Parsha for Kids: Ki Tisa 2023
Below is the transcript for this week’s episode of Parsha for Kids, Ki Tisa 2023.
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Season 2 Episode 9:
Hello! My name is Chana and this is Parsha for Kids. The Parsha of the week is Ki Tisa. Ki Tisa means “When you take.”
God was explaining to Moshe that when Moshe would take a census of Bnei Yisrael, which means counting how many Jews there were, he needed to do it in a specific way. You might think it would be okay for each Jew to raise his hand and for Moshe to count them that way. However, God was concerned about this method. There is something called ayin hara, which means the evil eye. If a person from Bnei Yisrael turned an evil eye on his fellow Jew, feeling jealousy or envy towards him, that might make the Satan, or accusing angel, suggest that that Jew ought to be punished.
Instead, God suggested a different method. He told Moshe that every Jewish man from the age of twenty and up should hand Moshe a Machatzit HaShekel, meaning half a shekel. Then Moshe would count the half shekel coins to find out how many Jews there were.
It was important that whether you were very rich or very poor, you still gave a half Shekel, making it an equal contribution before God. This shows the truth of things, because God values each person equally no matter whether they are wealthy or poor.
According to Rashi, these silver coins were melted down and cast into the 96 silver adonim, or sockets, into which the Mishkan’s wooden beams were inserted. In future, when God had a permanent dwelling called the Beit Hamikdash, every Jew had to give a Machatzit HaShekel to the person in charge of money for the Beit Hamikdash. These coins were then used to buy animals for the korbanot hatzibur, which means sacrifices that were offered on behalf of the entire community.
TRANSITION
God explained to Moshe about the need to build a kiyor, which is Hebrew for copper laver, or wash-basin, for the Mishkan. The Kohanim, or priests, would wash their hands and feet before going up on the mizbeach, or altar, to offer the korbanot, or sacrifices. Even nowadays, before the Kohanim ascend to give the Birkat Kohanim in shul, the Leviim wash the hands of the Kohanim.
But the idea of washing, even when our hands are not actually dirty, is something we as regular Jews who are not necessarily Leviim or Kohanim also keep. Perhaps you know that when you wake up each morning after having gone to sleep for the night, you wash your hands, which is often called Netilat Yadayim. Or, before you eat bread, you wash your hands for bread. And when we finish using the bathroom, we also need to wash our hands.
Why do we do this? Rabbi Berel Wein offers a beautiful answer. He says that washing our hands helps us understand that everything we are about to do is our personal avodah, or service of God, just like the kohanim had their avodah in the Mishkan. Even waking up, eating and using the bathroom, regular parts of life, can be uplifted as part of our service of God.
And this is the secret of the Jew. We don’t compartmentalize our holiness. We aren’t only holy when we attend synagogue or sit down at a Shabbat meal. Actually, we are holy all the time. And that’s why the way we wake up matters, or the way we go about eating bread, or the way we use the bathroom. At each moment, we are thinking about God. We are grateful that God let us wake up this morning, grateful that we have food to eat, and grateful that our body is working properly such that we are able to use the bathroom successfully. Washing our hands and focusing on our avodah of God is a way of continuously orienting ourselves to that holiness and also to our gratitude towards God.
TRANSITION
God then instructed Moshe in the making of the Shemen HaMish’cha, anointing oil. This oil was made up of good smelling spices, similar to perfume.
God also taught Moshe how to make the mixture of spices called ketoret that would be burned on the Mizbeach HaZahav, or golden altar. They gave off an incredible aroma. God also made clear that humans were not allowed to make the ketoret mixture to wear on their own bodies (for example, to smell like a perfume.) When something is holy, or kadosh, that means it is set aside for a specific purpose. In this case, the ketoret was set aside for service of God, which meant it was not something that a human being could burn in their own house just to make their house smell good, or wear on their own body to make their body smell good.
Even nowadays we understand the idea of something being rare or exclusive. When a certain item or object is rare or exclusive, people are more excited if they are able to access it. Similarly, knowing that the Ketoret was something that could only be burned before God made that spice mixture all the more special.
TRANSITION
God chose two gifted individuals to be in charge of the construction of the Mishkan. Their names were Betzalel son of Uri son of Hur of the tribe of Yehuda and Oholiav the son of Achisamach of the tribe of Dan.
God mentioned that he had given Betzalel chochmah, binah and daat in order to have the ability to do master weaving, gem setting and all manner of work.
Rashi wonders what the difference between chochmah, bina and daat is. He provides definitions. Chachmah, which translates to wisdom, refers to what a person hears from others and learns. So when you are sitting in school and are learning something interesting directly from your teacher, you are acquiring chochmah. In contrast, Binah refers to insight. Insight is when you understand something new based on something else you learned. For example, let’s say you learned addition in school. Two plus two is four. If you then start wondering what would happen if you took away two from four, and you figure out that you would have two remaining, you’ve had a moment of insight, or binah. You figured out subtraction based on the chochmah you had learned regarding what addition is. Finally, there is daat. Rashi explains that daat refers to having Ruach HaKodesh, the holy spirit of God assisting you in your work.
Betzalel and Oholiav were joined by other wise-hearted members of Bnei Yisrael in creating and building all the items, garments and tapestries for the Mishkan. As we spoke about last week, this shows how much God values practical wisdom- the ability to create, use art, make beautiful things, and be able to do skilled work. God doesn’t only value the mind- He also values the body, and especially the many things our hands can do, sew, weave, create, fix or build!
TRANSITION
God then warned Moshe to make sure that Bnei Yisrael understood how important Shabbat is. God worried that Bnei Yisrael might think constructing the Mishkan was such holy work that it enabled them to transgress the Sabbath. But this was not the case. Instead, God made clear that keeping Shabbat was more important than building the Mishkan, a house for God! Anyone who knowingly breaks Shabbat, having been warned that what they were about to do would constitute breaking it, would be put to death.
There are 39 melachot, or categories of creative work, that we are forbidden to perform on Shabbat. We learn these categories through noticing the juxtaposition where God taught Moshe about Shabbat right after he taught Moshe about the work to be done in the Mishkan. The 39 melachot were all forms of work that were used in the construction and creation of the Mishkan. Since we were explicitly told not to break Shabbat in order to build the Mishkan, we know that those forms of work were forbidden on Shabbat. The Oral Law, or Torah She’Baal Peh, especially the Mishna and Talmud, elaborate on those categories of work and what is included in each one.
God concluded by reiterating that Shabbat is an Ot, or sign or testimony, between Him and Bnei Yisrael forever. When Bnei Yisrael observe Shabbat, they are testifying that they believe that God created the shamayim and aretz, or heaven and earth, and that on the seventh day He stopped and He rested. Thus, by keeping Shabbat we are proclaiming to the world that we believe in God as the creator of the world in which we live.
TRANSITION
At this point we shift back to a discussion about Moshe being on Har Sinai and what God gave him there. You may wonder, why are we talking about that in this week’s Parsha? Shouldn’t it have come up in Parshat Yitro, where we discussed the giving of the Torah? Many sages and commentators have asked this exact question.
One solution to this question is to say Ein Mukdam U’Meuchar B’Torah, which loosely translates to the Torah not being in chronological order. But if the Torah is not in chronological order, that would seem to suggest that everything we have just spent time learning about, specifically the Mishkan, Bigdei Kehunah and how to construct them, came after the episode we are about to discuss. So why would God talk about them earlier?
There is an approach that says that God prepares the refuah before the machlah, the cure before the sickness. According to that viewpoint, God planned all along to instruct Bnei Yisrael to build Him a dwelling place, or Mishkan, and He mentions that before we read about the next episode so that we understand God already had a solution for the sin that Bnei Yisrael were about to commit.
Another approach could be that God first wanted to build up Bnei Yisrael and mention all the things they had and would do right- their excitement about accepting the Torah and God’s commands, their willingness to build God a dwelling place, and how happy they were to donate items to that cause. Only after we as the reader have an impression of Bnei Yisrael as a good, noble people was God willing to go back and showcase one of their greatest mistakes.
I think this second approach makes a lot of sense. Consider a book you love and want someone else to read. If you were talking about it to someone who hadn’t read it yet, you would probably want to make sure they were excited about it. So you would first mention all of the things you like about it. Maybe it’s exciting, an adventure story with lots of action. Maybe it includes great characters. But perhaps the book has one flaw. After you’ve mentioned all the great parts about the book, you might go back to discuss the flaw, but mitigate it, making sure the person you’re talking to doesn’t think this is the most important thing about the book.
So too God. God knew the Torah would be read for many generations, including by us. Since we didn’t meet the first nation of Bnei Yisrael in person, we might be too quick to judge them if we read about this next episode in chronological order. Instead, God showcases all of Bnei Yisrael’s positive qualities. Only then does He shift to tell the story of their big mistake.
So what was their big mistake? What did they do wrong? Keep listening to find out!
TRANSITION
When Moshe went up the mountain to talk to God and receive the Luchot, or stone tablets, upon which were written the Aseret HaDibrot, or Ten Commandments, he let the people know that he would be there for forty days and forty nights.
But then Bnei Yisrael saw that he was late in returning from the mountain. Now, was he really late? Rashi explains he was not. Moshe had intended that they start counting from the day after he went up the mountain, to count forty complete days. But THEY started counting including the day he went up the mountain, which was only half a day. That’s why they thought Moshe was late coming down even though he wasn’t really.
Bnei Yisrael started to panic. “Where is Moshe?” they wondered. “Could anything have happened to him? Is he still alive?” According to the Midrash, which Rashi references as well, Satan, the accusing angel, made it look like a coffin appeared in the sky. Satan also brought darkness and confusion to the skies, and so the Jews thought Moshe was dead.
Now, remember that Moshe was the person Bnei Yisrael had been turning to in every situation. It was he, along with Aharon, who had performed the Makkot, or plagues. It was Moshe who had taken Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt. It was Moshe who had found them water to drink, Mun to eat, and had helped them to survive in the desert. It was Moshe who had judged their disputes and taught them laws and behaviors of how to live. If Moshe were really dead, Bnei Yisrael’s sense of stability would have fallen apart, and they would have been very afraid.
So Bnei Yisrael decided they needed a replacement to Moshe. They went to Aharon and said, “Make us elohim that will go before us because this man Moshe who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Now the word “elohim” can mean different things in different contexts. It can be noblemen or princes. It can mean gods. It’s clear that here elohim was supposed to refer to some kind of leader, someone who would be able to replace Moshe. But they were specifically demanding that Aharon make the elohim, which makes it seem like they wanted Aharon to build, create or carve something.
Aharon did not know what to do. So he decided that he would go along with the will of the people. He would carve them an image, but he would be very, very slow in making it. He hoped Moshe would come back before he completed it.
If any of you have read The Odyssey, this same idea shows up there as well. There is a woman called Penelope whose husband Odysseus has gone off on a far-away journey. In the meantime, people think Odysseus is dead and they want to marry Penelope because that will make them the next king. So Penelope decides to start weaving a shroud, which means a burial garment, for the eventual funeral of her father-in-law, Laertes. She tells the men who want to marry her that she will marry them once the shroud is complete. By day she weaves on her loom, and it looks like she is making progress. But at night, secretly, she unpicks her weaving. In this way, all the men who want to marry her have to keep on waiting until she finishes the shroud, but she is deliberately stalling for time.
Aharon told Bnei Yisrael, “Bring me the golden earrings that your wives, sons and daughters wear and bring them to me.” Aharon figured that these individuals would not want to part with their jewelry, and this might help him with his delaying tactics. And it was true- according to the Midrash, the women did not want to be involved in giving their jewelry to create a golden image since they knew that was against the law.
But the men of Bnei Yisrael found a way around it. They tore off their own golden earrings and brought those to Aharon instead. According to Midrash, the men of the tribe of Leivi refused to participate, just like the women, and did not give their gold to Aharon.
Unfortunately, now Aharon had a huge pile of gold. He threw the gold into the fire to melt it. He took a tool to form an image. Rashi explains what happened next. After all, we already know that Aharon was trying to delay the forming of this new elohim, or god. But then a group of individuals called the Erev Rav intervened. The Erev Rav was made up of a group of Egyptians who were converts. Moshe had decided to accept them into the Jewish people but it seems like their connection with Judaism wasn’t the most sincere. So, according to Rashi, the sorcerers of Egypt, who were members of the Erev Rav, came and made the image through magic. And so an Egel Masecha, or golden calf, was formed. Members of the community called out, “
אֵ֤לֶּה אֱלֹהֶ֨יךָ֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶֽעֱל֖וּךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם:
These are your gods, Oh Israel, who brought you out from the land of Egypt!”
The Midrash says the people who said that were members of the Erev Rav, while most members of Bnei Yisrael thought that the calf was a holy object that was connected to God somehow, but not actually an idol.
Aharon saw that the entire nation was confused. He wanted to stall for time again. So he came up with an idea, building a mizbeach in front of the calf. He then proclaimed that TOMORROW would be a chag l’Adonoy, a festival for God. The important part was that he said it would happen tomorrow, not that day. Aharon was hoping that Moshe would come down the mountain and come back before Bnei Yisrael ever got the chance to offer sacrifices or worship the golden calf.
TRANSITION
Unfortunately, things did not go the way Aharon had planned. Instead, members of Bnei Yisrael got up early, offered up sacrifices to the Egel, and partied.
Moshe was still on the mountain speaking with God. God told him, “Go down because your people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt have acted badly.” You may notice that God referred to the people as your people, meaning Moshe’s people. Rashi understands this to mean that the main instigators here were the members of the Erev Rav, Egyptian converts who Moshe had decided to accept into Bnei Yisrael’s ranks without consulting God.
God told Moshe about what Bnei Yisrael had done, how they had turned away from the path that God had commanded them and made themselves an Egel. God also said the nation was an am keshei oref, a stiff necked people. This can also be understood as a stubborn nation.
Obviously, in the context that God was speaking, this was not a compliment. But I want to take a moment to share an idea from the Piaseczna Rebbe, who wrote a book called Chovos HaTalmidim, or The Student’s Obligation. In this book, the Rebbe mentioned that every child has different character traits and qualities. Specifically, the Rebbe said (this is the English translation)-
“A teacher is a gardener in the garden of God, assigned to cultivate it and guard it from harm. Even if some of the children seem rebellious, or flawed in their character, the teacher must know that the nature of soul-seeds; of unripe angels, is to taste bitter as they are ripening and to be filled with nectar in their maturity. Neither the nature, nor any particular quality of a Jewish child, is absolutely evil. This is what the holy Baal Shem Tov and his disciples have taught us. What is necessary is just to know how to use these qualities and how to help them develop and grow. For example, a particular child may be very stubborn- which is a character flaw. His teacher may suffer greatly because of the child's stubborness. Yet if the teacher were to reflect, he would realize that when this child matures and receives as his own the yoke of Torah and of service to God, he will perform all his service of God with great stubbornness and self-sacrifice. He will not be frivolous or inclined to vacillate but will be the kind of Jew the Midrash described: In all matters of devotion, he will be as strong as the wall of a fortress.”
