Question:
In Exodus 16:29 G-d asks us to stay in our homes. Whyu is it, then, that we go out to be seen at Synagogue with all its pomp and circumstance and “look at me” activities?
Answer:
the terminology of he verse is “Al yetzei ish mimikomo” that we should not leave “our places”, not that we may not leave our physical homes. What G-d is telling us here is that the whatever place we are going to settle for the shabbat, that we shouldn’t stray too far from there on the shabbat. The sage told us that by biblical law we are not to travel more that 12 Mil, (approx. 7 miles), however rabbinically, we should not walk out of our city more that about half a mile ,(called a techum shabbos- the area where we may walk on shabbos). When a person walks to the synagogue etc, it is usually within this distance and therefore it is permitted. You are definitely correct that going to the synagogue is not a place for a fashion show or “look at me” activities. We go to shul in order to serve G-d, and not to show ourselves off.
