Parashat Ki Tisa
Today, Shabbat 17 Adar 5766, the Torah portion (portion = "parasha" or "parsha" in Hebrew)
Ki Tisa was read in the Torah. It is an extremely deep and important parsha which, among other things, speaks about the census of the Jewish people by counting the giving of the "machtzit ha-shekel" (the half-shekel coin), the sin of the "aigel ha-zahav", the golden calf, and Moshe Rabbeinu ("Moses our Teacher") receiving the Ten Commandments on Har Sinai (Mount Sinai), coming down and smashing them when viewing the Jewish people committing that terrible sin.
Also, in this parsha is the retelling of Moshe seeing G-d almost 'face to face' - but because G-d says no man can see Him face to face, Moshe only sees the back of G-d, so to speak.
To this day, it is customary not to count Jews directly, but rather, indirectly, as done in the Torah portion, by counting the half-shekel contribution which each male gave to Moshe Rabbeinu .
Some say this custom of not counting stems from the time of the Holocaust, when the Nazis counted Jews off in the selection process: right, lives - left, dies. Others say it stems from this portion in the Torah, when each Jewish male gave a helf-shekel, and that shekel was counted.
We 'count' by what we 'give' to others (-from the weekly 'drasha' -
Torah exegesis - of Y.Y.Jacobson).
I will add to this post on the parsha Ki Tisa, after I study the commentators further.
I want to post answers to questions such as: 1) Why did Moshe Rabbeinu ask to see G-d's face? Did he not know that no human being could see Him and live? And what exactly did he see, in the end? 2) Why did Aaron HaCohen (-"the priest" - Moshe's brother) seem to 'help' the Children of Israel build the golden calf??? Shouldn't he have refused, and condemned them for wanting it?? 3) what exactly are the 'Ten Commandments'? How do they relate to the whole Torah? 4) Do we know or can we interpret exactly how they were written?
Tune in same time, same station, for further analysis!! Looking forward to your comments and questions,
In Friendship,
Lady-Light
Ki Tisa was read in the Torah. It is an extremely deep and important parsha which, among other things, speaks about the census of the Jewish people by counting the giving of the "machtzit ha-shekel" (the half-shekel coin), the sin of the "aigel ha-zahav", the golden calf, and Moshe Rabbeinu ("Moses our Teacher") receiving the Ten Commandments on Har Sinai (Mount Sinai), coming down and smashing them when viewing the Jewish people committing that terrible sin.
Also, in this parsha is the retelling of Moshe seeing G-d almost 'face to face' - but because G-d says no man can see Him face to face, Moshe only sees the back of G-d, so to speak.
To this day, it is customary not to count Jews directly, but rather, indirectly, as done in the Torah portion, by counting the half-shekel contribution which each male gave to Moshe Rabbeinu .
Some say this custom of not counting stems from the time of the Holocaust, when the Nazis counted Jews off in the selection process: right, lives - left, dies. Others say it stems from this portion in the Torah, when each Jewish male gave a helf-shekel, and that shekel was counted.
We 'count' by what we 'give' to others (-from the weekly 'drasha' -
Torah exegesis - of Y.Y.Jacobson).
I will add to this post on the parsha Ki Tisa, after I study the commentators further.
I want to post answers to questions such as: 1) Why did Moshe Rabbeinu ask to see G-d's face? Did he not know that no human being could see Him and live? And what exactly did he see, in the end? 2) Why did Aaron HaCohen (-"the priest" - Moshe's brother) seem to 'help' the Children of Israel build the golden calf??? Shouldn't he have refused, and condemned them for wanting it?? 3) what exactly are the 'Ten Commandments'? How do they relate to the whole Torah? 4) Do we know or can we interpret exactly how they were written?
Tune in same time, same station, for further analysis!! Looking forward to your comments and questions,
In Friendship,
Lady-Light
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