage and the only society that they knew was Egyptian.

The main lesson of Purim is that we are required to have a festive meal with our neighbors, give charity, and give each other gifts.  This is to promote Jewish unity.  As Rabbi Kook mentions, the Temple will be rebuilt through senseless love.

Esther requests that the Jews fast due to the danger in her plan.  She recognizes that without God's guiding hand her plan to save them would fail.

The story of Purim tells us that the real danger to the Jewish people is not people who are evil.  We can find them easily enough, but of leaders who are venal and corruptible.  Without them the evil doers do not have a chance to do evil.

In the story of the Book of Esther all the action revolves around the fact that Mordechai refuses to bow down to Haman.  What frustrated Haman was the opposition of Mordechai.  That Mordechai stood against evil.

The institution of the Priesthood was an inherited position.  Why?  The idea was to take politics out of the service in the Tabernacle.  When politics mix with religion it is usually bad for both.  By making the priesthood inherited the Torah was accomplishing this goal.

True humility is not being quiet and living a sheltered life.  True humility is that when we take on a leadership position we remember that it not about me but getting the job done and not caring who gets credit.

The Jews are commanded to use unleavened bread in the Tabernacle.  The reason is that Egypt had invented the leavening process and one of the prime ideas behind the Torah is that we should reject Egypt, both physically and spiritually.

The Torah spends a lot of time describing how the Priests in the Taberbernacle should dress.  The reason is what they represent.  They represent God to the people and the people to God.

The pasha ends with an admonishment to the Jews that the observance of Shabbat overrides the building of the Tabernacle.  This is to teach us that as important as the Tabernacle was, without observance of Shabbat it is meaningless.

Bezalel was chosen to be the architect of the Tabernacle.  His name translates as "a shadow of God.  This is to teach us that we all have talent from God and it is up to us on how we use it.

This was a question asked by the Kotzker Rebbe in the 19th Century. The answer is wherever you let Him in. God wants to enter the world, but we have to let Him in by our actions.

The Torah goes into detail about how the Tabernacle should be built. The question is why. The answer is that we have to obey the commandments to make ourselves better people. It is not up to our subjective judgment.

The purpose of the Tabernacle was not for God but for us. God does not need us to build Him a home. Just as our prayers are more for us than for God.

The Torah admonishes judges not to take social status in consideration when rendering a judgement. Neither the person's wealth nor poverty. All are equal before the Torah.

The Torah admonishes judges to be upright and follow the law, even when the majority want it to do otherwise. The worst thing that can happen to a society of that there is no justice.

If a slave states that he prefers slavery to freedom, he is punished. This is to teach us that slavery is not the normal state of a person. God wants us to be free people.