Welcome to the short, practical Lelamed Weekly Dvar and Daily Aliyah. As always, you can Order The Daily Aliyah <https://mosaicapress.com/product/the-daily-aliyah/> and receive your hard copy of these daily practical and relevant Torah thoughts (all proceeds go to Daily Giving), or join this Whatsapp group <https://chat.whatsapp.com/DnAFialrvmy6hNahBkU61F> to receive one per day. I hope you find this meaningful... _______________________________________________ The Torah describes the structure, fixtures, and utensils of the Mishkan and then declares, “Just like everything that G-d commanded Moshe, so the Jews performed the labor” (39:42). Since every word in the Torah has a purpose, wouldn’t the sentence have been just as informative if it had left out the last two words? If the Torah tells us that the people did as they were told, it seems redundant to repeat what they performed. The Ramban points out that the word one would expect the Torah to use to describe the work the people performed is the very predictable word, “melachah,” meaning work. The word used, “avodah,” which typically refers to the service the Kohanim performed, emphasizes that the people considered the construction of the Mishkan to be sacred work. This is a tribute to the positive attitude people exhibited toward their jobs and respective roles and serves to inspire us today to approach our roles with renewed enthusiasm. Shlomo Ressler _____________________________________________ Quotation of the week: "Ships don't sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don't let what's happening around you get inside you and weigh you down."