Finding Freedom in Service - Jeremy Gimpel:The Land of Israel Fellowship

we finished the book of shmote we finished the book of Exodus and when you look at the books of the Torah you know they a lot they make sense they're ordered with Divine wisdom look at Genesis the beginnings it's bearishite beginning of the creation beginning of the world beginning of humanity beginning of the Patriarchs and the matriarchs and it's Genesis by Rashid it makes sense then we have the story of shmote Israel gets its identity its name it becomes a nation it's leaving Egypt the story of shemote it's the story of the greatest Liberation movement in human history that inspired all other Liberation movements since and then we have Vikram Leviticus Leviticus it's like all about the Tabernacle sacrifices calling out to God drawing close to God and the question that comes up is why are the last parshas in the book of Exodus about the Mishka about the Tabernacle about meaning that should have just gone into viikra I mean if I was ordering the Torah according to books and according to Chapters so Exodus maybe I would have ended with like the Ten Commandments the golden calf and I would like but now it's like Parsha after Parsha is all about talking about the construction of the Tabernacle where all of the book of agras about the Tabernacle like why is that at the end of the book of Exodus it really doesn't belong there seemingly and here we are sort of like divinely written words credible wisdom it's put there for a reason and so we really have to think about that why does the story of Exodus end with the reality and the construction of the Tabernacle and so I've been thinking a lot about that and to me the answer is actually in the last verses of the book of shmote so that's Exodus chapter 40. um it starts at verse 34 and then I kind of skip to the very last uh verse here up on the screen the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of Hashem filled the Tabernacle for the cloud of Hashem would be on the Tabernacle by day in fire would be on it at night before the eyes of all of the House of Israel throughout their Journeys and that's how the book ends the book ends with the Tabernacle being created and then hashem's presence dwelling in the camp of Israel among the people of Israel and so really the story of Exodus the story of our freedom isn't just Israel going into the desert I mean what is the desert the desert is just total chaos it is like leaving the Tyranny and going into the unknown it's like work we can do whatever we want there's no one around there's no one looking the desert is the place of nothing and so maybe we would think that's what we want we want chaos we just want the freedom to do whatever we want and here we're taught something really deep because here we can see in the modern world there's a force that wants freedom to chaos they've just now passed the law in Berlin and Germany that women in the public pools now should go in topless because that's equal to men and really what is a man anyway there's no man there's no woman there's no right there's no wrong there's no truth there's no lies there's no good there's no just don't we want freedom don't tell me what true is and what right is I just want to be free to do whatever I want to do and the Torah said no no that's not real freedom the book of Exodus is about the Liberation from tyranny and into real freedom and what is real Freedom how do we know when we are who we are meant to be and so the last vision of the book of Exodus is when hashem's presence comes into the nation of Israel and dwells among them and then what did rhs now say Ari said well what is it to be close to God to be close to God physically well that's impossible because God is one with everything you can't really be closer to God like you're closer to you know your seat that you're sitting in right now you're pretty close to the seat but God is a part of you and a part of that seat there is no closeness in the Physical Realm it's the more similar you are to God then the closer you are to him and we walk in his ways you draw closer to him and so what then is true Freedom a lot of people they see the torrents like the Ten Commandments with this booming voice that came from the outside that was pushed down upon us but the deepest steps of the Torah is that our souls are a spark of God if God is the son all of us are rays of that son and so all of us are a reflection of his light in the world our souls are a reflection of him that means that the deepest depths of my soul my deepest desire my deepest will is one with God's will and so what is Ultimate Freedom it isn't just freedom to do whatever my body wants or whatever my immediate impulses are that's just chaos real freedom is being able to tune ourselves into living a life where God is present in our life and that's what the torah's actually tells you the climax of all of the story is what it's not the Ten Commandments it's not the law it's not the religion it's not the guidelines all of those are just steps to bring us to a place where God's spirit dwells in our camp where God's presence is in our home or God's presence is Manifest in our life because if we're able to align our will with his will then his will will be done in our life we will become the people we were created to be and we'll fulfill the destiny we were sent here for and so the book doesn't end at matantara at the giving of the Torah because the Torah is just a vehicle to accomplish the ultimate Mission and what is the ultimate Mission what do we want we want to live for God's presence in our lives and so we should all be blessed as we finish the book of Exodus together that God's presence should dwell in our lives to dwell in our homes dwell in our families dwell in our relationships and realize that as we continue that journey toward our promise toward our Promised Land the place where God wants us to be and as we continue to rise that ladder that we lift up everyone around us as we continue to ascend and become closer and closer to God gave us to be so Shalom fellowship and um just love that we finish the book of Exodus once again together thank you