רפואה מן התורה
Healing from the Torah
Parashat Ki Tisa
Exodus 30:11-34:35
By Adam Ruditsky
By Adam Ruditsky
After a benign beginning, Parashat Ki Tisa becomes very messy with a host of
problems that need explanation. The
biggest one, which aside from touching on we are going to largely skip in this
drash, is the story of the Golden Calf that was one of Israel’s worst
collective sins. A challenge with this parsha
is that there is so much to say given its many themes. Still, as we shall see, each word is
connected to the next although for us we will look primarily at the temple tax
(30:13-16), the Shabbat (31:12-17) and the crown of the covenant (33:4-6).
In the beginning
of this parsha Ki Tisa (כי תשא)
we read, כי תשא את ראש בנ ישראל (ki tisa et rosh b’nai
Yisrael). While ki tisa
(כי תשא) literally means “for
you will lift up,” the
expanded phrase כי תשא את
ראש בנ ישראל is translated
“when you take a census of the children of Israel,” (lit. when
you left up each head of the children of Israel). The census itself was carried out by the way
of taxation, but not a tax system that is based on different percentages for the
poor, middle class, upper class and the extreme upper class, but העשיר
לו ירבה והדל לא ימעיט,
“the wealthy will not give more and the poor will not give less,” each
giving half a shekel. The point of this
tax is the equality of each person regardless of their station in life,
as each stood before God at Mt Sinai and said, “all that God has spoken we
will do.” Each person was to take
responsibility for their own conduct based upon their spoken declaration of
fidelity to the covenant, the tax just affirmed that. The tax itself was to “atone for your
souls,” which for Rashi was an opportunity to help build what was sacred
in their midst regarding the Mishkan, a way of giving to one’s own personal
conviction as opposed to an atonement like on Yom Kippur. Yet then we read that those who did not
obligate themselves to that affirmation, in particular to keeping the Shabbat,
would be put to death; that seems incredibly harsh (cf. Ex. 31:14). Again appealing to Rashi, he teaches that this
has to do with a lack of sanctity (holiness).
Rabbi Elie Munk, a modern voice, says this is a crime of a religious
nature against the keeping of the Shabbat that is a “moral sin.” Rabbi Munk continues to teach that the one
who breaks the Shabbat has “excluded [themselves], spiritually speaking, from
the fellowship of [the] people by betraying [the] mission and [the] ideal of holiness.” Holding that up next to the idolatry of the Golden
Calf just does seem right, but death for some wrongs is not just physical. Still, the nature and purpose of Shabbat was
not just a day, but a symbol of a people who generation to generation would be
“anointed” to be a “kingdom of
priests and a holy nation” (see Ex 19:6 and from this parsha 30:31);
Rashi teaching that this anointing still “exists for the future” of the
Jewish people, meaning symbolically that applies to us today. Anointing is a ritual of consecration to
something, in this case Torah and its values, which is connected to the
“crown” that was removed after Israel’s sin with the Golden Calf.
The word “crown” is normally written as כתר (keter) although in Ki Tisa from 33:4 it is from עדי (adi), which not only has been translated as crown, but also as ornament or finery. Although the word עדי (adi) has a broader meaning than just a crown per se that sits upon a head, Rashi reflecting on Shabbat 88a, calls עדיו (edyo, lit. his crown) from 33:4 כתרים (k’tarim) that means “crowns.” Above it was restated that when Israel stood before God at Mt Sinai and received the initial commandments they all said, “what God has spoken we will do.” In Shabbat 88a we read that מלאכי השרת (malacai hasharet), ministering angels, came upon Israel at that moment because they replied נעשה לנשמע (na’aseh l’nishma), we will do for we will hear, to what was commanded. As their reward the מלאכי השרת wove two-crowns (כתרים, k’tarim) to place upon the heads of the Israelites that day; one crown being for נעשה (we will do) and the other being for לנשמע (we will hear). Yet, as a result of Israel’s sin with the Golden Calf, Shabbat 88a also says that this time מלכאי חבלה (malacai chabalah), angels of destruction, came and removed NOT the כתרים, BUT עדים (edyam, their ornaments), perhaps suggesting that what was removed was much greater than just a physical crown itself. The crown (עדי and not כתר) really can be connected with last week and the idea of the scared garments of conviction that the High Priest wore, and by extension all of Israel who were called to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In this week’s parsha the crowns were removed after the sin of the Golden Calf because Israel made the choice in that moment to remove their communal garments of conviction that made them who they were to be, symbolized by the warning regarding the desecration of the Shabbat with its stated results being death, to which we said was just not physical. What happened with the Golden Calf was a result of not standing upon their declaration of נעשה לנשמע” (na’aseh l’nishma; we will do to we will hear), not listening to their inner convictions and as a result lost the reward of their crowns/ornaments/finery.
Now, I am going to add the following. Yes, our tradition sees the Golden Calf as one of Israel’s most egregious sins, but that is not what had them wondering for 40 years. God is also not a task master, they had one of those in Egypt, and to see what happened as God being punitive with a people who just came out of Egypt and were being transformed into a free people I think is a poor way to see this story. The God of this story is the God we pray to on Yom Kippur that is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (cf. Ex. 34:6-7). The standards of Torah that includes laws and practices in this parsha touches upon having no other gods and the Shabbat (see Ex. 20:3,8), but also new laws for the practices of Shavuot and Passover are mentioned (cf. Ex. 34:22, 25). We learn in this parsha that each person (i.e. the temple tax) was not to turn their back on the idea of נעשה לנשמע, and again looking at it as egalitarian despite how it is written, every person had the potential of corrupting the garments of holiness and therefore losing the crowns of their reward.
The mindful laws and practices of mind, body and spirit today, as they were then, are for our benefit to help the process of נעשה לנשמע, but if a person elects to act otherwise there can be unwanted consequences. Putting that another way, I read that as “you made your bed now lay in it,” which I understand to mean that my poor choices can lead to bad results, yet while often redeemable, I may still have to pay the price as well. Like I said, this is a messy parsha, but so is being human.
The word “crown” is normally written as כתר (keter) although in Ki Tisa from 33:4 it is from עדי (adi), which not only has been translated as crown, but also as ornament or finery. Although the word עדי (adi) has a broader meaning than just a crown per se that sits upon a head, Rashi reflecting on Shabbat 88a, calls עדיו (edyo, lit. his crown) from 33:4 כתרים (k’tarim) that means “crowns.” Above it was restated that when Israel stood before God at Mt Sinai and received the initial commandments they all said, “what God has spoken we will do.” In Shabbat 88a we read that מלאכי השרת (malacai hasharet), ministering angels, came upon Israel at that moment because they replied נעשה לנשמע (na’aseh l’nishma), we will do for we will hear, to what was commanded. As their reward the מלאכי השרת wove two-crowns (כתרים, k’tarim) to place upon the heads of the Israelites that day; one crown being for נעשה (we will do) and the other being for לנשמע (we will hear). Yet, as a result of Israel’s sin with the Golden Calf, Shabbat 88a also says that this time מלכאי חבלה (malacai chabalah), angels of destruction, came and removed NOT the כתרים, BUT עדים (edyam, their ornaments), perhaps suggesting that what was removed was much greater than just a physical crown itself. The crown (עדי and not כתר) really can be connected with last week and the idea of the scared garments of conviction that the High Priest wore, and by extension all of Israel who were called to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In this week’s parsha the crowns were removed after the sin of the Golden Calf because Israel made the choice in that moment to remove their communal garments of conviction that made them who they were to be, symbolized by the warning regarding the desecration of the Shabbat with its stated results being death, to which we said was just not physical. What happened with the Golden Calf was a result of not standing upon their declaration of נעשה לנשמע” (na’aseh l’nishma; we will do to we will hear), not listening to their inner convictions and as a result lost the reward of their crowns/ornaments/finery.
Now, I am going to add the following. Yes, our tradition sees the Golden Calf as one of Israel’s most egregious sins, but that is not what had them wondering for 40 years. God is also not a task master, they had one of those in Egypt, and to see what happened as God being punitive with a people who just came out of Egypt and were being transformed into a free people I think is a poor way to see this story. The God of this story is the God we pray to on Yom Kippur that is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (cf. Ex. 34:6-7). The standards of Torah that includes laws and practices in this parsha touches upon having no other gods and the Shabbat (see Ex. 20:3,8), but also new laws for the practices of Shavuot and Passover are mentioned (cf. Ex. 34:22, 25). We learn in this parsha that each person (i.e. the temple tax) was not to turn their back on the idea of נעשה לנשמע, and again looking at it as egalitarian despite how it is written, every person had the potential of corrupting the garments of holiness and therefore losing the crowns of their reward.
The mindful laws and practices of mind, body and spirit today, as they were then, are for our benefit to help the process of נעשה לנשמע, but if a person elects to act otherwise there can be unwanted consequences. Putting that another way, I read that as “you made your bed now lay in it,” which I understand to mean that my poor choices can lead to bad results, yet while often redeemable, I may still have to pay the price as well. Like I said, this is a messy parsha, but so is being human.
Shabbat Shalom!
No comments:
Post a Comment