Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat Ki TisaRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Ki Tisa · כי תשא · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:05Parashat Ki Tisa. This week's parasha has 139 pesukim. It's the parasha that's very well known,0:13the parasha of the Egel HaZahav and the sin of the golden calf. We divided the parasha into two0:20topics. The first part of the parasha, about 25% of the parasha, talks about the last touches of0:27the Mishkan, the last few details in the Mishkan, and the rest of the parasha deals with the sin0:34of the golden calf, chet ha'egel, and its aftermath. Nine mitzvot in this week's parasha,0:41four mitzvot aseh, five mitzvot lo ta'aseh. In Sefer HaChinuch, they number from mitzvah 105 until 113. Let's get to the0:47parasha in detail. In the first part of the parasha, which are the last touches of the Mishkan,0:52we find the Torah speaks about six things that are related to the Mishkan. Number one0:58is machatzit hashekel. What was the purpose of machatzit hashekel before we discover what it is?1:03The purpose of machatzit hashekel was in order to count the Jewish people. Instead of counting the1:10Jewish people by head, meaning taking a head count, that would incur with it the1:17ayin hara, and therefore Hashem said that each person, each Jewish person, regardless of the amount of wealth1:23that he has, must give a half of a shekel. But not every single person; it's only men between1:30the ages of 20 to 60 years old. How much is the shekel? The Torah tells us it was, a shekel was 201:38gerah. That's 20 gerah. It's a certain amount of volume or weight that is in silver. The gerah, in1:48terms that we understand, is 0.8 grams of silver. So you want to know the price of that? For example,1:55in 2014, a chatzi hashekel was worth $5.20. That's just an example. Obviously it2:04fluctuates. In any case, the coins were used to count the Jewish people, and the census of the Jewish2:10people was taken twice in the Torah, once after Yom Kippur. And that is found in this week's2:18parashah. Another time we find the Jewish people were also counted in Sefer Bamidbar on2:23Rosh Chodesh Iyar. Now, after they counted, what did they do with the coins? The coins that were2:30used for counting the Jewish people were eventually used in the structure of the Mishkan,2:36and they were used for the adnei kesef. The sockets where the planks went inside of them2:41were made out of silver from these coins, and also this was the money that was used to purchase2:48the korbanot on a yearly basis. Second part that has to do with the Mishkan tells us2:55about the kiyor. What's this kiyor? Kiyor was basically this big basin made out of copper3:00that was for the purpose of filling it up with water so the kohanim should wash their3:06hands before the avodah. The halacha says every single kohen, when working in the Mishkan or the3:13Beit HaMikdash, must wash his hands from this basin of water, and if they work with that rechitzat yadayim v'raglayim, without washing the hands3:21and feet, it will be a sin. It was an issur to work without it. Where did they get this copper from?3:29The rabbis tell us that this copper was donated by the ladies who used this copper in order to3:36make sure that the Jewish people had children in the land of Mitzrayim. The third part in this section,3:42the Torah tells us about the shemen hamishchah, which we translated loosely as the3:47anointing oil. Let's begin first with the ingredients. The ingredients were three things:3:53mor, kosht, which is also kidah, and kinnemon. Those are the three ingredients. I purposely said4:02them in Hebrew and not in English. Kinamon is translated as fragrant cinnamon, but the other4:06ones are not really translated because we're not exactly sure what they are. We are to take 5004:13shekel weight of each of these three ingredients. You want to know how much that is? That's around4:2021 and a half pounds. For those who are outside of America, that's 9.6 kilos. Okay, we're to take4:29them and then divide them, divide this amount of each ingredient into half, meaning to say of each of the three4:37ingredients, we're supposed to have two parts equaling 250 shekel each. That's like what we4:44said, you know, just divide it in half, 4,800 grams. That's 4.8 kilos. Then the fourth ingredient is water.4:51The fifth ingredient is olive oil. How much olive oil? One hin. It's a little bit more4:57than a gallon, 4.15 liters. Now, how do you make this shemen hamishcha? It's a special5:03way. There are four steps to making them. Number one is you grind up each of the ingredients by itself,5:09and then afterwards you mix everything together. Number two, you soak the ingredients in water5:15until the water absorbs the smell of these ingredients. Then you add this gallon of5:26oil into the mixture. After all that is done, you cook the whole mixture together until the water5:31evaporates and you're only left with the oil with the scent of these ingredients together. What5:38was the purpose of this oil? This oil, like its name, limshoach, to anoint. It's to anoint all the5:45keilim in the Mishkan, the kohanim that were to begin work in the Mishkan, and for anointing all5:52the future kings in the future. And Torah warns us that it's forbidden to duplicate this shemen hamishcha, and5:59if a person does so, he's chayav karet, as well as if a person uses the actual6:04shemen hamishcha for his personal usage, he will also be chayav the punishment of karet. The fourth part in this6:09section is the ketoret. Torah tells us that there are 11 different spices that make up the6:16ingredients of the ketoret. All the ingredients must be ground and mixed very, very well together,6:21and they come to a certain amount of measurement. That measurement is divided in half. Half was6:28offered in the morning and half towards the afternoon. Where? On the mizbeach hazahav, on the6:34golden altar inside of the Mishkan. And again, here the Torah also warns us that it is forbidden6:39to duplicate the ketoret exactly in its measurement and to make your own personal ketoret with these6:45ingredients, with this recipe. And one who does so is also subject to the punishment of karet.6:50The fifth part in this section, Torah tells us, the last touches of the Mishkan, is that6:58Moshe was to appoint supervisors who would oversee the whole construction of the Mishkan. And who7:04are these supervisors? The main one, his name was Betzalel. Betzalel was the son of Uri,7:11who was the son of Hur. Hur himself was the son of Miriam. So really, this7:20Betzalel was a great-grandson of Miriam and Kalev. Hashem gave him an assistant. He didn't work by himself.7:29His assistant was Aholiav ben Achisamach from the tribe of Dan. And the Torah says that Hashem7:36blessed them with special divine assistance, siyata dishmaya, to be able to do their job. And finally, the sixth7:42section in the first part of the parashah, Torah tells us about Shabbat. What does Shabbat have to7:47do with the Mishkan? Torah tells us that as great as building the Mishkan is, it cannot override7:55Shabbat. You cannot build the Mishkan on Shabbat.8:00Even the Mishkan cannot be built on Shabbat, thus causing chilul Shabbat.8:05And now we move on to the second part of the parashah, which is, like we said, is about8:1175-80% of the8:12parashah. The Torah tells us about the8:14Chet HaEgel. Keep in mind that this story over here of Chet HaEgel, the sin of the golden calf, took8:20place before all the commandments of the construction of the Mishkan.8:25Let's begin, first of all, with how the golden calf was made.8:28Torah tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu went up to speak to Hashem for 40 days.8:33When did that happen?8:35The Gemara tells us in Masechet Shabbat, according to one opinion, on Zayin Sivan.8:39That's when Moshe Rabbeinu went up.8:41The Jews began counting 40 days, as Moshe told them, I'll be back in 40 days.8:45Jews began counting 40 days from8:48when Moshe went up.8:49When Chazal tell us that Moshe meant you need to count 40 full days, which means that8:53they should have counted on the 8th of Sivan.8:55In any case, on the day before Moshe was supposed to come down, on the 16th of Tammuz, Satan9:02comes and he starts confusing all the Jewish people.9:05Jewish people get confused. They feel that Moshe died. Led by the Erev Rav, they come9:09and they approach Hur, the nephew of Moshe, demanding that he makes for them a golden calf.9:16Hur refuses, and therefore he's killed. And now they come with his body to Aharon, and9:21Aharon sees that he has no option because otherwise the Jews will be in deep trouble.9:25So he says, Okay, I'll take care of it, but I have to do it my way.9:29And this way, Aharon hoped that he could delay the Jewish people till Moshe finally comes down.9:34The men are told that they have to contribute their gold, so not only them but also their wives.9:41The wives, the women, refuse to give any gold to the building of the, or to the creation9:45of the Egel HaZahav, and therefore only the men contribute their own gold for the sake of the9:50Egel. How much gold was collected?9:52We do the math, it comes out that there was a total of 1.8 tons of gold that was collected.10:00Now, if the price of one gram of gold equals 40.73 cents, which was the price in 2014,10:08then the total amount of gold that was collected for the sake of Egel HaZahav, ready for this,10:13was $73,314,000. That's the total amount of gold that was collected.10:22Now, Aharon sees that they did it in such a quick time, so he says, Okay, you know what?10:26We'll do the—we'll take care, we'll make the celebrations for this golden calf, but it's tomorrow.10:32Hopefully