"This is my G-d and I will make a dwelling-place for him" - Rashi comments that Hashem's Glory was revealed and they saw Him by their fingers, meaning they could point to Him, and the handmaid saw then what even the prophets could not see. I have heard it said, actually read, in the name of someone called, perhaps the Beis Yitzchak (as it says in Megila, one who kinda quotes something in the name of the person who said it kinda brings redemption), that what even the lowest handmaid saw was Hashem actually dwelling in us. Actually in us. Actually. In. Us. This is no joke and no figure of speech. The commandment to love one's neighbor does not take the circuitous route of saying,well Hashem made him and I love Hashem so I'll love Hashem's creation. No - loving Hashem is loving your neighbor. Period. Loving Hashem also means loving yourself, of course, seeing as LIKE IT OR NOT you are a dwelling place for Hashem. It is a strange relationship "This is my G-d, inside of me!" How can I make His stay more pleasant? All inputs and outputs must be pure- any lack in me is a lack in the way Hashem can express Himself through me - if my lungs are bad from smoke I cannot run to do His will if the word comes to do so. If my eyes have been dimmed with sights better left unseen, I will not see His Presence through I pray daily to be able to see it. If I speak falsely or excessively He will not use my mouth to bring His word to others or to bring forth prayer. Hashem inside us is a shining light, infinitely bright. There is no limit - our work in this life is often to get out of the way of the shining light, both in us and in others. As a wise one among us pointed out, we must give each other kavod, honor, which is the same word used for the presence of Hashem. Give that to each other - "the wonder of G-d in you."
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The 614th commandment - It's written in the midrash that the songs that are sung in this world are sung from a place of being saved. The word for the songs featured in the Tanach is shirah. It is a word in the feminine, comparing us to a woman who becomes pregnant and, though she may suffer in bearing child, she willingly becomes pregnant again. So too Yisrael suffers, is redeemed and sings, and then repeats the process again. But, the midrash says, in the future when there will be no more suffering, we will sing not shirah but shir, masculine, as it says shiru la'Hashem shir chadash, sing to Hashem a new song. These are songs sung of joy, of will. They are collections of the voices of trees and mountains, sung to the drone of the Great Shofar blown, songs that make cedars dance and hills skip like deer, songs sung after the escape from fallen fear, songs played with all ten fingers to the Most High in all His Ways, and not only because of the fact that He saves. Songs written for lips, hips, souls, and tambourine, in the key of life, songs in 600,000-part harmony to the rhythm of the seasons and the rising and falling of the sun, the waxing and waning of the moon, the invisible rhythm of Shabbos, the quickening pulse of the collective heart and we, the very souls on the bottom of the feet of the supernal body of the entirety of the Jewish people from then until now have taken off our shoes for we are on holy ground and we are reminding ourselves how to dance on the soft grass in the courtyard of the House He doth build as we speak…
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Thank G-d It's Friday - It is written in the Zohar in the name of Rebbe Yehuda that the Shabbat blesses all the other days of the week, each day receiving its own appropriate blessing. But the sixth day receives extra, as it says yom hashishi, "the sixth day". This is because the Divine Presence itself, which is often represented by the letter heh, helps to prepare the table for the King. Therefore the sixth day receives two portions - one for that day and one for preparation for Shabbat.
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One Last Time
- Yisrael thought they were finished with the Egyptians for good. But Hashem had one last encounter in mind for them. Sometimes when we think we have done teshuva and turned away from something for good, we have really only turned away from it in our minds. It takes one last encounter in the real world to know that the idea has been planted in instinct. So too when the Israelites left Egypt they still retained fears of the Egyptians. Though they thought they were free, while their tormentors were still alive they were still subservient to their fears. When Israel saw the death of the Egyptians with their eyes, a new phase of the healing process could begin.
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One last time part II - Along these lines, from a conversation here, this being the month of fixing our habits of consumption, our lusts come out thinking they will be satiated like usual. Pharaoh said "I will chase after him and attain him." He thinks he's in control like he always was (though he really wasn't). But Hashem brings it out especially this month because He knows that in this month we'll see it and be disgusted by it and we have the power to fix it forever.
Use Your Time Wisely - The B'nei Yissachar brings that it is fortuitous to pray on Tu Bi Shvat, the New Year of he trees, to be granted a beautiful, kosher etrog, for the next Sukkot. He hints to us a glimmer of the depth of this idea when he writes, "And his prayer will bear fruit."