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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Moses taking a census of the Children of Israel. Each person who is counted must contribute a makhazit hashekel – a half shekel of silver to the Sanctuary. Instructions are also given regarding the making of the Sanctuary’s water basin, anointing oil and incense. The “wise-hearted” artisans Betzalel and Aholiav are singled out as possessing hokhmat halev – “wisdom of the heart” – and are placed in charge of the Sanctuary’s construction.
Moses does not return when expected from Mount Sinai. The people lose faith, and make themselves a golden calf to worship. Hashem grows angry and proposes to destroy the errant nation, but Moses prays for them. Moses descends from the mountain carrying the edut – the “tablets of the testimony” engraved with the Ten Commandments. But when he sees the people dancing about their idol, he breaks the tablets, and destroys the golden calf. But then he pleads once again with God: “If You will not forgive them, blot me out from the book that You have written.” Hashem forgives them, but says that the effect will be felt for many generations, and as they continue their journey, Hashem will not be with them; only an angel will accompany them. But, Moses pleads that Hashem to continue to accompany them on their journey to the promised land. Moses then prepares a new set of tablets himself (as opposed the first set which were inscribed by God). On the mountain, Moses is also granted a vision of the “Thirteen Attributes of Compassion.” When Moses returns, his face is so radiant that he must cover it with a veil, which he removes only to speak with God and to teach Torah to the people.
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כִּ֣י תִשָּׂ֞א אֶת־רֹ֥אשׁ בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם֒ וְנָ֨תְנ֜וּ אִ֣ישׁ כֹּ֧פֶר נַפְשׁ֛וֹ לַיהֹוָ֖ה בִּפְקֹ֣ד אֹתָ֑ם וְלֹא־יִהְיֶ֥ה בָהֶ֛ם נֶ֖גֶף בִּפְקֹ֥ד אֹתָֽם׃ When you take a census of the Children of Israel according to their numbers, each shall give an atonement for their soul to the Divine when they are counted, so that there will not be a plague among them when they are counted… - Shemot (Exodus) 30:12, Parshat Ki Tisa
A disciple asked Rabbi Yekhiel Mikhal, the Maggid of Zlotchov: “Why is it that humility is the most important virtue, yet the Torah doesn’t command us to be humble? It only says that Moses was the most humble of men, but it doesn’t ever say that humility is a mitzvah.
“That’s because,” replied the master, “if humility were a mitzvah, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish it; we would end up having pride in our humility!” The essential quality of authentic spirituality involves wholeheartedly meeting Reality as it appears, on its own terms – which is to say, meeting the Divine in whatever happens. The opposite of this is ego, which instead is concerned with how things conform or don’t conform to our ideas of how we think things should be. In this evaluating of everything not on its own terms, but in relation only to the “me” of thoughts, opinions, and feelings, the ego centers itself as the main character in the story. To accomplish the task of transcending ego and meeting the Divine, that is, meeting Reality on its own terms, religion provides many traditions and devices, but the irony is that the ego can co-opt all of these for its own self-bolstering purpose. Thus, according to the maggid, humility must remain free from being a mitzvah; it cannot become a quantifiable task to be accomplished; it is at a level higher than any particular religious practice. וְלֹא־יִֽהְיֶ֥ה בָהֶ֛ם נֶ֖גֶף בִּפְקֹ֥ד אֹתָֽם: – … then there will be no plague among them when they are counted… The ego wants to “count” – there is a self-image to maintain; this is the נֶ֖גֶף negef, the root plague of being human… זֶ֣ה יִתְּנ֗וּ כָּל־הָֽעֹבֵר֙ עַל־הַפְּקֻדִ֔ים מַֽחֲצִ֥ית הַשֶּׁ֖קֶל... תְּרוּמָ֖ה לַֽיהֹ–וָֽה: This they shall give, all who pass through the counting: a half a shekel … an offering to the Divine. The ego is insatiable, never satisfied for long, because it is by nature incomplete; it is only a “half shekel.” The only way to become complete and avert the “plague” is to make it תְּרוּמָ֖ה לַֽיהֹ–וָֽה t’rumah Lashem – an “offering” to the Divine. How to do that? Notice within that impulse to “be” something – to be recognized, to be validated, to be seen in a certain way. Let that impulse be there, but don’t buy into it; don’t give the ego any reality. Recognize that it is just a bundle of thoughts and feelings.; this is meditation. Offer it up: “Oh Hashem, I am only here to serve your purpose; let me be in alignment with You so that I make partake in your Wholeness.” This is prayer. In that letting go of the incomplete self into the One through meditation, there can arise a Completeness that is not dependent any particular thing, but it emerges and blossoms as a quality of awareness – this is represented by the letter ג gimel, which describes the Divine as Gadol – Great, Vast, Transcendent, Whole. And as a counterpoint to this recognition of the Divine as Gadol, is a recognizing of the ego-self as katan – small, temporary, receiving its Being from the Greater Reality. This is humility – the antidote to ego, creating a fertile field from which gratitude can sprout; these are represented by the sefirah of Hod: humility and gratitude.
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