B"H
Thursday, Adar1 16, 5782 / February 17, 2022
In this week’s Parsha, Ki Tisa, we read how the Jewish people worshipped the Golden Calf. Moshe, who just received the two Tablets, upon seeing this, broke the Tablets. We also read in great detail how Moshe prayed for their forgiveness. Eventually G-d forgave their sin and gave Moshe a second set of Tablets.
Q. What was G-d’s initial reaction to the people making the Golden Calf?
A. G-d said to Moshe, “Now leave me alone that my wrath will be against them and I will destroy them and I will make of you into a great nation.” Moshe refused and told G-d that if He didn’t forgive the people, then G-d should erase Moshe’s name from the Torah. In the end G-d did forgive the people.
Q. What happened to the broken Tablets?
A. They were kept together with the Second Tablets in the Holy Ark in the Tabernacle and later in the Beth Hamikdash (Holy Temple).
Q. Why were the broken Tablets so special that they were kept, even after getting the second Tablets?
A. The first Tablets were completely the work of G-d. They were Divinely made and the letters on them were divinely engraved. The second Tablets were made by Moshe, who brought them up the mountain. Only the writing on them was engraved by G-d.
Q. How long, after he broke the first Tablets, did Moshe receive the second Tablets?
A. Eighty days later. On the seventeenth day of Tammuz he received the first Tablets. Eighty days later, on Yom Kippur, he came down Mount Sinai with the second Tablets.
Q. What happened to the Golden Calf?
A. The Parsha tells us that Moshe burnt the Golden Calf, then ground it to a fine powder and scattered it upon the surface of the water. Then he gave it to the people of Israel to drink. Those who sinned perished after drinking the water.
Q. Where did Michelangelo get the idea to put horns on Moshe, as seen on his statue of Moses?
A. In the Parsha it says that when Moshe came down the mountain with the Tablets his face “shone.” The Torah used the word “Koran” which means shine. “Horn” in Hebrew is “Keren.” The two words, shine and horn are similar in Hebrew and spelled the same. He mistranslated the word Koran, to “horn” instead of “shine.” Our greatest leader, Moshe, definitely didn’t have any horns..
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY