At the beginning of this week's Parashah, after the Torah describes how Aharon had to position the lights of the Menorah, it goes on to describe that the entire Menorah was hewn of a single block of gold; that its branches and its intricate details were all made of one solid piece.
The question is, in describing the various karbanos that were brought in the Mishkan, the Torah doesn't describe how the Mizbei'ach was built. Nor does it tell us how the Shulchan was built when it tells us about the lechem hapanim.
Why does the Torah have to tell how the Menorah was made?
Furthermore, the passuk says that it was made like "the vision that Hashem had shown to Moshe." Why is this germane here?
Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that the Menorah, as Chazal tell us, represents Torah study. The flames of the Menorah, the commentators explain, refer to students and children, those whose flames of Torah are lit by the Kohen -- the parent and the teacher.
For for the education of the child to work, to keep that flame lit, requires that everything be made of a solid piece, that everything be consistent. That what we say and what we do jibe. That we live by the ideals that we espouse. That is how we succeed in inspiring and teaching.
But there is another element: our behavior must be modeled after the mareh asher her'ah Hashem es Moshe, the G-d-given directive for how to behave and how to act. The dictates and directives of the Torah.
It is then that we can then hope to light flames that will cast the light and and spread warmth of Yiddishkeit to future generations and to all who come in contact with them.
May we indeed be zocheh to that.
Good Shabbos
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