Unity and Sanctity

Moses assembled the entire Israelite community and said to them, 'These are the words that God has commanded for (you) to do:    Exodus 35:1

       My saintly teacher, Rabbi Mordechai Rogov, explained that it was necessary for Moses to assemble “the entire Israelite community” when he prepared to erect the tabernacle in which the Shechina will rest since the essential condition for the Shechina resting within Israel is the nation’s unity.

     The concept of the connection between Israel’s unity and its sanctity appears as well in Parashat Kedoshim, which begins with God’s command:

speak to the entire Israelite community and say to them:                              Leviticus 19:2

     It is clearly not by chance that in both verses the audience is the “entire Israelite community.” When the individual achieves the level of sanctity, he endows the collective as well with sanctity, and when the collective achieves sanctity the Shechina will indeed rest within the community.