Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

  • The True Importance of the Tabernacle

    פרשת ויקהל / כ”ג באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The true importance of the Temple was not the structure in of itself. It was that it was built for a moral & ethical God who demanded of his worshipers that they be moral and ethical.

  • Knowledge Without Wisdom Leads to Disaster

    פרשת ויקהל / כ”ב באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    When choosing Bezalel as the craftsman for the articles in the Tabernacle the Torah extols his Wisdom, Heavenly Spirit and Knowledge. In that order. This is to teach us that knowledge in of itself is not enough. We need wisdom to know how to use the knowledge.

  • Dress to Impress

    פרשת ויקהל / כ”א באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The Torah again stresses how the Cohenim (Priests) should be attired while working in the Tabernacle. Why does it stress the physical? This is to teach us that when we should dress appropriately when we are in a holy place. And that when we visit such a place it should be an experience for us.

  • Leading by Example

    פרשת ויקהל / כ’ באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The leaders of the tribes were punished because they hesitated to donate to the Tabernacle. They felt that they would wait and see what would be needed after the people donated. The people donated so much that their donations were not needed. The Torah points out that a leader has to lead by example.

  • Putting Shabbat Before the Tabernacle

    פרשת ויקהל / י”ט באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    Before the Torah gives the instructions how to actually build the Tabernacle it makes mention of Shabbat. This is to teach us that observance of Shabbat overrides the building of the Tabernacle.

  • True Humility in Leadership

    פרשת כי תישה / י”ז באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    Moses is considered to be the humblest man who ever lived. While he knew that he was a leader, he did not realize how his leadership influenced others. He was unaware his face glowed. How could someone so important no know this?

  • Silence is Complicity

    פרשת כי תישה / ט”ז באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The entire nation was punished for the sin of the Golden Calf. This is astounding when we realize that it was only a minority that committed the sin. Why was the whole nation punished? To teach us that silence in the face of evil is complicity in in evil.

  • Do Not Fool Yourself

    פרשת כי תישה / ט”ו באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    After witnessing the greatest miracles man had ever seen the Israelites chose to worship an idol that they had created rather than God who performed the miracles. This is perhaps the real reason that the Jews were punished, they refused to believe reality.

  • The Ultimate Defeat of Evil

    פרשת כי תישה / י”ד באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The ultimate defeat of evil is not just to survive but to survive in a way that shows they failed to destroy your humanity. As long as you follow God’s commandments evil is defeated. As long as a Jew celebrates being Jewish then the Nazis have been defeated again.

  • Equality Before God

    פרשת כי תישה / י”ג באדר א’ תשפ”ב

    The commandment that every man donate a half shekel seems to ignore the fact that there are some in society that can donate a lot more and that there are those who would have difficulty finding this money. But the Torah wants to show that we are all equal regardless of our place in society.