However My Sabbaths you must observe (31:13)
Shabbat is expressed in plural, because according to the Talmud, two angels accompany a person on his way home from the synagogue on Friday night. One angel is good, and the other is evil. When the angels enter the house and find a home filled with the Shabbat atmosphere and a table set with Shabbat candles and challah, the good angel blesses the family that they should merit the same spiritual atmosphere the next Shabbat. Reluctantly, the evil angel answers, “Amen.” Thus, the proper observance of one Shabbat is a source of blessing to observe another Shabbat. (Malei Haomer)
When you take a census....every man shall give G-d an atonement for his soul....This they shall give....a half-shekel. (Exod. 30:12-13)
Moshe could not understand how money can accomplish forgiveness for the soul. G-d showed Moshe a fiery coin which weighed a half-shekel, and He explained that a coin by itself cannot atone for a grave sin. However, if one gives with warmth and enthusiasm that comes from the fiery core of the Jewish soul, then a coin can truly become the cause of forgiveness. (Likutei Sichot)
The Israelites shall keep Shabbat, to make the Shabbat an eternal covenant for their generations (Exod. 31:16)
The word for “their generations,” “ledorotam,” can also be read “ledirotam,” which means “their dwelling places.” The Torah is teaching us that the Jewish people should strive to make the Shabbat beautiful and majestic in their homes. (Iturei Torah)
Before all your people I will perform wonders, such as have not been done on all the earth, nor in any nation (Ex. 34:10)
The Hebrew word for “wonder” is related to the word meaning “set apart.” G-d promised the Jews that they would be set apart from the rest of the nations of the world, for His Divine Presence would henceforth rest only on them. But what “wonders” were promised? Not merely miracles in the physical world, but wonders in the spiritual sense, a deeper understanding of G-dliness and holiness than is afforded others. That is why the verse specifies “before all your people,” for only the Jew can really understand and appreciate the depth of these wonders. (Ohr Hatorah)
