Date: March 1st 2018

PARSHAT KI TISSA – DEEPLY EMBEDDED NOTIONS

Parshat Ki Tissa tells the story of the sin of the Golden Calf. Briefly: on the day still celebrated as the holiday of Shavuot, Moshe (Moses) ascended to Heaven to receive the Torah. The entire nation heard Hashem speaking the first two of the Ten Commandments on the Oneness of Hashem and the prohibition against idolatry. Moshe then remained “Above” for 40 days during which time he was taught the entire written and oral Torah and presented with two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

The Jews then erred and mistakenly calculated that Moshe would return by a specific time. In truth, he was not due back until somewhat later. When Moshe did not arrive when expected, the Jews assumed he would never return. So they created a Golden Calf, thinking that it could somehow be an intermediary to Hashem in lieu of Moshe. Eventually, the situation devolved into the outright worship of the Calf.

Hashem told Moshe who was still on the mountain, “Go descend – for your nation that you brought up from Egypt has become corrupt. They have strayed quickly from the way that I have commanded them; they have made themselves a molten calf, prostrated themselves to it and sacrificed to it and they said, “This is your G-d, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt” (Ki Tissa 32:8,9).” Moshe came down from the mountain, and upon observing their debauchery, he cast the tablets from his hand, breaking them.

Hashem considered destroying all of the Jews and rebuilding the nation from Moshe’s progeny. Moshe ascended to Heaven for two successive 40 day periods to pray for their forgiveness. Hashem accepted his prayers and presented Moshe with a second set of tablets. The day of Moshe’s final return was the 10th of Tishrei, which Jews have since celebrated as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Parshat Ki Tissa relates that when Moshe finally descended from Heaven with the second tablets on Yom Kippur, there was an intense emanation of the Divine Presence upon his face. It was so awe-inspiring that the Jews were afraid to look at him. From then on, throughout their entire 40-year sojourn in the desert, Moshe donned a veil when interacting with the people. (But when Moshe entered the Tabernacle to speak with Hashem, he removed the cover.) Why did Hashem bestow His emanation upon Moshe at that time?

The commentary of the Daat Zekenim Mibaalei Hatosafot (Ki Tissa 34:30) explains that this was done to correct their mistake of attributing divinity to the Golden Calf. The Divine Presence upon his face confirmed that it was only Moshe and not the Calf that represented Hashem. Apparently, Hashem had to keep reminding the Jews that the Calf was a sham throughout their 40-year sojourn in the desert.

The Midrash Rabbah (51:6) on Parshat Pekudei explains that the fundamental attitude of those Jews was to believe in Hashem. And their Calf-worship was but a temporary aberration from which they quickly and wholly repented. Moreover, when Moshe came upon the scene, he forcefully demonstrated that the Calf was a bogus deity. He burned it, ground it up, and then cast it into the water, which he made the Jews drink (Ki Tissa 32:20). Moshe also galvanized the Tribe of Levi into becoming “Hashem’s Army,” and they killed the 3,000 Jews who committed outright idolatry with the Calf.

If so, why did the Daat Zekenim Mibaalei Hatosafot write that the Divine Emanation remained on Moshe's face for 40 years correct that one-time mistake of ascribing godliness to an idol? Why were so many reminders needed to correct an already acknowledged error?

Evidently, once even a flawed idea takes hold in a person’s mind, it can become deeply embedded and difficult to totally eradicate. It is akin to a potentially deadly disease that was at first seemingly cured but whose minute traces remain in the body, only to surface at a later date in full force. What transpired upon Moshe’s return bore out that the Golden Calf was not a Deity and that the Jews thoroughly repented. Nevertheless, Hashem, Who sees inner human thoughts, knew that lingering remnants of their idolatrous beliefs remained within them. And like in the case of a dormant disease, those latent dogmas could later explode into full-fledged idolatry. Hashem, therefore, continued to visit His Emanation upon Moshe’s face.


Contemporary society inundates almost everyone with ideas and values that positively defy millennia of Torah thinking on respecting elders, proper attire, sexuality and marriage, and so forth. And the interface with this toxic flood begins in early childhood. The text of this Dvar teaches that once these take hold, even after being rationally and emotionally repudiated, the “unkosher notions” might loiter unseen within man and later explode, inflicting moral devastation. This idea of this Dvar, therefore, warns people to avoid exposure to beliefs that are antithetical to Torah, to whatever extent possible.

“To whatever extent possible” is critical, for, at times, it might be necessary for one’s work or education to interact with individuals whose morals are sorely lacking; business is business. However, if doable, it is typically best to avoid unnecessary social interactions with those same people. The camaraderie can leave a corrosive psychological imprint might never go away.

The Talmud (Kiddushin 30b)writes: “Rabbi Shimon, the son of Levi said: Every day, a person's Yetzer Hora (evil inclination) tries to overcome and kill him And were it not for the fact that The Holy One, Blessed He, helps him, he would not prevail.” In other words, people are innately incapable of overcoming their evil inclinations. However, The Almighty helps people prevail in this never-ending struggle.

The issues discussed in this Dvar further explain the statement of Rabbi Shimon, the son of Levi. In addition to the Yetzer Hora’s more recognizable temptations, it has in its arsenal yet another inducement to sin: It is likely humanly impossible to prevent many of society’s values and ideas from lodging unseen in recesses of our psyches and later precipitating moral devastation. Nevertheless, Hashem helps, and people can face this challenge and emerge spiritually unscathed.


The Talmud (Sotah 11a) writes that the consequence of a good attribute is 500 times greater than one which is bad. In other words, a positive and exemplary quality brings about altogether more “good stuff” than what is caused by its blameworthy and harmful opposite number. For example, the admirable trait of modesty begets far more good than a comparable measure of arrogance gives rise to evil.

This Dvar has focused upon how the exposure to flawed and erroneous ideas create an almost indelible psychic imprint. If so the Talmud in Sotah’s concept teaches that this same psychodynamic works even more strongly when interfacing with sacred principles of Torah suffused with Hashem’s Truth. They too will create a lifetime predisposition - but to holiness – and all the more so!



This Dvar is a much-edited version of the one previously emailed on February 28th, 2013.

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