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In the Torah we see that individuals are recognized for their leadership roles but that a same time we are encouraged to build a society from the bottom up.

The Tabernacle was a physical structure to remind us of the spiritual nature of our lives. That we need a physical structure because we are both physical and spiritual. We are not here just to survive.

The idea of letting the land lay fallow for a year is not about agriculture. It is about social cohesion. To remember that we are merely stewards of the land. God gives us the tools to work the land. What we do with these tools is what is important.

We tend to think that spirituality is between God and man. We forget that real spirituality can also be between man and Man. How we treat each other.

The Torah admonishes us in many places to teach our children the proper mode of behavior. We teach by example. If you practice what you preach your children will follow you. If not, then they will follow you as well.

The blasphemer behaved the way he did due to his anger over the way he was treated by others. They would remind him that he did not belong to a tribe because his father wasn’t an Israelite. We have to be careful on such things otherwise they can lead to disaster.

The Torah gives specific commands on how we are to be dressed. We do not wear proper clothes for God but for ourselves. We cannot show proper respect if we are not properly dressed.

This week’s portion of the Torah deals with the disease of Matzora. This is a disease caused by gossip. The lesson here to avoid malicious gossip.

We are required to bring a Thanksgiving Offering to the Tabernacle. This is to teach us to be thankful for what God has done for us. It is very easy to forget that God is the source for all that we have, including life.

One of the important aspects of what the Priests in the Tabernacle had to do was to carry the fire of the Altar from day to day. This is to teach us that if you want the next generation to follow you have to show them the way.