Amazing Shavuos party for the 10 commandments. Over 60 adults and children enjoying the best cheesecake and ice cream spread since Sinai!
Individually unique.
One of the topics of this week's Torah portion (fun fact: the longest one in the Torah) is the dedication of theMishkan - the temporary temple that accompanied the Jews in the desert.
The leader of each tribe brought an offering. A very precise offering. As an example: "one silver bowl weighing one hundred and thirty shekels". What's interesting is that each and every leader's offering was exactly the same. The items, the amounts, the weights, everything.
If this is the case, then why does the Torah bother to repeat this paragraph of information a staggering twelve times (resulting in it being the longest portion)? It seems highly repetitive and unnecessary. Wouldn't it make much more sense to write it once and preface "each one of the leaders brought..."?
This is the mistake of generalizing and grouping. In today's day and age, we tend to put everyone into a category, filing them away into a box.
The Midrash devotes dozens of pages to explaining how this offering in all its glorious detail was perfectly suited to that particular tribe's character and personality. And it was similarly exactly appropriate for the next, but for a totally different reason. Each element was chock full of significance, and yet an altogether different experience than the next one. From the firstborn tribe of Reuven to the Torah scholars of Yisachar to the merchant of the Zevulun tribe.
We don't need to do something different to be unique. We simply are unique. And it expresses itself in everything we do, no matter how ordinary it seems. None of us are redundant and our experience matters to Hashem deserving its own mention in the Torah.
So do a Mitzvah, and make it your own.
ב"ה