Parashat Ki Tissa 5768/2007

Ki Tissa: It's all in how you read it

Prepared by Jennifer Rudin

Summary of Parasha Ki Tissa

God instructs Moses to take a census of adult men by asking each to donate a half shekel. The instructions for making the bronze basin, the anointing oil, and the incense are given. Bezalel is named to head the construction of the mishkan and its furnishings, with Oholiav as his assistant. God tells Moses to remind the people of the importance of keeping Shabbat and then gives him the tablets inscribed with the Ten Statements.

While Moses is on the mountain, the people despair of his return and demand that Aaron "make us a god who shall go before us." Aaron fashions the Golden Calf and the next day the people offer sacrifices and rise to dance before it. God tells Moses what is happening in the camp. Moses pleads with God to restrain God's anger and then descends the mountain. When Moses sees what the people are doing, he angrily shatters the tablets. He destroys the calf and 3000 of its worshipers are put to death. Moses returns to Mount Sinai and intercedes with God to save the people.

God tells Moses to lead the people to the land God has promised, but that God will no longer go in their midst. Moses once again steps forward on behalf of the people and God relents. Moses asks to see God, but God refuses, saying, "man may not see Me and live." Moses ascends Mount Sinai a third time and receives the revelation of God's Thirteen Attributes.

וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹֽר: כִּי תִשָּׂא אֶת־רֹאשׁ בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל

לִפְקֻֽדֵיהֶם וְנָתְנוּ אִישׁ כֹּפֶר נַפְשׁוֹ לַֽה' בִּפְקֹד אֹתָם וְלֹא־יִֽהְיֶה בָהֶם נֶגֶף בִּפְקֹד אֹתָֽם:

After forty days, Moses descends the mountain with the second set of tablets. ( Rabbi Joyce Newmark, Teaneck, New Jersey)

One Sound: Two Opinions

When Joshua heard the sound of the people in its boisterousness, he said to Moses, "There is cry of war in the camp." But he [Moses] answered, "It is not the sound of the tune of triumph, Or the sound of the tune of defeat; It is the sound of song I hear!" (Etz Hayim, Exod. 32:17-18)

Ibn Ezra, a medieval commentator, shows that kol anot refers to neginot, or songs. He bases his explanation on Isaiah 27:2, where the root for anah means "sing." According to Ibn Ezra, Moses stands outside the camp and hears music, the songs of the people that accompanied their carousing around the Golden Calf. Rashi disagrees and argues that anot is tied to the Hebrew word eenu'ee, meaning "affliction." According to Rashi, this verse would now read as: "The sounds that I hear afflict me."

One Set of Words: Two Meanings

In the same way that Joshua and Moses were present in the same moment and listened to the same sound yet heard two different things, the two sets of "tablets" which contain the very same words can be understood in two very different ways.

"The tablets were the work of G-d; the writing was the writing of G-d, engraved on the tablets." (JPS, Exod. 32:15)

Carve out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. (JPS, Exod. 34:1)

According to tradition, when Moses was given the first tablets, he was given only Torah shebikhtav, the "written Torah". At the time of the second tablets, he was given Torah she-be'al peh, the Oral Torah as well: "R. Jochanan said: G-d made a covenant with Israel only for the sake of the Oral Law, as it says [in the context of the second tablets]: "For by the mouth [al pi] of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel"" (Ex. 34:27). The difference between the Written and Oral Torah is profound. The first is the word of G-d, with no human contribution. The second is a partnership - the word of G-d as interpreted by the mind of man.

One Word: Forward and Backward

When you take a census of the Israelites to determine their numbers, each one shall be counted by giving an atonement offering for his life.

Notice that the word "v'natnu" (vav-nun-tav-nun-vav) is a palindrom. The word is spelled the same backwards and forwards. In the context of this census where each person is not counted himself but rather is counted by the shehckel he gave, the word can be interpreted as a reminder to us all that there is equal value in giving and in receiving and that as easily as we are givers today we could well be receivers tomorrow.

Ibn Ezra: The Golden Age of Spain produced some magnificent Jewish scholars. One of these was Abraham Ibn Ezra. Born in 1089, Ibn Ezra was a friend of Judah HaLevi. Tradition maintains that Ibn Ezra married Judah HaLevi's daughter. After three of his children died and one son converted to Islam, Ibn Ezra became a wanderer. It was during his self-chosen exile that he wrote his brilliant works. Ibn Ezra was a poet, astrologist, scientist, and Hebrew grammarian. Ibn Ezra also introduced the decimal system to Jews living in the Christian world. He used the Hebrew alef to tet for 1-9, but added a special sign to indicate zero. He then placed the tens to the left of the digits in the usual way. In his travels, ibn Ezra met Rabbenu Tam (the grandson of Rashi) in France, and they apparently discussed Halachah and Torah. Ibn Ezra's most famous work was his commentary on the Bible. Unlike Rashi, Ibn Ezra didn't want to use midrash in his explanations. He concentrated on the grammar and literal meaning of the text. His most controversial beliefs were all couched in very careful language; scholars suspect that Ibn Ezra did not

believe that the

Torah was written by Moses on Mount Sinai. He found seams and grammatical problems which indicated that the Torah was written over a period of time. He didn't dare proclaim this opinion openly; it would have meant his death. However, there are hints of his suspicions within his commentary. He carefully used the phrase, "And the intelligent will understand" whenever he discussed a controversial insight.

Rashi: Foremost French commentator, called Rashi after the initial letters of his name, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhak (1040-1105). Rashi was born in Troyes in northern France and spent most of his life in this city. In his youth Rashi studied for a number of years at the great center of Jewish learning, Mayyence in Germany. Returning to his native city, Rashi taught without a fee a number of chosen disciples, earning his living by means of the vineyards he owned. Rashi's daughters married scholars, members of whose family established the school of the Tosafot glosses to the Talmud. [Tosafot, lit. "additions," were glosses added to Rashi's commentary by Talmudic scholars in France (the tosafists) in the 12-14th centuries.] Rashi's two most famous grandsons were Rashbam and his younger brother, Rabbenu Tam.

Rashi's undying fame rests on his commentaries to the Bible and the Babylonian Talmud, printed together with the text in practically all editions. Rashi's commentary to the Humash (Pentateuch) was first printed in Reggio, Italy, in 1475 and seems to have been the first Hebrew book ever printed. Rashi's method is to state what he considers to be the plain meaning (peshat) of the text and also homiletical comments (derash) culled from the Midrash.