that by then maybe Moshe will come down.10:34Now, before Aharon was able to control the situation, the next day early in the morning,10:39the people woke up already on the 17th of Tammuz, and they started already their festive celebration10:45of the new leader, the golden calf.10:48Meanwhile, Moshe Rabbeinu was in Shamayim, he's in heaven, and Hashem informs Moshe of what happened.10:54When does this happen? After Moshe receives the two luchot, the two tablets from Hashem.11:01Hashem tells him, You should know that the Jewish people, your people,11:04which means the Erev Rav that you took out of Egypt, they made the11:09egel. Hashem told Moshe, I'm ready to wipe out all the Jewish people,11:12and I want to begin a new nation just from you, Moshe.11:15Moshe begs Hashem in defense of the Jewish people, and he brings up three claims to Hashem.11:21He tells Him, first of all, Hashem, you're giving an excuse to the Egyptians to say that really11:28their God wasn't able to bring them to the land of Egypt, and that's why He wiped them out in11:32Egypt. Don't let the Egyptians say that.11:34Second, Moshe brings up the merit of the forefathers, the Avot, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.11:38He says, Remember all the trials that our forefathers went through,11:43and let that be a merit to the Jewish people to protect them.11:46And finally, Moshe says, And if you say that I should be the father of the new nation,11:51if the three forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, couldn't create such, couldn't have their nation survive,11:58you think I'm able to survive? If three-legged table wasn't able to stand,12:02one-legged table is able to stand?12:04Therefore, Hashem listens to Moshe, and He answers him. He says, You're right.12:09I will not wipe out the Jewish people.12:11So now Moshe, with the tablets, with the luchot that he received from Hashem,12:16goes down to see exactly what happened.12:18Moshe comes down from the mountain when,12:21on Yud Zayin Tammuz, with the luchot in his hand.12:24On the way down to the mountain, Moshe comes across Yehoshua, who was waiting for him by himself.12:30Also, Yehoshua didn't know what was going on,12:31but he heard the sounds of the shofar, and he told Moshe Rabbeinu,12:34It sounds like there's a war going on. That's when we blow a shofar.12:37Moshe tells him, No, it's much worse than a war.12:40There's something even worse, and they come down together.12:42Moshe Rabbeinu sees with his eyes how the Jewish people were celebrating their new, quote-unquote, leader,12:50the golden calf. To the eyes of the Jewish people, Moshe takes the luchot that were given to him from Hashem,12:55and he breaks it in front of everybody.12:58And then Moshe goes on to take care of the sinners.13:01The sinners were executed, but they were executed in three ways,13:05and it depended on how they sinned.13:07For those who sinned with witnesses and a13:10warning, they were executed by the sword by Shevet Levi,13:15who became the new people to work in the Mishkan,13:22replacing the firstborns because of this incident.13:25For those Jewish people who worshipped the eigel, who worshipped the calf,13:30with witnesses but without any warning,13:33they were executed by a special plague from Hashem.13:36And those who worshipped the golden calf without any witnesses or without any warning,13:42they died in a special way.13:44How? Moshe took the golden calf, ground it up, mixed it with water, and made every single Jew drink,13:49like a sotah who cheated on her husband.13:52Those who worshipped without anybody knowing died from that drink.13:57And now we move to the fourth part in this section.14:01Moshe goes up to Shamayim for another period of 40 days,14:05and this took place on the following day, on the 18th of Tammuz.14:08Moshe goes up for a second time,14:10now begging Hashem that He shouldn't completely wipe out the Jewish people like beforehand,14:16shouldn't even erase them.14:17And Moshe says, If You want to get rid of the Jewish people,14:21mecheni na. Please erase me from Your book.14:23I don't deserve to be in Your book.14:25Hashem agrees that, you know what, I'm not going to punish the Jewish people immediately,14:28but their punishment does not go away either.14:30I'm going to spread out their punishment throughout all the future generations,14:37and for the sake of the Jewish people, for their benefit,14:40I'm not going to lead them directly,14:42because if I'm leading them, I can't tolerate these things.14:45Therefore, I'm going to send an angel that's going to lead them,14:48and he's going to take them into the land of Israel.14:50Moshe then makes two requests from14:52Hashem. Number one is that Hashem's Shechinah, the presence of Hashem,14:57should not be divided, should not be shared with other nations.15:03It should only be with the Jewish people.15:05When