Being an am keshei oref, a stiff necked and stubborn nation, is not in and of itself a bad thing. It all depends on what the stubbornness is used for. Right now Bnei Yisrael were being single-minded in their worship of the Golden Calf, which was bad. But later on in history Bnei Yisrael would be so devoted to God that they would be willing to die if necessary al Kiddush Hashem, for the sake of God’s name.
God then said something very surprising. He told Moshe, “Now leave me alone, and my anger will be kindled against them so that I will wipe them out and make you into a great nation.”
Why would God tell Moshe to leave him alone when Moshe hadn’t even spoken yet?
Rashi understands this as God hinting to Moshe, “IF you leave me alone and don’t pray for Bnei Yisrael, I will wipe them out and start over from you. But if you DO pray on their behalf, then you will have the opportunity to save them.” In this way God, as it were, opened a door for Moshe - an opportunity for him to intervene.
This was also a test for Moshe. He himself had experience with how frustrating and difficult the nation could be. After all, they complained about lacking water and not having food even after God had performed so many miracles for them. Now Moshe had a chance to just have all of them destroyed and start over from scratch with only him. Is that the choice he would make?
TRANSITION
No! That is not what Moshe wanted. So Moshe immediately DID begin to pray before God. He came up with all kinds of arguments as to why God should not destroy Bnei Yisrael.
First, Moshe mentioned that if God killed the Jews, the Egyptians would think that God only rescued them from Egypt in order to kill them in the wilderness. They would think God was unwilling or unable to actually lead Bnei Yisrael to the Promised Land. Why should the Egyptians end up thinking wrongly about God?
Second, Moshe asked God to think about our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. God had sworn to them that He would multiply their descendants like the stars of the heavens and that He would give their descendants the land of Israel. Moshe compared Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov to a chair with three legs. He argued, if a chair with three legs cannot stand before you when you are angry, God, then how could a chair with only one leg (meaning if the people would only be descended from himself, Moshe) stand before God?
These arguments were persuasive to God, who reconsidered the punishment He said he would bring upon Bnei Yisrael.
TRANSITION
Moshe went down the mountain, holding the stone Luchot, or tablets, in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, and God Himself had carved them. Yehoshua was waiting at the foot of the mountain and told Moshe he thought he heard the sound of battle in the camp. Moshe corrected him and told him that what he was hearing was actually a voice of blasphemy, because they were hearing the joyful partying of Bnei Yisrael in front of the Egel, or golden calf.
When Moshe came closer to the camp and saw the Egel and the dancing of Bnei Yisrael, he became angry. He threw the Luchot down, and they shattered on the ground.
You can imagine how Bnei Yisrael must have felt in that moment. First, Moshe had returned, despite what they had thought - because remember they had believed he was dead! Second, Moshe was angry and disappointed with them- to the point that he had taken the holy Luchot and broken them, deciding that Bnei Yisrael were not yet worthy of them. Most likely, everything stopped. The dancing stopped, the partying stopped, and everyone just turned to look at Moshe and the broken pieces of the Luchot with wide, shocked eyes.
Moshe took the golden calf that they had made, burned it in fire, ground it up into a powder, scattered it in water and gave it to Bnei Yisrael to drink. By doing this, he made clear to Bnei Yisrael that the calf was not really a god- because the supposed god had ended up as a powder in their stomachs! Rashi says that those members of Bnei Yisrael who had sinned by the Egel but where there weren’t witnesses to the sin ended up being stricken by a plague because they drank this potion, and their stomachs exploded and they died.
Moshe then turned to Aharon and asked why he had participated in making the Egel. Aharon explained the situation that had transpired and how he had tried to stall for time but it hadn’t worked.
Moshe then declared, “Mi L’Adonoy Elai,” which means “Whoever is for God, come to me!” And the Leviyim, who hadn’t participated in the Cheit HaEgel, gathered to him. Moshe explained that they needed to kill those members of Bnei Yisrael who had worshiped the Egel and where there had been witnesses to that sin. The Levyim did this and they killed three thousand members of Bnei Yisrael. Due to their not having participated in the Chet HaEgel and this action of defending God’s honor, the Levyim and the Kohanim became the chosen individuals who would serve God in the Mishkan as opposed to the firstborn sons.
