My Dvar Torah - Jack Beare

My discussion is also based on an early part of the parsha. "You shall make a table of acacia wood two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one cubit an half in height" (25:23).The rabbis noticed that the dimensions of the table were quite specific - the width was less than the height. For them, the width stands for how much you display your wealth and the height is how much wealth you have. They pointed that the lesson here is to be modest and display less than you have.I think that wealth is not only measured in money but also by other things. Wealth is anything that makes you happy and adds richness to your life. Things like family, love, your relationship to G-d, community and helping others. I consider myself truly wealthy in all of these categories.When I think of a table the first one that comes to mind is the the one that stands in our dining room which many of you will know. It is a plain table made out of slats of wood left over from railway tracks and has been the heart of our house since long before I was born. It has seen years of homework, morning teas and most of all Shabbat dinners. It is not worth a great deal of money - it's not an antique or a collector's piece. And even though it's actually wider than it is tall, it is the perfect symbolic example of the table described in my Parshah. Because of the memories, the happiness, the knowledge shared and the time spent with my family, especially Josi, around it, it's the most valuable table I can imagine.Now that I am in in Grade 7 and today is my bar mitzvah, I want to be very conscious of what I say to the people around me. To be grateful for the wealth of blessings that I have without making others feel poorer.