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Sefer Shemos
Parashas Pekudei
by
Rabbi Michael Unger
Shemos: Chapter 39, verse 32
And the people of Israel did according to all
that G-d commanded Moses, so they did.
G-d commanded Moshe Rabbenu
to build the Mishkan and appointed Bezalel and Ohaliav to do the
work together with a group of wise men (see chapter 36 verses 1-2). When
the work was completed, the Torah says that the people of Israel finished the work they
were supposed to do.
The Ohr HaChayim sees this verse as an example of a more
general concept that the Jewish people is a unit
made up of different groups doing different things. As each group completes
its task the unit benefits. In our Parsha, Bezalel and his group finish building the Mishkan and in the Torah is written that the Jews did
as they were commanded to do.
Many commandments are incumbent only on Cohanim or Levites or women. As each group goes through
its particular service of G-d, every single Jew is a beneficiary and the
unit of Klal Yisrael
becomes "healthier" and closer to G-d. Without this interaction,
there would be no hope for anyone to fulfill all 613 commandments since
there is no single Jew who has all the 613 obligations.
According to this the mitzvah to love your
fellow man as you love yourself ceases to be metaphoric. You love your
fellow man because he is your only hope to reach perfection. He and you
strive together within a partnership that allows both of you to fully gain
from each and every act done in the service of G-d. If one would
contemplate these simple facts, he would be led to deep love of his fellow
man in addition to a general feeling of "belonging" to the unit
called Klal Yisrael.
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