B"H

Thursday, Adar1- 20, 5784 / February 29, 2024

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; because 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. In order 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."  Aaron figured that the women would refuse to give away their jewelry. Instead, the men brought their own jewelry, and they brought it much faster than Aaron imagined.

According to Midrash, Aaron then realized that if the people will build an idol on their own, they will complete it quickly.  Therefore, he took charge of the job and tried to postpone it until Moshe returned.  However, when Aaron took the gold and threw it into the fire, out came the Golden Calf.  This 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, seeing the Golden Calf and the people dancing in front of it, he immediately threw down the Tablets, breaking them.   The sin of the Golden Calf was so grave that G-d wanted to destroy the entire nation, but Moshe pleaded with G-d for mercy. 

Moshe’s dialogue with G-d is told in the Parsha in great length. G-d forgave the people, withholding his immediate punishment. Our sages tell us that G-d distributes the punishment in small doses over time.

On fast days, when we remember a tragic event in Jewish history, we read the Torah from this Parsha about Moshe's prayer for the Jewish people and G-d's subsequent forgiveness.

After breaking the Tablets, Moshe went up the mountain and prayed for forty days and came down. 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.

Q. The commandment to build the Mishkan, which we read in the previous two Parshiot (Terumah and Tetzaveh), came after Yom Kippur, as a result of G-d's forgiveness for this sin. Why did the Torah change the order of events and tell us about the building of the Mishkan and the half- shekel, which was to atone for the sin of the Golden Calf, before telling us about the actual sin of the Golden Calf?

A.  Our sages tell us that G-d always 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, which were the remedy for the Golden Calf, to teach us this important lesson: Before we read about the sin, G-d already tells us about the atonement and cure.  

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY

UNITED WE STAND IN PRAYER FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN ISRAEL

& FOR THE WELFARE OF THE CAPTIVES. MAY THEY BE RELEASED NOW.