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Tag Archive for: Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא

Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא (Exodus 30:11−34:35)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא (Exodus 30:11−34:35)

Ki Tisa: The Gift of Shabbat
By Cantor Lauren Adesnik

Moses is communing with God over 40 days and 40 nights at Mt. Sinai. One of the most pivotal moments in Moses and God’s spiritual connection occurs at God’s declaration that the People of Israel shall observe Shabbat and that this observance will serve as the symbol of the holy relationship between God and the People of Israel forever. In this parsha, this declaration later forms a central part of our Shabbat liturgy: V’shamru.

Ki Tisa teaches us that Shabbat is an anchor in our chaotic world. From the inception of our Jewish heritage, Shabbat has been the focal point defining our sacred time. According to S.A. Taub of Modzhitz, a Hasidic teacher in Poland, Shabbat is intentionally mentioned twice in this parsha to emphasize that Shabbat is about being and doing. Shabbat is both a state of being and an existence that has to be actively pursued (hence the “doing” part).

Not only is it a time for us to rest from the busy schedules of our daily life, but it is also a time to gather as communities and families. Actively gathering together in this way fosters deeper and more meaningful relationships with those we love, with the world, and with God.

Take a moment this weekend, and bask in the elevation of holy time. Pick one moment and immerse yourself in it. This is the gift of Shabbat.

Parsha Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא Torah Summary:

Moses takes a census of the Israelites and collects a half-shekel from each person (30:11-16) God tells Moses to construct a water basin and to prepare anointing oil and incense for the ordination of the priests. Bezalel and Oholiab, skilled artisans, are assigned to make objects for the priests and the Tabernacle. (30:17-31:11) The Israelites are instructed to keep Shabbat as a sign of their covenant with God. God gives Moses the two tablets of the Pact. (31:12-18) The Israelites ask Aaron to build them a Golden Calf. Moses implores God not to destroy the people and then breaks the two tablets of the Pact on which the Ten Commandments are written when he sees the idol. God punishes the Israelites by means of a plague. (32:1-35) Moses goes up the mountain with a blank set of tablets for another 40 days so that God will again inscribe the Ten Commandments. Other laws, including the edict to observe the Pilgrimage Festivals, are also revealed. (34:1-28) Moses comes down from the mountain with a radiant face. (34:29-35) Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא Ki Tisa: The Gift of Shabbat By Cantor Lauren Adesnik Moses is communing with God over 40 days and 40 nights at Mt. Sinai. One of the most pivotal moments in Moses and God’s spiritual connection occurs at God’s declaration that the People of Israel shall observe Shabbat and that this observance will serve as the symbol of the holy relationship between God and the People of Israel forever. In this parsha, this declaration later forms a central part of our Shabbat liturgy: V’shamru. Ki Tisa teaches us that Shabbat is an anchor in our chaotic world. From the inception of our Jewish heritage, Shabbat has been the focal point defining our sacred time. According to S.A. Taub of Modzhitz, a Hasidic teacher in Poland, Shabbat is intentionally mentioned twice in this parsha to emphasize that Shabbat is about being and doing. Shabbat is both a state of being and an existence that has to be actively pursued (hence the “doing” part). Not only is it a time for us to rest from the busy schedules of our daily life, but it is also a time to gather as communities and families. Actively gathering together in this way fosters deeper and more meaningful relationships with those we love, with the world, and with God. Take a moment this weekend, and bask in the elevation of holy time. Pick one moment and immerse yourself in it. This is the gift of Shabbat.

Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא (Exodus 30:11−34:35)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא (Exodus 30:11−34:35)

This week’s Torah Portion, Ki Tisa tells the tale of the two sets of Ten Commandments. The first set were carved by God and given to Moses to bring down from Mount Sinai and present to the Children of Israel. But in the forty days of waiting for Moses to return, the Israelites had lost faith and built for themselves an idol of a Golden Calf to worship. Moses breaks that first set of Ten Commandments in anger before the people of Israel for their lack of faith and for their sin of idolatry which breaks the very commandments which God had placed in his hands.

The people repent, God’s anger is cooled, and once again Moses climbs Mount Sinai, carrying in his hands two blank tablets upon which God inscribes again the words of the Ten Commandments just like the first. The words are the same but the tablets are different in that Moses is commanded to make this second set of tablets himself unlike the first which were made by God. 

There is a lesson here for us to learn. The commandments we keep – they need to be, at least in part, the work of our own hands. We need to own them, to make them, and to take them into our heart. Because Moses made the tablets upon which God inscribed the words, we can cherish them as divine and yet see them still as the work of our hands. As it says in the song we sing after the Torah is read: 

וְזֹאת הַתּוֹרָה אֲשֶׁר שָׂם מֹשֶׁה לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עַל פִּי יי בְּיָד מֹשֶׁה.
“This is the Torah, which Moses placed before the Children of Israel, from the mouth of God, and by the hand of Moses.”

Parsha Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא Torah Summary:

Moses takes a census of the Israelites and collects a half-shekel from each person (30:11-16) God tells Moses to construct a water basin and to prepare anointing oil and incense for the ordination of the priests. Bezalel and Oholiab, skilled artisans, are assigned to make objects for the priests and the Tabernacle. (30:17-31:11) The Israelites are instructed to keep Shabbat as a sign of their covenant with God. God gives Moses the two tablets of the Pact. (31:12-18) The Israelites ask Aaron to build them a Golden Calf. Moses implores God not to destroy the people and then breaks the two tablets of the Pact on which the Ten Commandments are written when he sees the idol. God punishes the Israelites by means of a plague. (32:1-35) Moses goes up the mountain with a blank set of tablets for another 40 days so that God will again inscribe the Ten Commandments. Other laws, including the edict to observe the Pilgrimage Festivals, are also revealed. (34:1-28) Moses comes down from the mountain with a radiant face. (34:29-35) Ki Tisa – כִּי תִשָּׂא