"These are the accounts of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Testimony…." (Ex. 38:21)

We need to understand why, when the parasha lists all the details that went into [the construction of] the Tabernacle and the vessels, it concludes each case by stating that it was done "as G‑d commanded Moses". Why does it mention this each time, rather than making a general conclusion at the end, that everything was done "as G‑d commanded Moses"?

The Torah is teaching a fundamental lesson in the service of G‑d and the fulfillment of the commandments, be it shofar, sukka, Pesach, or tefillin, etc. Each one consists of action, words and intention (thought). The underlying intentions of the commandments and prayers are great and awesome, and few people, even those on a high spiritual level, grasp more than a minute portion of the intentions that the Men of the Great Assembly [of the 4th century B.C.E. who formalized today's prayer service] put into the prayers.The same holds true in the performance of the commandments.

I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment to love your fellow as yourself….

And yet, every Jew must partake of these three aspects. Because the physical act of the commandment creates a garment for the soul in the lower Gan Eden, and the intention put in the commandment creates a garment for the soul in the higher Gan Eden.

The answer, then, is to include oneself and one's intentions - be it in prayer or in the performance of commandments - in one's weekday meals, and all the more so, in the three meals of Shabbat - with the "perfectly faithful of Israel" [i.e. the tzadikim], who know the inner meaning of the prayers and the commandments (according to the Men of the Great Assembly). This is the meaning of the Arizal's statement that one should precede each prayer with the words: "I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment to love your fellow as yourself", for then one includes one's own prayers with those who know how to unite the supernal attributes. Let these words be sufficient.

While their thoughts and intentions were carried out in the physical world below, they had in mind the spiritual world….

Now, in building the Tabernacle [in the desert], their thoughts were focused on building the Supernal Tabernacle, as the verse says: "And the Tabernacle was erected". (Ex. 40:17) That is, when the Tabernacle below was erected, so was the Tabernacle above. (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 18; Zohar II:240a) And while their thoughts and intentions were carried out in the physical world below, they had in mind the spiritual world, to build the Tabernacle above, which is the secret of the creation of heaven and earth and all the worlds.

However, not every mind can grasp this. Therefore, after the construction of each vessel of the Tabernacle, the people clearly stated that they were doing it according to the inner intention that G‑d commanded Moses. This is also as we say [before the performance of each mitzvah]: "May the pleasantness of the L-rd our G‑d be upon us, and establish the work of our hands, and establish the work of our hands." (Psalms 90:17)

[Translated and annotated from Sefer Baal Shem Tov, Ben Porat Yosef, Introduction, p. 8-9.]