Selections from Parashat Ki Tisa: Equality, Sin, and Atonement

A Torah study led by Maayan Lev on February 19, 2022)

Because we did not have a Torah scroll for our online services this Shabbat weekend, there was a need to temporarily depart from the usual format of our Torah service. I used that need to choose three separate readings from Ki Tisa, almost like a highlight reel. The readings have been kept in chronological order, but there is plenty that happens in between each selection today that we are not reading. This would not normally happen in the presence of a Torah scroll, where there would be no gaps between the readings done for the Torah portion of the week.

This Torah portion is most famous for the story of the Golden Calf, but as we shall see, actually has much more to offer than just that single section.

The theme of the first reading is on the theme of equality:

Exodus 30:1-15

HaShem spoke to Moses, saying: “When you take a census of the Israelite men according to their army enrollment, each shall pay HaShem a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled. This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay: a half-shekel by the sanctuary weight—twenty gerahs to the shekel—a half-shekel as an offering to HaShem. Everyone who is entered in the records, from the age of 20 years up, shall give HaShem’s offering: the rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel when giving HaShem’s offering as expiation for your persons.”

Questions to consider:

• What does this say about equality?
• Do we agree with it?
• Why would it state this?

Possible responses:

• Everyone is equal, and so they should all pay the same amount
• If the rich want to give more for this special cause, perhaps they should be able to
• The rich should not be able to flex their financial might by paying more
• This is unfair to the poor who might not be able to afford this
• This offering has multiple purposes, including a census. It is hard to calculate the number of people in your group if they do not all pay the same amount.

Maayan’s response:

We do not have to agree with this definition of equality. Perhaps it is outdated. After all, that is not how our taxes are currently calculated in modern day America. Or perhaps it is not about equality at at all, and more about the ease of calculating a census. We should still appreciate that the Torah is making an effort to show equality. The rich and poor (and middle class) are all equal in the eyes of HaShem.

Commentator’s insights:

Chizkuni:^[1] “a wealthy person must not contribute in excess of this,” for if the Torah were to allow the wealthy to contribute more and the poor to contribute less than a half holy shekel each, how could each of them attain the same level of atonement?

The second reading is on the theme of sin:

Exodus 32:1-5

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that fellow Moses—the man who brought us from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.” Aaron said to them, “[You men,] take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. This he took from them and cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced: “Tomorrow shall be a festival of HaShem !”

Questions to consider:

• What is going through Aaron’s mind during these events in this passage?
• Is Aaron guilty of rejecting HaShem?
• Is Aaron guilty of encouraging others to reject HaShem?
• Isn’t Aaron known as a “rodef shalom” (“pursuer of peace”)?
• Is there more to this than meets the eye?

Possible responses:

• Aaron is guilty of both rejecting HaShem and encouraging others to reject HaShem.
• Aaron is not guilty of rejecting HaShem, but is guilty of encouraging others to reject HaShem.
• Aaron may feel his position as a leader is in jeopardy.
• Aaron is stalling for time until Moses gets back.
• Aaron is trying to appease the mob because the people’s unruliness truly frightens him.

Maayan’s response:

There are many possible ways to read this, and there is no way to know for sure. But because Aaron is known as a “rodef shalom” (“pursuer of peace”), I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. He may be stalling for time. He says that the next day will be a festival to HaShem. It can be read ominously to mean, “Tomorrow it will be clear that HaShem is the one true God, and there will be a reckoning for your actions.” In the meantime, he has stripped the blasphemers of their gold. They paid a literal price for their actions, in the form of the gold they will no longer be able to reclaim.

It appears from these verses (as opposed to Exodus 32:24) that Aaron molded this calf himself. This seems like a sin, but perhaps this is a sting operation of sorts. Just how far will these people sin? Perhaps Aaron wants to find out! It is important to note that although he molded the calf, he did not worship it himself.

