When Moshe is commanded to construct the Menorah, he is told to make it in a very particular way: “of one piece” [25:31].

Rashi elaborates: Moshe was told not to make it in multiple parts, or by making the branches and lamps first as limbs to be welded together afterwards, but to sculpt it from a single block of gold.

This is how the Menorah “shall be made,” the verse continues, rather than saying that Moshe shall build it. Rashi explains, from Medrash Tanchuma, that Moshe could not see how to form the Menorah in this way, and Hashem told him to throw the entire block of gold into the fire, from which it emerged completed. Its very formation was miraculous.

The Menorah had a central role in the Tabernacle and Temple, and is rich in symbolism. One lesson we learn from the Menorah is the value of unity: the distinct lights rising together from a common base represent different individuals and groups of Jews, all representing diverse streams, coming together in service of Hashem.

That last part, though, is not incidental. Unity must be in service of Hashem to be genuine and lasting. Rabbi Yehudah A.L. Alter, the Gerrer Rebbe at the end of the 19th Century, speaks of the tremendous power of unity, but says that it must be for the sake of Heaven. He compares genuine unity to the generation of the dispersion, when people unified to build the tower of Babylon, to challenge Hashem. And that, of course, failed [see Sfas Emes, Parshas Noach, 5646].

True unity is found when we come together for the sake of Hashem, to build holiness together. May we soon be truly united!