Hashem agrees to that,15:07Moshe tries for a second request. He sees it's an opportune time.15:11He asks that he wants to see Hashem,15:14which the Rambam explains that he wanted to understand Hashem's ways.15:18To that, Hashem refuses to agree,15:21as the pasuk says,15:23V'lo yirani ha'adam vachai. Not so long as a human being is alive.15:25We will never understand the true ways of Hashem.15:29Finally, on that final day,15:32Hashem, of the second period of 40 days,15:34Hashem tells Moshe to go down, carve out new tablets,15:39and then to bring them back up again.15:41Moshe goes down, carves out new tablets,15:44and he goes back up on Rosh Chodesh Elul15:47for the third time for another period of 40 days.15:52While up there in the last period of 40 days,15:56Hashem teaches Moshe the Yud-Gimmel Middot HaRachamim.16:00Those are special prayers that are to be said by the Jewish people whenever it's a time of crisis.16:08Moshe then asks Hashem that he should guarantee the request he had beforehand,16:12that Hashem should come back to the Jewish people and he should not be shared with other nations.16:17Hashem confirms, but he gives a few mitzvot, a few commandments, that in order to safeguard this guarantee.16:25And there are four commandments over16:27here. Number one is Hashem tells Moshe to make sure that the Jewish people should never make any treaties with the nations of Canaan.16:35Number two, when they walk into Eretz Yisrael, the Jewish people are to destroy all idolatry from the land.16:42Number three, make sure that the Jewish people do not intermarry with other nations.16:47And finally, Hashem tells them about the three holidays, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, and all the mitzvot that are associated with them.16:58The consequences of Chet HaEgel, we find that there were consequences.17:02It wasn't just, okay, Baruch Hashem, we went through it and we survived, we didn't die.17:06There were consequences. First of all, the Jews, it says clearly in the pasuk, they lost their jewelry.17:11What was this jewelry?17:13Rabbis tell us that's the crown that was given to them for saying17:18Naaseh v'Nishma. They were given two crowns. They lost one of those crowns,17:21the crown of Naaseh that was given to them when they said Naaseh v'Nishma by Kabbalat17:26HaTorah. Number two, the Gemara tells us in Masechet Avodah Zarah that up to the point of the sin of the golden calf, the Jewish people were stopped death from the world.17:34But after the sin of the golden calf, death came back.17:37Number three, Moshe took the tent, which was the meeting place with God from the middle of the Jewish people,17:44and they had to take it outside the Jewish camp, and he gave it a special name called Ohel17:49Moed. Number four. Moshe was given different tablets.17:52The tablets were now made by Moshe, but inscribed by Hashem.17:56Where the first tablets, they were made and inscribed by Hashem.18:01The difference was that in the first tablets, whatever you studied from it, you never ever forgot.18:05Not so with the second tablets. You had to work hard for it.18:09And finally, Moshe's face glowed, and the Jewish people who sinned weren't able to even look at him,18:14to the point that Moshe had to wear a mask in order that the Jewish people should be able to communicate with him.18:20Moshe only uncovered the mask when he spoke with Hashem and when teaching Torah to the Jewish people.18:28Now we come to the lesson of the parashah. What are we to learn from the18:30parashah? Torah tells us that Hashem, when commanding Moshe to make the second luchot,18:37He tells him, Pesol lecha. You broke the tablets. You make them.18:42This seems to be contradictory to the Gemara Menachot that says18:46that Moshe Rabbeinu was told, Yasher koachacha, hazak u'baruch. It's a great thing that you did, Moshe, for breaking the tablets.18:56How are we to reconcile the two statements?18:59Was it a good thing that Moshe broke the tablets,19:01or as the pasuk says here, Pesol lecha, you broke them, you fix them?19:05And the answer is, of course it's a good thing.19:07You know what was so great about it?19:09The tablets, the original ones, were given without having to work hard.19:13It was given as a gift, and that's why they broke.19:17Because when you get something for free and you don't earn it, you don't have an appreciation for it.19:22The second tablets, you had to work hard for it.19:25You had to earn it. You had to chisel it out yourself,19:28and that's how Torah is to be studied.19:32When Torah comes easy, when a person is so smart and he doesn't work hard to understand the Torah.19:37That kind of Torah doesn't last.19:39The Torah that a person works hard for, that he's amel for,19:42that's the Torah that lasts.19:45May we be zocheh that we should see the end of death19:48and the end of days soon. Amen. Shabbat shalom.