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EXODUS — 25:22 cherubs

EXOD948 Why were there two cherubs? To teach you that Torah should be studied by two people learning together as study partners. How can you tell who would make a good study partner? If you notice a robust young fellow being humiliated by rogues but he remains silent, that is the person you should choose as your study partner. You should know that whoever is despised by people through no-fault of his own will be exalted in the end [Sefer Chasidim, paragraphs 959-960].

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EXODUS — 25:30 bread

EXOD949 Arrange the bread on the table in the Beis HaMikdash. Hashem gave us a constant commandment to be carried out with bread because bread is the staff of life and blessing must be found in our bread at all times. To this end, Hashem gives us a constant mitzvah involving bread, and by occupying ourselves in this mitzvah we draw down blessing and the bread in our stomachs will be nourishing and satiating. When a person uses any object for the fulfillment of the Divine Will, the object becomes blessed and gives him benefits. To the extent that we turn our thoughts and efforts towards every aspect of any mitzvah, we will benefit accordingly from wellsprings of blessing contained in the mitzvah. Although we place bread in the Beis Hamikdash and light a Menorah there and bring offerings on the Altar, no one in the world should possibly think that Hashem in any way benefits from the bread, the light or the offerings. All of the mitzvos are for our benefit. Hashem gives us commandments so that through fulfillment of His Will we can draw down His blessing upon us, from His infinite abundance of good.

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EXODUS — 25:40 pattern

EXOD950 Merely to preach love for everybody, in the expectation to be loved in return, is not regarded by Jewish ethics as a principle of action sufficiently potent to mold character or govern society. Man is too much swayed by impulse and emotion and exhibits a partiality that is inimical to strict justice. He must be guided in his actions by the viewpoints of his ancient teachers. "Love, without justice, leads to abuse and persecution [What is the history of mankind's attitude toward the Jew if not a proof of this statement?] The Rabbis read into the two names of God Adonai and Elohim the attributes of Love and Justice. Only when one is tempered by the other can true kindness be exhibited and real loving deeds be performed. It is for men to shape his conduct after the Divine example if he is to lead the life directed in the Torah [Sot. 14a][this verse].

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EXODUS — 25:40 patterns

EXOD951 In the art of living as in the art of sculpture or painting we must reckon not only with aims and motives but also with patterns. Moses, we are told, was shown at Sinai a fiery model for the lamp which he was to make for the tabernacle. The Rabbis took this to be symbolic of the fashioning of human lives as well. Of them, too, it is said: [this verse]. Like a star a man's ideal is high in heaven. Though he may never quite succeed, he must strive to hitch his wagon to the star. In the very endeavor he finds scope for the expansion of his powers and for the growth of the spirit. The person whose eye is set on the highest cannot be satisfied with a pattern derived from the lower order of being. He refuses to regard life as a "strange interlude," composed of nothing but predatory impulses, sex hungers, and animal satisfactions. Neither is he content with a pattern of utilitarian type. His mind has been fired with a higher vision. He strives to fill his life with richer meaning. He no longer lives in the physical tracks of the body. He is conscious of soul life, of reason, of love, of truth, justice, of goodness, of beauty and of holiness. He is a child of the Divine order, created in the very image of God. While his physical being demands care, it must not dwarf the spiritual side of his being, if he is to work out within himself the pattern revealed to him on the height of religious vision. The Midrash comments on the words of Psalm 100:3, "'It is He that made us, and not ourselves'-- we do not make ourselves." Rab Aha adds: "We do not complete our souls." Our perfection as human beings is attained through our consciousness of the Divine. [Gen. R. 100. I; see Sefer Hasidim, 756.] Herein lies the chief service of religion to morality. Plato recognized that morality based upon considerations of reward and punishment or similar ideas of prudentialism lacks intrinsic worth. True morality consists in assimilating man to God.

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