Carving the Tablets Yourself

It seems a bit of a puzzle that God would give us a perfect world, only to see us make such a mess of things.  And it seems quite a puzzle that God would give us a first set of the Tablets of Testimony (the "Two Tablets"), only to see them shattered by Moses and then carved again. And it seems strange to our parents that we can't simply accept their instruction without trying and failing (and then hopefully succeeding!) for ourselves.  And it seems strange to us that sometimes we must repeat the same mistakes time and again until we finally get it right. But it is actually not that strange at all.  We are each here to grow.  We are each here to learn.  And the journey of life is not in being given "perfection", but rather in learning to understand what that word means to each and every one of us as individuals, and creating it for ourselves. Attached please find the shu-shine for the Torah portions of 'VaYakhel-Pikudei': "Carving the Tablets Yourself".       (click “Listen Now”, below!) May we all be blessed to understand the lessons of life that God is teaching us, to shape the best environment for ourselves, to refine ourselves within that space, and to take our place in bringing order to the communities and beautiful world we are a part of. With Love and a Smile, ~Shu