Ki tissa
A whole can become broken, but a half can become a whole.
To build a Home of Oneness, come with a half-shekel silver. Here is how you build a purifying washing station, here is how you blend an anointing oil, here is how you blend a fine spice mixture. The Temple artisan is named Betzalel. Descending from the mountain with the inscribed tablets in hand, Moses is greeted by a golden calf and a people worshipping it. Moses shatters the tablets against the mountain and destroys the idol. Moses then pleads with God to forgive the people. God is reluctant. Moses persists. After eighty days beseeching God, Moses descends with the new set of tablets. It is the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.
The Anonymous Essence
We call the Torah the “Five Books of Moses” since it was a part of his very identity. Yet he was willing to forgo it for something more vital- his people.
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The Rebuttal
Though the angels tried to keep the Torah saying it was meant to be in the Heavens, great people reconcile this by bringing Heaven down to Earth.
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Inside Time
G-d created time, allowing us to look to the past, present, and future. Yet we must look to the era of Moshiach, where time takes on a new meaning.
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Inside Time: The Spiritual Meaning of Days of the Week
A Kabbalistic look at the spiritual meaning of days of the week, with an emphasis on Shabbat — the seventh day of the week. By Rabbi Simon Jacobson.
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Ki Tissa: A Bold New Peace Initiative
As war-seasoned veterans with unparalleled credibility, the Jewish people living in the Biblical Holy Land of Israel, are perfectly positioned to now lead the way in proposing a bold new peace initiative – and the timing couldn’t be better.
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Ki Tisa: To Serve
If you need a strong wake-up call (and who of us does not?) visit a military base. It will teach you the dramatic difference between a life of duty and one of no duty.
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Ki Tissa: Suffering
In Parshat Ki Tissa, Moses learns to be a partner with G/d and to see His face when He reveals it, even in suffering.
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Ki Tissa: From Rome to Jerusalem
One person seems insignificant compared to the whole universe, yet G/d still cares about every detail of His world.
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Ki Tisa: Just a Friendly Reminder
A poem about snowfall demonstrating our vulnerability, but also strength, while heading towards an uncertain future.
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