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This week’s parshah speaks of many things, one of which is the story of the Jewish nation’s sin of the golden calf. It wasn’t even two months ago that the Jews received the Torah and underwent the ultimate spiritual experience at Mount Sinai. How can it be that the nation had now stooped so low, when just 7 weeks ago they practically saw God face to face!?

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“When He (God) finished (”ככלתו”) speaking to him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two Tablets (”לחת”) of Testimony, stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God” [Exodus: 31: 18]

When examining the word “ככלתו”, one may notice that it is missing a letter; often times the Torah does this in order to allude to a deeper concept. In the context of our verse it should be written as “ככלותו”, with an extra “ו”. Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Torah) comments that the word “ככלתו” can also be translated as “like his bride”. He explains that the Tablets were given over to Moshe like a bride is given over to a groom. I believe that through this explanation, one may derive a fundamental idea pertaining to the relationship between man and woman in marriage. First and foremost, the main question we must answer is: What similarity exists between the two tablets and marriage?

Going back to our verse, if one were to analyze the word “לחת”, one may notice that it is missing a letter as well. The Hebrew word for “Tablets”, written in plural form, should be “לחות”, with an extra “ו”. By taking out the “ו”, the word can also be read as if it was in singular form. Rashi explains that the Torah is hinting at the idea that although there were two separate and distinct tablets, they were in fact equal to one another.

Yafeh Toar (Classic massive commentary on the Midrash Rabbah, by R’ Shmuel Yafeh Ashkenazi of Constantinople, 1525 – 1595) states that although in the plain sense, this refers to the actual size of the Tablets, it has a deeper meaning as well: The first tablet contained commandments concerning man’s relationship with God, while the second tablet contained commandments concerning man’s relationship with his fellow human beings. One can therefore say that the first tablet was a heaven-focused tablet, while the second was an earth-focused tablet. By stating that the two tablets were equal means that both kinds of commandments are equal in man’s service to God; we must give the same priority to both the “heavenly” commandments and the “earthly” commandments.

This idea is expressed further in the end of our verse. The tablets are illustrated as possessing a dual nature; on the one hand they are described as earthly “stone tablets”, while on the other hand they are depicted as heavenly, for they were “inscribed by the finger of God”. Again, this alludes to the idea that our earthly pursuits are meant to be equal to our heavenly pursuits in our religious observance.

This idea can be explained on a slightly different, yet deeper level: The Tablets were described in singular form because they were in fact one tablet! Meaning, not only do we have to give equal status to our mundane and spiritual pursuits, we must merge them into one! The very earthly actions we perform must be done with spiritual intention as well. Every piece of food we eat should be with the mindset that we are eating God’s food and that we are sustaining ourselves in order to serve God even further. Every hand we shake should be shook with the intention that we are fulfilling God’s will by maintaining a positive relationship amongst His creations. The mundane is not merely equal to the spiritual, it IS the spiritual.

This understanding is critical for a man and woman entering into marriage together. At first glance, the unification of man and woman is probably the most earthly action we could perform. Not only is it focused on physical pleasure, it is also the basis for human survival! However, when approached from a different perspective one will realize that reproduction is actually the greatest spiritual achievement one can ever attain. Man is made “in the image of God”, and we are therefore expected to emulate Him. What greater way is there to emulate God’s ways than bringing a child into this world? Through reproduction, we become partners in God’s creation! The vital element of marriage is to recognize the oneness of the physical and spiritual dimensions.

May we all be blessed to merge our physical side with our spiritual side, and enter into long lasting, loving, and pure marriages.

Good Shabbos,

NZL

“I have a great story for you,” announced my friend excitedly.
“Tell, tell,” I begged, playing into her intention of suspense.
“Hm, I dunno, it’s gonna cost ya,” she added, jokingly.
“Well, uh, my soul’s for sale?”
“Ah, please! No one wants a soul these days!”
We laughed. She told me the ‘great story’.

I have no recollection of the ‘great story’, but, since that day, the meaningless preamble has popped into my head time and time again. We may have joked casually, but the truth behind our banter is certainly not a laughing matter. We live in a world where many people spend their lives chasing after things that will ultimately prove to be futile and empty. They deny that the very source of their existence exists. Religion is a burden, God, an inconvenience, and Truth, an illusion.

With this reality as my backdrop, I began to learn this week’s parsha, Ki Tisa. I, like all of the commentators, was baffled by the story of the Sin of the Golden Calf. How is it possible, they ask, that a mere forty days after the greatest revelation in the history of the world the people sinned so grievously? What were they thinking? Perhaps they were trying to replace Moshe, not God? Yes, this makes more sense! Or maybe it was the Egyptian multitudes that joined B’nei Yisrael when they left Egypt? My confusion, however, lies somewhere else.

