Almost everything important in life happens with other people.

Marriage. Family. Business. Community. Society.

These relationships shape us in powerful ways. They can bring out our greatest strengths, and sometimes our most difficult character traits as well.

It is often in the presence of other people that we feel jealousy, competition, or the desire for recognition. These moments can feel uncomfortable, even frustrating.

But perhaps those very interactions are exactly where human growth takes place.

In the Parsha of Vayakhel–Pekudei, Moses gathers the entire nation together as the Jewish people begin building the Mishkan. Individuals come together to create something greater than themselves, and in the process something profound happens.

In this talk, Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein explores what it means to grow through our relationships with others, and how the associations that fill our lives can become the place where we develop into the people we are meant to be.

Key Questions

• Why do some of our most difficult character traits emerge in the presence of other people?
• Would it be easier to grow as a person if we separated ourselves from the community?
• Or is it possible that the challenge of living with others is precisely where human greatness is formed?