Vayakhel
In order to build a House that will represent unity, it is essential to assemble the people in unity.
Moses gathers the people close, assembling them as one and stresses the importance of Shabbat. After downloading the Tabernacle plans upon Mount Sinai, Moses now diagrams it for the people. The people bring all of the materials needed for building, and than some. A team of expert craftsmen builds the Sanctuary and all its furnishings. The detail of the description is exquisite, enough so that we may emulate this template and build the spiritual equivalent into the many details of our lives.
When Half Is More than Whole
Discover how love is defined by the counter-intuitive power of incompleteness — how being half can be more than being whole.
Read MoreKindred Spirits: The Power of Synergy
Discover the power of community, and how its synergy enhances individuality. Learn how a kindred spirit can help you access your uniqueness.
Read MoreThe Beginning
Has life’s travails distorted your path? Discover the real you. Learn the power of a birthday and how to reconnect yourself to your own beginning.
Read MoreTrust and Self-Interest
Perhaps our current economic meltdown is an unprecedented opportunity to give us all pause to think about the meaning of trust. And to learn the most vital lesson of all: The foundation of all trust is trust in G-d.
Read MoreAnd Moses Gathered… My Georgian Genes
Find inspiration in Moses’ gathering the 600,000 Jews in Parshat Vayakhel to appreciate the great diversity within Judaism.
Read MoreMoney and Spirituality (Part 2/5)
Part II of a discussion on money and spirituality including class struggles and wealth as the foundation of the material world.
Read MoreThe Visionary and the Builder
Vision alone can remain abstract and unfulfilled ; building without vision is aimless. First we need the voice of the visionary and then we need to balance it with the voice of the builder.
Read MoreLend an Ear
Just as the women gave everything they had to help build the Mishkan, today women must replicate this in building a strong Jewish home.
Read MoreCause and Effect
The Talmud teaches that the spiritual unity represented by the half-shekel laws precedes the physical differences of cross-breeding laws.
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