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The Kiyor, Laver, was a large, copper utensil filled with water, from which the Kohanim were required to wash their hands and feet prior to performing the service. This washing was not for purposes of hygiene, but for the sake of kiddush, sanctification. The Kohanim purified their hands and feet, representing the upper and lower parts of the body, symbolic of the Kohen’s total devotion and the sublimation of his entire body to the service which he was about to perform. The Laver is not mentioned in the previous parshiyos (Terumah,Tetzaveh) together with the other utensils of the Mishkan, because,…

V’atah tidaber; “And you should speak.” It almost sounds as if it was only this mitzvah (Shabbos) that Moshe Rabbeinu was to (personally) teach the nation. What about the rest of the Torah? Did he not teach the entire Torah to Klal Yisrael? Why is emphasis placed on the mitzvah of Shabbos? Chazal (Eiruvin 54:13) teach that there was a special seder, order/sequence, in the manner that Torah was transmitted to Klal Yisrael. Keitzad seder ha’mishnah, “What was the order of (teaching) the Torah?” Moshe studied (a halachah) from Hashem. (When Moshe was finished) Aharon HaKohen would enter and Moshe taught…

Gathering together apples and oranges and placing them in one basket does not alter the fact that they are distinct from one another in their variant species. Likewise, simply gathering Jews from all walks of life and streams of belief – spiritually and ideologically – will not catalyze the Redemption’s enduring fruition if there will be discord and constant controversy. As long as there is disunity and discord the Redemption is in danger of disintegrating. Thus, as Horav Avigdor Miller, zl, explains, we say yachad (v’kabtzeinu yachad), “together,” all as one. We anxiously await that glorious day, when, despite our…