TRANSITION
Moshe then went back up the mountain in an effort to gain atonement, kapparah, for the sin that Bnei Yisrael had committed. Moshe asked God to forgive Bnei Yisrael’s sin, and told God that if He did not, Moshe wanted God to erase his name from the Torah.
God decided He would not destroy the entire nation at once, although he did send a plague to punish some of them. Instead of killing everyone at once, according to Rashi, whenever God issues a national punishment, he includes a bit of the punishment Bnei Yisrael deserved for the Cheit HaEgel along with it.
Moshe came back down the mountain.
God then explained to Moshe that he, Moshe, would need to carve out the second pair of Luchot himself. So Moshe did so. He then went up to Har Sinai for a third time for forty days. On the tenth of Tishrei, the day of Yom Kippur, Moshe brought the second luchot back to Bnei Yisrael. He told them that God had forgiven them for the sin of the golden calf.
As a consequence for what Bnei Yisrael had done, God said that He would have Bnei Yisrael be led by an angel instead of His own presence of the Shechina. Moshe prayed to God to reconsider.
TRANSITION
God taught Moshe his thirteen Middot, or qualities of mercy. They are Hashem, Hashem, El Rachum v’Chanun, Erech, Apayim, V’Rav Chesed V’Emes, Notzer Chesed L’Alafim, Nosei Avon v’Fesha V’Chataah V’Nakeh.
These qualities mean:
Hashem is merciful to a person before he sins. Hashem is also merciful to a person after he sins. Hashem judges every person truthfully. Hashem is merciful to the poor and oppressed. Hashem is generous even to those who don’t deserve it. Hashem delays punishment in order to give people time to repent and return to God. Hashem pays the reward to those He promised He would reward. God rewards the children of a person if their ancestor did a mitzva. God forgives a person who sinned because of his yetzer hara assuming the person does Teshuva. God also forgives a person who sins with intention if the person does teshuva. And God forgives for a sin committed unintentionally. If a sinner does teshuva, God cancels his punishment.
After teaching Moshe this special prayer, God told Moshe to repeat to Bnei Yisrael to be careful not to make any images that could be used for idol worship. God also taught Moshe laws about the special holidays- Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
TRANSITION
When Moshe came down from Har Sinai on Yom Kippur with the second Luchot, Moshe’s face shone as brightly as the sun. The people were afraid and thought Moshe had become an angel.
This was not the case. God made Moshe’s face shine to show how special he was, so the nation would respect and honor him as God’s representative. Moshe wore a veil, mask or covering over his face most of the time. He would take it off when he spoke to God peh el peh, like a person speaks to their friend. He would take off the veil when he conveyed God’s messages to Bnei Yisrael. Then he would cover his face again.
TRANSITION
So here’s what we learned this week!
There are many ideas expressed in this week’s parsha that still apply today.
God values all Jewish people equally, which is why every person, whether rich or poor, contributed a Machatzit HaShekel when it came time for them to be counted.
Even nowadays, we keep the laws of washing our hands Netilat Yadayim when we wake up or eat bread as a way of preparing ourselves to perform our Avodah for God, just like the Kohanim did when they used the Kiyor.
By keeping Shabbat, we are testifying that we believe God created the world and rested on the seventh day.
Even negative traits like stubbornness can be channeled and used for good.
There is a special way to pray before God to remind Him to have mercy on us using the Yud-Gimmel Middos, His 13 special attributes. We use this today when we prepare for the holiest days of the year, saying special prayers called Selichot and hoping that God forgives any mistakes we might have made over the course of the year.
If you have any questions or comments on this week’s episode, please email me at parsha4kids@gmail.com. That’s parsha the number 4 kids at gmail.com. Good Shabbos!