Summary Ki Tissa 5762
Ki Tissa opens with further details of the building of the Tabernacle. This includes the mitzvah of the half shekel, the washbasin for the Kohanim, the incense and the anointing oil, and finally the mitzvah of Shabbat.

The rest of the sedra is devoted to the sin of the Golden Calf and its aftermath. Moses had been up on Mount Sinai for nearly forty days. During this time, G-d taught him the Torah and the commandment to build the Tabernacle. Meanwhile, in the Israelite camp the spiritual ecstasy, experienced at the time of the giving of the Torah, had evaporated. Some of the people despaired of Moses ever returning and called on Aaron, Moses’ brother, to take the women’s gold earrings and make a ‘god’ to be their new leader.

If Moses had not intervened, G-d would have destroyed the Jewish People there and then. Moses pleaded that the people had only just left Egypt, and the idolatrous ways of the Egyptians. He asked G-d to remember the merits of the forefathers, to whose offspring He had promised the Land of Israel. Finally, Moses asked G-d to ‘reflect’ on what the Egyptians would say if they heard that the Israelites had perished in the desert.

When Moses saw the idol for himself, and the revelry surrounding it, he smashed the tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments, ground the golden calf into dust, and made a clarion call: “whoever is for G-d, let him come to me”. The only tribe who gathered to him in its entirety, was the tribe of Levi, who then killed all those directly involved in the tragic sin.

Moses went up the mountain for a further forty days and nights, to plead forgiveness for the sin. Then he went up for a final forty days to ‘return Israel to grace’ and to have the commandment to build the Tabernacle, which indicated G-d’s renewed favour.

This Shabbat is also Shabbat Parah. We take out a second Sefer Torah and read from the first part of Chukat, about the laws concerning the Red Heifer. In Temple times, a person who came into contact with the dead had to be purified with the ashes of the Red Heifer before bringing a sacrifice. As all of Israel were involved in the Pascal Sacrifice, this portion always falls on the Shabbat before Shabbat Hachodesh, on which we read about the laws of Pesach.

Points to Ponder

1. What does the Torah mean when it describes Shabbat as a sign between G-d and the Children of Israel?
   
2. How was it possible for a people who had witnessed Divine Revelation at Mount Sinai, to sink so low, so soon afterwards?
   
3. How could Moses break the precious tablets of stone, on which G-d himself had engraved the Ten Commandments?
   

Perhaps you will discuss these points at home and e-mail me your answers after Shabbat!

Shabbat Shalom