i
You may not enter God’s House when you are impure.
On Yom Kippur, the High Priest must enter the innermost chamber of God’s House.
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We learn these Laws in the Desert.
ii
If you see your brother’s missing ox, or donkey, or sheep go astray, you must return it to him.
If you cannot, you must bring the animal into...your house...until your brother comes.
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When you build a…house, you must surround the roof with a fence: so no one will fall from the roof, so you do not bring blood into your house.
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When you gather collateral on a debt, you may not go into the house of the one who owes you money.
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We learn these Laws on the verge of entering the Land.
iii
In the Desert, we are a people alone with God.
Then we become a nation in the Land.
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In the Desert, we learn to enter God’s House, or (at other times) to stay away from it.
As we become a nation, we learn to bring one another’s lives into our houses, or (at other times) to stay away from one another’s houses.
iv
So that our life with God provides the framework for our life as a nation.
So that our life with God provides the framework for our lives with each other.
Shabbat Shalom, Abe
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