Commentator’s insights:

Rashi: “And Aaron announced: ‘Tomorrow shall be a festival of HaShem!’”

“Tomorrow,” not “today,” for he hoped that Moses might return before they would worship it (the calf). This is the plain meaning of the verse.

The Midrashic explanation of it in Leviticus Rabbah 10:3 is: Aaron saw many things; he saw Hur, his sister’s son, who had reprimanded them, and whom they had killed. He realized from Hur who lay slaughtered before him what would happen to him (Aaron) if he offered resistance.

The third reading is on the theme of sin:

Exodus 34:4-7:

So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as HaShem had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him. HaShem came down in a cloud—and stood with him there, proclaiming the name HaShem. HaShem passed before him and proclaimed: “HaShem ! HaShem! A G!d compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin—yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

Questions for consideration:

• Where have we seen these words before?
• Who is proclaiming these words? Moses or HaShem? (The Torah’s pronoun structure does not make it clear.)
• Are we truly responsible for the guilt of our ancestors?
• Can we be absolved?
• Is time the only remedy for such things?

Possible responses:

• These words, known as the Shlosh Es-rei Middot or the 13 Attributes of (HaShem’s) Mercy, are recited most famously on Yom Kippur.
• These words are also recited one other fast days; at S’lichot, the service that inaugurates the High Holy Day season; and on Festivals when the Ark is opened for taking out the Torah scrolls.
• These words would only make sense coming from Moses, thanking HaShem for forgiveness.
• Perhaps HaShem is explaining to Moses that HaShem is a G!d of forgiveness.
• The sins of our ancestors are passed down to us as dishonor on our families.
• We are not responsible for committing the same sins that our ancestors did, but sometimes the biases of our ancestors get unknowingly (or knowingly) passed down to us, which makes us responsible for sins of our own.
• We are not subject to the punishment that our ancestors would receive for the sins they committed, but we are responsible for righting those wrongs.

Maayan’s response:

It would make most sense to me that these words are coming from Moses. After all, we recite them on Yom Kippur to HaShem. While it could be that HaShem is explaining to Moses that G!d has qualities of mercy, this does not fit with the verses that lead up to this section, in which HaShem was willing to blot out the Israelites for their sins and start a new nation with Moses alone. HaShem only spared the Israelites as a whole because Moses pleaded with G!d, daring to say that he and the Israelites were a package deal.

It is true that HaShem is a G!d of forgiveness, but it is implied that many Israelites still died in the plague that HaShem sent following the Golden Calf debacle (Exodus 32:35). But it could have been much worse. Many were spared. Saying these words on Yom Kippur is more meaningful to me because I interpret them as being the words of Moses.

When reading this passage today, I recall people with Nazi ancestry, or with ancestors who were slaveowners. Such behavior by our ancestors is inexcusable. It does not mean that we ourselves are responsible for those same sins, but if we can use our time on earth to reverse the lasting effects of our ancestors’ sins, we are doing a major service to our ancestors, to G!d, and to the world.

Commentator’s insights:

Rashi: According to the verse’s plain sense in Exodus 34:7, this means that HaShem is not altogether indulgent to sin (HaShem does not entirely remit the punishment), but little by little exacts punishment from the sinner. Our Rabbis, however, have explained that HaShem clears those who repent but does not clear those who will not repent (BT Yoma 86a).

Conclusion:

Ki Tisa is a very rich Torah portion, but it is remembered more for its moment of sin (the Golden Calf) than its moment of forgiveness (the 13 Attributes of Mercy). Assuming we want to have a G!d of forgiveness, perhaps we should reevaluate how we summarize this portion.

Shabbat shalom!

^[1] Hezekiah ben Mano’ach was a 13th century rabbi and Torah commentator known by the title of his main work, Hizkuni. The commentary is based upon various midrashic texts and some 20 early commentators. However, only Rashi is regularly cited, because Rabbi Hezekiah wanted a focus on the message, not the messenger.