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?
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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