“Aaron said to them, ‘Remove the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, sons, and daughters, and bring them to me.’ The entire people removed the gold rings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.” (32:2-3)

Unfortunately, it is not hard for me to imagine Am Yisrael rebelling against, or flat out denying the existence of, God. I do not have to delve so deeply into my imagination to conjure the image of people who would rather follow their own personal desires than that of an Eternal being. What is difficult to grasp, however, is how Aaron convinced ‘the entire people’ to give up their jewelry, wealth and riches. It appears that Rashi, too, is bothered by this part of the plot. He explains that Aaron knew that the people were misguided, yet out of fear for his own life, he went along with their plan. He was sure that the women would not easily give up their jewelry (which many say they didn’t), and thus he could buy enough time for Moshe to return and the whole episode to be forgotten. Aaron could never have anticipated how enthusiastic the people would be with the idea of a molten god. When we learn this story, we tend to give B’nei Yisrael a very hard time about their actions, yet there is actually something impressive going on here. In a world where many have given up God for money without a second thought, it is humbling to think of a people that would give up all of their most valuable possessions for God, even if in a misguided manner.

Nevertheless, it is considered a great sin, arguably an archetypal-root-of-all-sins-kind-of-sin. The parsha opens up with Hashem demanding that Moshe take a census of B’nei Yisrael by collecting half a shekel from each person.

“Everyone who passes through the census, from twenty years of age and up, shall give the portion of Hashem. The wealthy shall not increase and the destitute shall not decrease from half a shekel – to give the portion of Hashem to atone for your souls.” (30:14-15)

The Torah goes to great lengths to emphasize the value of the half-shekel and the importance of it being atonement for sins. It is said that through the contribution of half a shekel, B’nei Yisrael would achieve forgiveness from the Sin of the Golden Calf. Well, pardon my saying so, but that’s a pretty good deal. If atonement only costs fifty cents, it certainly pays to sin!
It is clear that there must be a deeper more symbolic significance to the contribution of the half-shekel for it to atone for a sin as great as idolatry. In Jewish tradition, the half-shekel has been linked to the three master relationships of a human being: the relationships between fellow man, a man and himself, and man and God.

On a national level, through each man giving an equal contribution, we learn the concept of our individual responsibility to both Am Yisrael and humanity as a whole. In order for the world to rise to a higher level, it is imperative that each of us does our part. Depending on our stature, our purpose appears to be a greater or lesser sacrifice, yet at the end of the day, none of us can be complete without the other.

On a personal level, within each man exists a dichotomy. Human beings are a pardoxal half-physical, half-spiritual being, and by taking our animalistic desires for materialism and directing them to something greater than ourselves, we are able to become a more complete being. Weare not giving away half a shekel, but rather gaining control of half of ourselves, thus becoming whole.

Lastly, we see how the contribution of the half-shekel connects to our relationship with God. We were married to God at Mount Sinai with the two tablets as our marriage contract. When Moshe came down from Har Sinai with the freshly engraved tablets and saw B’nei Yisrael dancing and celebrating around a Golden Calf, he smashed the tablets. The sin was adultery just as much as it was idolatry! The Sin of the Golden Calf is the ultimate separation from our Creator. We are nothing without God, and He has chosen to be nothing in this world without us. In order for us to actualize our potential and become whole beings, we must first recognize that there is no self out of a Divine context. If there is no God, there is no me. Furthermore, it is perhaps more important for us to recognize that God cannot move the world to its intended purpose without us doing our part as well.

We live in a broken world of fractures, schisms, and half-shekels. War is rampant, relationships are failing, God is hidden and people are depressed. In order for us to gain true atonement for the sins of our time, whether they are personal or national, we need to create connections and bring unity into the world. We need to focus on healing, stitching and bringing things back together by improving our relationships with our fellow man, ourselves, and our God. The first step in doing so is recognizing that we are but a half-shekel, and that, alone, is worthless. We may only be half of the story, yet its ending is entirely dependent on us.

“A coin of fire and the victory of Amalek”

Rav M. Elon

Our parashah, Parashat Ki-Tisa, opens with the divine command regarding the Mahatzit ha-Shekel – the Half Shekel. After this section, the Torah deals with the kiyor, the washstand, and then the anointing oil. At first glance, this order of parshiyot seems to have no internal connection one to the other, seeming to simply appear in an unimportant, uncalculated order. We will examine each of these parashiyot separately, and then together, and we will see that there is in fact one common denominator which has a number of facets to it.

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