Weekly Torah Portion: Ki Tisa "When you take"

Ki Tisa (כי תשא — Hebrew for "when you take,” the sixth and seventh words, and first distinctive words in the parshah) is the 21st weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 30:11–34:35.

This may be my favorite Torah portion. It covers so much... the passage emphasizing the keeping of the Sabbath, the skill of the tabernacle artisans, recipes for anointing oil and incense, the people creation of the golden calf, Moses seeing G-d's back... Where to begin!

I've thought a lot about the Sabbath of late and have been greatly helped by a short chapter on the topic by Rabbi David Aaron in his excellent book, Living a Joyous Life: The True Spirit of Jewish Practice.

Exodus 31:12 And HaShem spoke unto Moses, saying: 13 'Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying: Verily ye shall keep My sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am HaShem who sanctify you.

As a lover of comparative religious study and experience I can't help but take note of the propensity of the Jewish people to embrace faith paths that are not their "natural" path. This is certainly my experience... I tend to quickly sprint after any whiff of sweet ideological/religious perfume... A true wandering Jew. Hank Williams said it best, "Your Cheatin' Heart"...

I think Steinsaltz is so right in his argument that the Jews are by nature an inherently religious or spiritual people group... and, that the Jewish religion is a very hard one in many ways to practice... put these two things together and you have a people prone to embrace many faith paths other than that of their peeps... the collective unconscious of their blood and bones (see Steinsaltz, We Jews: Who Are We and What Should We Do, chapters 8 and 10 in particular).

And then there is the high point of this parshah...

Exodus 33:13 (Moses says) Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy ways, that I may know Thee, to the end that I may find grace in Thy sight; and consider that this nation is Thy people.' 14 And He said: 'My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.' 15 And he said unto Him: 'If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16 For wherein now shall it be known that I have found grace in Thy sight, I and Thy people? is it not in that Thou goest with us, so that we are distinguished, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth?' 17 And HaShem said unto Moses: 'I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name.' 18 And he said: 'Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory.' 19 And He said: 'I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of HaShem before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.' 20 And He said: 'Thou canst not see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.' 21 And HaShem said: 'Behold, there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock. 22 And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand until I have passed by. 23 And I will take away My hand, and thou shalt see My back; but My face shall not be seen.'

Exodus 34:5 And HaShem descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of HaShem. 6 And HaShem passed by before him, and proclaimed: 'The HaShem, HaShem, G-d, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; 7 keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation.' 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9 And he said: 'If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O L-rd, let the L-rd, I pray Thee, go in the midst of us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance.'

The passage, as inspiring and alluring as it is, can't be read without noting the ethical problems inherent in it.

G-d's nature is noted as: merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin... but, not clearing the guilty... visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.

This last part is evident in that Moses has the Levites slay 3000 idolaters, G-d is ready to decimate the people and start fresh with Moses' progeny... and we read in Exodus 32:

31 And Moses returned unto HaShem, and said: 'Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them a god of gold. 32 Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written.'33 And HaShem said unto Moses: 'Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book.

Thanks goodness Moses skillfully argued with G-d on the peoples behalf.

My favorite parsha is a bit of a conundrum to me... The G-d who by nature is mercy, love, peace and forgiveness is not someone you want to piss off... On my pilgrimage I continue to to wrestle with the integration of lovingkindness/mercy and justice/reaping what we sow.

And so this week as I reflect on the Torah portion this is the concept I'll be mulling over... how do we reconcile the lovingkindness/mercifulness of G-d and the justness of G-d.