KI TISA_EXODUS XXX:11-XXXIV:35
The first theme of these chapters concerns the census that was conducted after the episode of Egel Hazahav, the “Golden Calf” the Hebrews worshiped when Mosheh took longer than anticipated to descend from Har Sinai. The biblical account continues with the instructions addressed to Mosheh to elaborate a copper receptacle that will be used for washing the hands and feet of the Kohanim.
The Torah then specifies which species are necessary for worship in the Mishkan, one of them being Mor Deror, pure myrtle. This species is considered by the Talmud as an allusion to Mordechai, the hero of the Purim story. According to the Rav (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik) when the Talmud questions: Mordechai min HaTorah minayin and responds with Mor Deror, the use of an element that will be used in the Mishkan is to signal his participation in the reconstruction of the second Beit HaMikdash.
The Egel Hazahav episode had 4 protagonists: God, the Jewish people, Aharon and Mosheh. The apparent complicity of Aharon who tried to appease the mood of the people surely caused Mosheh much anguish because according to the personality characteristics attributed to him by the Torah, he would probably never have yielded to the people’s request.
While Aharon approached the people and identified with their challenges and anxieties, Mosheh appears closer to the heavenly than to the earthly. In this sense, Rashi explains the difference between leha’azín and lishmo’a, synonyms of the verb to listen. By being closer to heaven Mosheh expresses himself with Ha’azinu haShamayim, while Yeshayahu says Shim’í shamáyim. Leha’azín means to listen closely, while lishmo’a implies some distance between the parties.
According to Ibn Ezra, Mosheh is educated in the palace of Pharaoh, because at the beginning he had the position of a prince, to become the Melech, the king of the Hebrew people. Mosheh is unique, there is no other similar character in the Bible. With the exception of the Midrash accounts, the characteristics of his children are unknown, they simply disappear from the biblical account. Mosheh looks like a lonely being in the earthly universe because he felt more akin to the world of the spirit. He was the only human who spoke to God “face to face.”
Mosheh’s death before the conquest of the Promised Landmarks the end of his career although his achievements left a mark forever. The case of Aharon is very different. He always felt close to the people and perhaps because of that, he understood their weaknesses. In addition, Aharon is the patriarch of all the Kohanim who will always officiate at the Beit HaMikdash and will be the teachers of the people. Even to the present, the sons of Aharon are the protagonists of certain ceremonials and have a preference in the rituals of the synagogue.
The celebration of Yom Kippur has as its central theme the activities of the Kohen Gadol in the Beit HaMikdash. Aharon was also a prophet, a person with penetrating vision who could understand the meaning of History. It will be his descendants, the Chashmonaim who will rebel against the Hellenized Syrians to return the Beit HaMikdash to its former glory and begin some two centuries of national liberation until the destruction of the House of God perpetrated by the Romans in the year 70.
Perhaps the leadership of the people demanded a symbiosis of both positions. On the one hand, the apparent inflexibility of Mosheh, unwilling to any commitment or alteration of the Will of God and on the other hand is the personality of Aharon who senses the intrinsic weakness of the human being, his disposition to sin, but at the same time his capacity for regeneration. The possibility of Teshuvah appears as a reality in the story of the first man Adam. While Mosheh disappears from the stage, Aharon lives through his offspring, because only thanks to his understanding and empathy for human frailty is there the possibility of final redemption.
MITSVAH: TORAH ORDINANCE IN THIS PARASHAH
CONTAINS 4 POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 5 PROHIBITIONS
- Exodus 30:13 Give half a Shekel (coin) annually
- Exodus 30:19-20 Wash your hands and feet when serving in the Temple
- Exodus 30:25 Making Oil for Anointing
108 Exodus 30:32 The person who is not authorized should not pour anointing oil on himself.
109 Exodus 30:32 Do not make anointing oil that has not been authorized according to the specific formula
- Exodus 30:37 Do not make incense that has not been authorized according to the specific formula
- Exodus 34:12,15 Neither eating nor drinking from the offering for an idol
- Exodus 34:21 Allow the earth to rest in the year of Shemitah (seventh year)
- Exodus 34:25 Do not eat meat and milk that have been cooked together
