ספר שמות

Yet another interpretation of the opening verse in our ‎portion. We need to consider this verse in conjunction with ‎Exodus 40,18 ‎ויקם משה את המשכן וגו'‏‎, “Moses, (personally) erected ‎the Tabernacle, etc.;”‎We have a rule expressed in the Zohar that the ‎Tabernacle represented this lower world, as well as the world ‎beyond earth as well as the Torah, in miniature. [Possibly a ‎reference to Zohar Pekudey, 220 where the author of the ‎Zohar uses the word ‎אלה‎ here and in Genesis 2,4 ‎אלה תולדות השמים ‏והארץ‎, as a basis for this comparison. Ed.]‎Nachmanides quotes Genesis 18,19 ‎כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את ‏בניו....ושמרו דרך ה' לעשות צדקה ומשפט‎, where he explains the ‎expression ‎דרך ה'‏‎ to mean the “attributes that G’d has revealed of ‎Himself.” The Torah credits Avraham in that verse as emulating ‎G’d’s attributes of ‎שלום וחסד‎, “peace and loving kindness, etc.” ‎These attributes are also reflected in the legislation we read in the ‎Torah, as we find commandments that clearly reflect the need for ‎us to be kind even to the undeserving, such as helping one’s ‎enemy to load or unload his donkey, whereas some of the ‎commandments clearly reflect the attribute of Justice, such as to ‎ensure that people convicted of deliberate wrongdoing be ‎punished in accordance with the law. Similarly, other attributes ‎that reflect G’d’s attributes are represented in different parts of ‎Torah legislation. The requirement to wear phylacteries is ‎understood as reflecting the fact that G’d represents ‎תפארת‎, ‎‎“glory,” and that is why we recite a benediction when putting on ‎phylacteries which describes G’d as having distinguished us with ‎glory, i.e. ‎עוטר ישראל בתפארה‎.‎