Ki Tissa
The eighth grader held a book in her hand. It was a book of Bible stories, illustrated with hand-drawn figures of the patriarchs, matriarchs, Noah’s ark, Ten Commandments, and beginning with a large circle depicting the 7 days of creation. In the middle of that circle was an old man with a flowing robe, long white hair and a beard, holding a staff in his hand. Despite the fact that the girl recognized the anthropomorphic depiction of the Creator, she had secretly kept that image of God in her back pocket since childhood. And then, just like that, during her eighth grade year, her concrete “God” was shattered. It happened at a time when she was emerging from childhood into adolescence, from the protective safety of her parents’ embrace into the rebellion that rages through the teen years. But who or what was God, if not the image in that book?
It was as if the floor had melted below her feet, and she spent the next 15 years searching for proof of the Name, the Place, the Who or what is at the root of the Eternal Why. Finally, at the moment of her daughter’s birth, she knew … God and humans are holy partners, who together can bring life into the world.
In our parsaha, Ki Tissa, the curtain opens as Moses is communing with God at the top of the mountain. He is told that the people of Israel are to each contribute exactly half a shekel of silver to the Sanctuary. Instructions are also given regarding the making of the Sanctuary’s water basin, anointing oil and incense. “Wise-hearted” artisans Betzalel and Aholiav are to be placed in charge of the Sanctuary’s construction, and the people are once again commanded to keep the Shabbat.
Moses has been away from the Israelites for longer than they expected, which causes them to doubt this God that Moses has spoken of. Aaron commands them to bring their gold, of which the community constructs an idol, a golden calf. They, like the 14-year old girl, need concrete proof of God’s existence. And they worship the calf as a substitute for the now-absent God.
How is it possible, after the dramatic announcement of the Aseret Hadibrot, the Ten Commandments, that the Children of Israel have so soon forgotten “You shall have no other gods before/besides Me.” With Aaron as their high priest, they certainly should feel the security of a powerful leader in the absence of Moses for a mere 40 days. And yet, they lose sight of God’s eternal plan.
In our modern-day world, we too often also lose sight of the big picture. We focus on the biggest idol in our lives, which is the one that looks us right in the mirror each and every morning. We are by nature egocentric, self-involved people. Our thoughts naturally go in one pattern: me, me, me. What matters most is what provides immediate gratification. We wallow in a world filled with stuff, adding to our collection of material trivia that someday our children will have to liquidate. The piles fill the corners of every room, often blinding us to what really matters. In building a sacred relationship with God, we need to recognize that God is not looking for our material belongings. What God is seeking from us is our attention, and attention to the sacred takes time. And in Ki Tissa we are reminded of another of the Ten Commandments – to keep Shabbat. Earlier the Israelites were commanded to remember the Sabbath day. V’shamru b’nai yisrael et haShabbat. Here, now, remembering is not enough. We are to guard, keep, or observe one day each week as a day of rest. Beini uvein b’nai yisrael ot hi l’olam. Shabbat is a sign between God and Israel for all time. It is a time to leave our stuff behind. As Abraham Joshua Heschel stated in his book, The Sabbath: “The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world.” Ki sheishet yamim asah adonai et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz. Because in six days God made the heavens and the earth. Six days we can dwell with our stuff, all the collections that give us gratification, that feed our egos. But the material world has the real potential to clutter our souls from being open to that which is holy, and so, Uvayom hashvi’i shavat vayinafash. Creation – doing, making, working, producing – occurred for six days and on the seventh day, on Shabbat, God “vayinafash.” This word is often translated as “rested,” but if we look at the Hebrew root we find the word Nefesh, which means soul, breath or life-force. As Rashi says in his commentary on this passage, “God restored God’s own soul and breath by taking a calming break from the burden of the labor.” If God needed to rest after dwelling in a world of matter, how much more so should we take the time to seek God’s presence by withdrawing from the physical and recreating our souls with a time-out!
As the fourteen-year old came to know, God does not dwell in a book of Bible stories, nor as our ancestors learned, in a statue made of gold. Rather, God dwells within each our souls, a sacred spot within each of us that connects us with the Eternal. May we learn to seek God by putting aside that which is earthly, and reaching towards that which is holy. In that way we will truly be partners in the creation, and perfection of our world.
Ken yehi ratzon – May it be God’s will.
