This is the workmanship of the menora--beaten work of gold (Num. 8:4)
"Beaten work of gold," explains Rashi, means that the menora was to be made of a single piece of gold, beaten or pounded with a hammer and other tools, until it assumed the proper shape. Likewise, a person who desires to transform himself into a "menora," to kindle his G-dly spark and be illuminated with the light of Torah, should also do the same to himself -striking away at his negative qualities and working on his character until he, too, assumes the proper form. (Likutei Torah)
From the base, until the flowers, beaten work (Num. 8:4)
The base of the menora symbolizes the simplest of Jews; the flowers, those on the highest spiritual plane. The Torah demands that the menora be made out of one piece of gold, just as the Jewish people is one entity. Every Jew is incomplete by himself, without the rest of the Jewish nation, just as in the human body, the foot needs the head to function no less than the head requires the foot for mobility. (Likutei Torah)
We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt for naught (Num. 11:5)
G-d created the world in a way which makes it necessary to exert tremendous energy to attain sanctity; being holy demands hard work. But whatever interferes with our pursuit of holiness, come to us easily. As slaves, the Children of Israel had grown accustomed to receiving the bounty of Egypt. After their liberation, they protested that from now on they would have to work hard to obtain G-d's blessings. (Likrat Shabbat)
But the man Moses was very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth (Num. 12:3)
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi explained that Moses felt humble especially in comparison to our generation, the last generation before Moshiach. For, despite the extreme darkness that would reign immediately preceding the Final Redemption, Moses foresaw and was humbled by the self-sacrifice our generation would show to keep the Jewish faith alive even in the most difficult of circumstances. (Sichat Purim, 5747)
Reprinted from the Behaalotcha 5762/2002 edition of L’Chaim.
