Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Reb Shlomo's Commentary on this Week's Torah Parsha Parshat Vayahkel


Let's Try Again And Moses gathered the entire assembly of the children of Israel (Sh'mos 35:1). Some of us think we can go to shul and pray without feeling close to G-d, but praying without feeling close doesn't go. The Holy Temple is the headquarters of prayer. Before you build the Beis HaMikdash, before you build a house of prayer, you have to be close to G-d. Therefore, when Moshe Rabbeinu gathers the Yidden, he first tells them about Shabbos and then about the building of the Beis Hamikdash. Yidden, let's have Shabbos, let's get close to G-d again, close to each other, and then we can start davening. If you pray just for yourself — it's meaningless. Praying has to be "b'shem kol Yisrael" 'in the name of all of Israel.' The Arizal brought down [that] before you daven you have to say, "Hareini mekabel alai es mitzvas haboreh v'ahavta lerei-acha kamocha" 'I mamesh accept upon myself to love every person like myself.' When I go to a grocery store, I don't have to buy groceries for somebody else. When I go shopping in G-d's grocery store, and I only order for myself, G-d says, "I'm sorry, I'm sold out." By G-d, it's only when you shop for somebody else as well. So here it says "Vayak-hayl Moshe es Kol Adas B'nei Yisrael. " You must make sure everybody should be close to one another. How could you walk into the Beis HaMikdash without praying for somebody else?

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