My Dvar Torah - Josi Beare

My dvar Torah focuses on a passage early in the parsha, V’yikchu li t’rumah - 'Let them take for Me an offering' (25.2).In this, it talks a lot about the energy and effort put in by the community to build the Tabernacle. The effort put in, for the community to have the spirit of G-d dwelling among them is an incredible thing. They all put in so much hard work and they certainly had to provide extremely lavish sacrifices to put into the Tabernacle. I think this should happen in our everyday life as well, no I don't mean build a temple to G-d in the middle of the Sinai Desert in 40 degree heat. I mean, coming together as a community, a congregation to provide for a worthy cause.There are many wonderful people in the world today. In fact, there are so many powerful people in the world that even if they died hundreds of years ago, their legacy will live on and on. Take Nelson Mandela, Moses and Joan of Ark. All people who started out just like us. It's not that hard to motivate one’s self, but it is hard to motivate a whole community, but everyday people do it.Nelson Mandela motivated the ANC, Moses motivated the Israelites and Joan of Ark motivated the French army. Leaders need a community, a group of people to guide and inspire and get inspiration from. Just like people need a leader, someone to look up to, someone to strive to be like.We can all strive to be that leader. You can be 12 or 100, it really doesn't matter as long as you have something you are determined to work for. It all starts with an idea, a spark inside someone's head saying, I can make a difference. After that it's up to you, do you start a fire with that spark, or do you let it die?Take Jack and I, we don't go to Jewish schools, we didn't learn how to read Hebrew from a young age, but we were determined. Now here we are, the leaders of today's service, but our b'nei mitzvah would not be as amazing as it is right now if it weren't for you all here, supporting us.Thank you to our teachers, friends and family for making this a community that we will always remember. And thank you to Jack, you may not be a whole community, but you mean the world to me and I certainly wouldn't be standing here right now, this happy and thankful, without you.