Parashat Ki Tisa
Adar 15, 5785 / March 14-15, 2025
Torah: Exodus 30:11 - 34:35
Torah: Exodus 30:11 - 34:35
Haftarah: 1 Kings 18:1-39 (Ashkenazim); 1 Kings 18:20-39 (Sephardim)
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This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for the hostages.
This d’var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for all who have been wounded in the terrorist attacks and in fighting against the terrorists, as well as innocent non-combatants caught in the crossfire.
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Lunch and Learn meets Mondays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. On March 17, we'll be at Ein Ya'akov Vol. 3, Yevamot, p. 32 (BT Yevamot 6a):
"...תניא איש אמו ואביו תיראו"
"We are taught in a Baraitha Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father ...'"
https://hebrewbooks.org/9632
A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria:
https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov?tab=contents
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about our various programs and becoming a Member at: https://bnaihayim.org/
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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WE MIGHT NOT BE PERFECT...
‘The LORD spoke to Moses, "Go, get down; for your people have corrupted themselves, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt!”’ Exodus 32:7
In his midrashic commentary in Humash Etz Hayim on this verse, Rabbi Harold Kushner, z’l says that the words “your people” not only minimize God’s relationship to them, they emphasize Moses’ close relationship to them. He then cites the Mekhilta d’Rebbi Yishmael (Shirata 1) as teaching the following: “Moses devoted his life to three things – the Torah, the people Israel, and the pursuit of justice.”
This brings to mind the teaching of Shimon HaTzaddik: "The world stands on three things: On the Torah, on service to (or worship of) God, and on deeds of lovingkindness." (Pirkei Avot 1:2) This Mishnah from Avot is so well known that it’s become a song that most Jews learn and sing in religious school and the synagogue. But the teaching from the Mekhilta? Not so much.
I’m not proposing that we set the Mekhilta to music. But I do believe that Moses’ life’s devotions should be incorporated with the teaching of Shimon HaTzaddik to give us the following: The Jewish world depends on Jews committed to Torah, service to God, the Jewish people, justice for all, and lovingkindness towards all.
Moses Destroys the Tables of the Ten Commandments (c. 1896–1902 by James Tissot)
All we can do is try to do the best we can to the best of our abilities. We might not always be able to fulfill our commitments, but that does not mean we have failed or that we are corrupt beyond redemption. Because another thing that Rabbi Kushner teaches, as we will see next week in the Maftir for Shabbat Parah, is that the sacrifice of the unblemished, perfect Red Heifer implies “that perfection does not belong in this world…; this world is given to the inevitably flawed and compromised.” That’s us. But we can make our world a better place by striving to improve ourselves.
Purim Sameach! Shabbat Shalom!
HaRav HaGa'on HaTzaddik Abba Reuven ben Menachem Mendel, Shlita
Rosh Yeshivah - Shlabodkieville Bartender Academy
Av Beis Din Chelm
משנכנס אדר, מרבין בשמחה
From the beginning of Adar, we increase joy.
BT Ta’anit 29a
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