Empowerment

Do you feel empowered? Do you feel like you can do anything, achieve any goal, have the rights and ability to climb the highest heights?

Not everybody is so fortunate to feel that kind of empowerment and the history of the world has shown that society often doesn’t lend itself to that kind of empowerment.

3329 years ago, Moses empowered the Jewish people for all time. He empowered them through the instruction to build the Mishkan (the portable Temple) and in doing so to make a home for G-d on this earth. But the empowerment didn’t start and end with the physical structure of the Mishkan. Each and every day we have the ability to build a home for G-d in each of our lives; in our homes and our workplaces.

Think about this. Each and everyone of us can accomplish something that no amount of money, fame, prestige, status can achieve. We can bring a revelation of G-d into this world. We can connect the world with a transcendent G-d!

How indeed does Moses empower us to accomplish something so great?!

The answer is outlined in the opening verse of the this week’s Torah portion. “And you should command the children of Israel and they should bring to you pure olive oil, crushed for light, to bring up an everlasting flame”.

The Chasidic Masters explain that this verse captures the essence of Moses and the job of the Jew in all time but particularly in the time of Exile.

Moses, sees himself simply as a conduit to connect the Jewish people with G-d. As such he is referred to as “you”, the very “you” of Moses is about his command and connection to the people. Even when we find ourselves in a circumstance where the world around us is crushing, the pressures of the world, the temptation of materialism, despite all of that, Moses inspires us to bring him “olive oil”, the essence of who we are for the purpose of bringing light into the world.

When we do this, we create an everlasting flame for G-d on this earth and in our souls.

It is Moses’ humility that allows for him to communicate through his command to the People to empower them to be all they can be, to accomplish the highest of all purposes – the revelation of G-d on this earth.

With blessings of Empowerment – go get ’em!