דבר תורה כי תשא

Sefer Shmot begins with Bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim, and speaks about the troubles that they went through.

They were enslaved in terrible ways, and lost so many of their rights as human beings. When taking them out of

these torturous conditions, Hashem made numerous miracles to show the new nation that they were not alone, and that He is strong enough to protect them. He did the 10 makot, split the Yam Suf, sweetened the water of Mara, and much more. 

After proving His existence to Bnei Yisrael, Hashem thought it would be beneficial in their becoming a nation for the Jewish people to work as a group and have a project to work toward together. Throughout the Parshiyot we've read over the past couple of weeks we learned of the group project that they embarked on - building the Mishkan. When you think about it, Hashem didn't need a place to dwell, but he wanted them to have something to work on together so that they could become a cohesive group. Each person had their role in building the Mishkan, whether it was in donating their metals, helping in the building, or serving in it. And it worked - they became a group, a unit. 

In Ki Tisa, Moshe goes up to Har Sinai for 40 days to learn the Torah with Hashem. Bnei Yisrael knew that he would be up there for 40 days, but they miscalculated. When he was a day late, according to their miscalculations, the nation, the unit, felt they needed to do something - together. So they created the Golden Calf. The Golden Calf was a beautiful structure that they formed as a group. They donated all of their gold to this cause, and worked together to build it. A completely misdirected and inappropriate cause, but they worked together as a unit to create it. 

Group work is a strong theme throughout these few Parshiyot. It is a lesson that we could take for ourselves, group work is so powerful. It could be used in such amazing ways - in our shuls, schools, and communities. The chessed opportunities, the tefillah opportunities, and the learning opportunities. But we must make sure that we use our power of group work in the incredible ways that we can, and make sure that we do not fall into the same trap that Bnei Yisrael did, and use it for a misguided cause. 

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbi Steven Penn 

Based on a Dvar Torah from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks