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Subject: Parasha - Ki Sisa
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 16:30:20 -0800
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From: Ohr Somayach
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Torah Weekly - Ki Sisa

* TORAH WEEKLY *
Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion
Parshas Ki Sisa
For the week ending 18 Adar 5759 / 5 - 6 March 1999

Overview

Moshe conducts a census by counting each silver half-shekel donated by all
men, age twenty and over. Moshe is commanded to make a copper laver for
the Mishkan. The women donate the necessary metal. The formula of the
anointing oil is specified, and Hashem instructs Moshe to use this oil only
for dedicating the Mishkan, its vessels, and Aharon and his sons. Hashem
selects Betzalel and Oholiav to be the master craftsmen for the Mishkan and
its vessels. The Jewish People are commanded to keep the Sabbath as an
eternal sign that Hashem made the world. Moshe receives the two Tablets of
Testimony on which are written the Ten Commandments. The mixed multitude
who left Egypt with the Jewish People panic when Moshe's descent seems
delayed, and force Aharon to make a golden calf for them to worship.
Aharon stalls and tries to delay them. Hashem tells Moshe to return to the
people immediately, threatening to destroy everyone and build a new nation
from Moshe. When Moshe sees the spree of idol-worship, he smashes the
tablets, and destroys the golden calf. The tribe of Levi volunteer to
punish the transgressors, executing 3,000 men. Moshe ascends the mountain
to pray for forgiveness for the people, and Hashem accepts his prayer.
Moshe sets up the Mishkan, and Hashem's cloud of glory returns. Moshe asks
Hashem to show him the rules by which He conducts the world, but is granted
only a small portion of this request. Hashem tells Moshe to hew new
tablets, and reveals to him the text of the prayer that will invoke His
mercy. Idol worship, intermarriage, and the combination of milk and meat
are prohibited. The laws of Pesach, the first-born, the first-fruits,
Shabbos, Shavuos and Succos are taught. When Moshe descends with the
second set of tablets, his face is luminous as a result of contact with the
Divine.

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Insights

___The Smile You Send Out___

"And Hashem spoke to Moshe face to face." (33:11)

Many years ago I saw a cartoon whose name escapes me now. I think it might
have been Bambi or some other landmark of Western civilization. Anyway, in
this cartoon a lovable Disney fawn with eyes as big as saucers approaches a
silent still lake in a deserted forest and, for the first time in its life,
sees its reflection. Startled by seeing another creature in this totally
quiet landscape, the fawn jumps back in alarm. However, its curiosity
piqued, the fawn gingerly approaches the glassy surface of the lake once
again. It stares at its reflection. It smiles. It frowns. Its
doppelganger faithfully mimics every move. A whole cartoon ballet of
emotions follows: Surprise. Indignation. Friendship. Love. Until
finally the fawn plunges a paw into the lake and the apparition vanishes,
much to its chagrin.

If the eyes are the window of the soul, the face must be the mirror
of the heart. It's amazing how people know exactly how we feel about them,
even when we're sure that it's our secret.

But more than this, when we look at someone, we see in their face not
just the way they feel about us, but also the way we feel about them. Just
as water reflects, so too the heart of man is reflected in the face of his
fellow. To the extent we feel love for our fellow man, so too will he
reciprocate that love. As they used to say, "The smile you send out
returns to you."

The reverse is also true. When we feel antipathy towards someone, we
will see our own negative feelings written across their features like a
billboard.

The same is true in our relationship with G-d. If we want to know
how G-d feels about us, the surest sign is to check the pulse of our own
feelings about Him. If our heart yearns for G-d, to serve Him and to do
His will, there is no surer sign that He loves us.

___Headlights On___

(Moshe said to G-d) "Show me Your Glory"... (G-d said to him) "You will see
My back, but My face cannot be seen." (33:18;23)

Have you ever driven down a country road on a moonless night and turned
your headlights off? I wouldn't advise you do it for more than a second
because it's like driving into nothingness. It's amazing how those two
small pencil-beams of light allow you to navigate a tortuous county road,
even in the blackest night. "Why can't they just make this road straight?"
you might think to yourself.

This world is like night. The world-to-come is like day.

It's possible to see at night, if you turn on your headlights. But
there's a difference: At night, your vision is restricted to what's
illuminated in the beams. It's local. By day, you can see the whole
picture.

In daylight it becomes clear why the road twists and turns so much,
why sometimes you go up, and sometimes down: Over here, there's a hill;
there, a river; over there a chasm.

In this world, a person sees but through a glass, darkly. He catches
a few brief excerpts of reality, mere flashes of the way the Creator runs
His creation.

The rest is night.

With only the few chapters of world history at our disposal, we can't
visualize the whole of existence, from where it comes and to where it's
going. That's why this world is like night. But in the world-to-come
everything becomes as clear as day. Distance lends perspective and
comprehension. We are able to understand the reasons why G-d does what He
does: Why the road had to have this bend, why we had to go down there so
far...

That's what G-d was telling Moshe when he said "My face -- you cannot
see." In this world we cannot see G-d's "face" -- G-d's direct control of
the world in the bright light of day. But His "back" -- the tell-tale
footprints in the snow of History -- that's clear for all to see...if we
keep our head-lamps turned on.

___Heart And Stone___

"And the tablets are the work of G-d, and the writing, the writing of G-d."
(32:16)

Next time you're in shul, take a look at the Ten Commandments (luchos)
above the holy ark. The tops of the Two Tablets are curved. Why are the
Ten Commandments this shape? The Talmud describes the Tablets as being
cubic. There is not a single classical Jewish source which describes the
Tablets in the form with which we are familiar today.

Where did this shape come from?

Another question. If the Jewish People had already heard the Ten
Commandments, why was it necessary to engrave them on tablets? Wasn't the
overwhelming experience of hearing G-d speaking sufficient?

When the Ten Commandments were engraved on the Tablets, they were
also being engraved on the hearts of the Jewish People. Engraved on the
Tablet of the heart. The writing was the writing of G-d indelibly engraved
on the heart of the Jewish People for all time.

Take another look at those Ten Commandments above the holy ark.
Their rounded tops symbolize the shape of the heart, the heart of the
Jewish People where they have been engraved for more than three thousand
years.

___The Rest Is Easy___

"And on the seventh day, a Shabbos of Shabbosos" (31:15)

There are two kinds of rest. The first kind of rest is a rest from
weariness, a chance to recharge our batteries, to enable us to continue to
work. For no one can work indefinitely. Everyone needs a break.

The second kind of rest comes at the end of a project. The last
brushstroke of a painting. The final sentence of a novel. The last brick
in a new home. Then you take a step back and look at your work. You feel
the satisfaction of completion. It's finished. It's done. A time to rest
and enjoy the fruits of your labors.

"You shall labor for six days and do all your work."

How can you do all your work in six days? Can you build an entire
house in six days?

The Torah teaches us that when Shabbos comes, even though we're half-
way through a project, we should think of it as though it were finished
completely. On Shabbos we should picture ourselves experiencing the rest
and satisfaction that comes after a good job well done, not just taking a
break. In a sense, this is what G-d did when the world was six days old.
He looked at the Creation and saw that it was finished -- the greatest
building project ever -- the heavens and the earth were completed. Our
rest on Shabbos is a commemoration of that rest.

This is the essential difference between our Shabbos and the secular
idea of a "day of rest." The secular world understands the day of rest as
a break so that you can return to the week revitalized and refreshed. It's
a only a break.

Shabbos, on the other hand, is not just pushing the pause button on
life. It's the creation of a feeling that everything in one's life is
complete. There's nothing left to do except sit back and enjoy the fruits
of one's labor.

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Sources:

* The Smile You Send Out - Ohr HaChaim, Rabbi Dovid Kaplan, Rabbi Nachy
Brickman
* Headlights On - Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman,
"Moser Derech" - Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, Rabbi Yaakov Niman, Rabbi Meir
Chadash
* Heart And Stone - Sfas Emes in Mayana shel Torah, Rabbi Moshe Shapiro
* The Rest is Easy - Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin in L'Torah Ul'Moadim

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Haftarah: Parah - Yechezkel 36:16-38

This week's haftarah is the haftarah of Parshas Parah, the third of the
four special Parshios.

Just as Parshas Parah concerns the laws of spiritual purity, so its
haftarah contains the words "and I will sprinkle upon you the waters of
purity." Its prophecy consoles the exiled Jewish people, relating to the
reasons of the exile and to the future restoration and establishment in the
land of Israel. In the future, spiritual purity, together with a "new
heart and new spirit," will be bestowed from above upon those who repent
(ibid. 26).

___A New Heart___

"And I will remove the heart of stone from within you and give you a heart
of flesh." When a person sins he is actually harming himself; his
suffering soul introverts within his conscience, his feelings become numb
and his emotions phlegmatic. This state not only hinders spiritual
elevation but lures him to deepen his depression with additional sin. This
is the meaning of the statement in Pirke Avos "a sin motivates a sin,"
(Avos 4:2) as the spiritual harm caused by the first decision to sin
strengthens his desire for future sin. Our Sages compared this situation
to a thirsty sailor drinking salt water; the more he drinks the more he
thirsts, never to quench his thirst. Nevertheless, when a person is
determined to repent, the Merciful One removes his heart of stone and
furnishes him with a new, sensitive heart of supple flesh, enabling him to
embark on a new beginning.

===========================================================================
Written and Compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair
General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman
Production Design: Eli Ballon

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