B"H

Monday, Adar 17, 5781 / March 1, 2021

 

From Purim to Pesach (Passover) is exactly four weeks. The first Pesach Seder will be celebrated Saturday night, March 27. Between now and Pesach we will, G-d willing, discuss many interesting concepts of Pesach.   

 

This week’s Parsha, Ki Tisa, relates the story of the Golden Calf.  The Torah tells us, "And the people saw that Moshe delayed coming down from the mountain, so the people gathered around Aaron and they said to him, 'rise up and make for us gods that shall go before us; for as for Moshe, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'"

 

Aaron knew that Moshe would soon descend from the mountain; so to delay them, he said, "Go and bring the golden rings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and your daughters, and bring to me."  But the people brought the gold faster than Aaron imagined.

 

Q. Why did Aaron offer to accommodate the people, which resulted in the greatest sin in Jewish history?

 

A. According to the Midrash, Aaron realized that if the people built an idol on their own, they would complete it quickly. Therefore, he took charge of the project, trying to postpone it until Moshe returned.  But when Aaron took the gold and threw it into the fire, he couldn’t imagine that out would come a Golden Calf. This event took place only 40 days after receiving the Torah, while Moshe was still on Mount Sinai.

 

When Moshe came down the mountain carrying the Two Tablets, and seeing the Golden Calf and the people dancing in front of it, he immediately threw down the Tablets and broke them. This sin was so grave that G-d wanted to destroy the entire Jewish nation, but Moshe pleaded with G-d for mercy. 

 

After breaking the Tablets, Moshe prayed for forty days.  He went up Mount Sinai again where he stayed another forty days and returned with the second set of Tablets. The day he came down the mountain with the second Tablets and G-d's forgiveness, was Yom Kippur.  Thus, Yom Kippur became an everlasting day for forgiveness and atonement. It teaches us the power of repentance.

 

In the beginning of this Parsha we read about G-d’s commandment that the people give a half-Shekel toward the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), which was to atone for the sin of the Golden Calf. Later in this Parsha, we read about the actual sin of the Golden Calf.

 

Q.Why did the Torah change the order of events and tell us about the building of the Mishkan and the half- shekel to atone for the sin of the Golden Calf, before telling us the actual sin of the Golden Calf?

 

A.    Our sages tell us that G-d prepares the remedy before the plague and the cure before the sickness.  The Torah tells us about the building of the Mishkan and about the giving of the half Shekel before the sin of the Golden Calf to teach us this lesson, that before the sin, G-d already prepared the cure.

 

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL DAY