In this week’s Parsha, we learn about the commandment of the observance of the Sabbath. In our Friday evening prayers, we sing the following praises, בואי בשלום עטרת בעלה, “Enter in peace, O crown of my husband.” This refers to Sabbath as the queen. In this week’s Parsha , Moses brings down the Tablets of the Ten Commandments, which represents the Torah. We have been told by the sages of Israel that there are 3 crowns, including the Crown of Torah, the Crown of Priesthood and the Crown of Kingship.The highest crown is the crown of the Torah. We see an allusion to the Crown of Torah at the beginning of this Parsha, where it says the following, כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל, “When you count the Children of Israel”(Exodus 30:12). If we take the acronym of the encircled letters, it spells the term, באי כתר, boi ceser, which means enter my crown. We find more interesting allusions at the beginning of this Parsha. But first, lets explore what we learn in this Parsha. We learn about the unthinkable act. The making of the molten calf which was used by some of the Children of Israel for idol worship and revelry. G-d’s anger flared and 3 thousand people died by the sword as well as many people by the plague. Nonetheless, as the Children of Israel are dear to G-d, He counts them after every disaster. Moreover, Hashem plans the antidote before the disaster. In this case, we were commanded about the Machtsis Hashekel, or the half shekel which was used as a count of each person. The Torah says ונתנו איש כפר נפשו לה'בפקד אתם, , “every man shall give an atonement for his soul when counting them” (Exodus 30:12). If we take the acronym of the encircled letters, it spells the term מהודר, mehudar, meaning beautiful. We see this term describing the Esrog, or Citron. Hence our giving of the half shekel makes us beautiful in the eyes of Hashem. Today, we don’t have the privilege of giving the half shekel but our Rabbis have compared this to the giving of charity. When we give charity, it does not make us poor, but in fact, it comes back to us and it makes us beautiful. Further on, it says, מחצית השקל בשקל הקדש, half of the shekel , by the holy shekel” (Exodus 30:13). If we take the acronym of the encircled letters, it spells the term, בהמהbihama meaning cow. Moreover, if we take the acronym of איש כפרנפשו , it spells the term שור, shor, ox. According to Rabbi Moses Feinstein, the Children of Israel requesting the making of an ox as it resembled one of the Creatures adorning the Chariot of G-d (See Ezekiel 1:10). This misguided action caused us untold suffering as well as the loss of the first set of the Ten commandments that were smashed by Moses after he saw the Children of Israel committing idol worship with the molten calf. Nonetheless, Moses pleaded to G-d to forgive the Children of Israel and G-d listened to Moses’s argument and forgave them. This teaches us that G-d listens to our prayers, even to an individual person. It was only after Moses mentioned that G-d should remember his oath with the our fathers, the Patriarchs, that G-d forgave the people. It is interesting to note that with the aid of the Atbash code, if we reverse the letters of כי תשא, ki sisa, it spells the term (rearranged ) לאבתם, to their fathers. Hence we see that the merit of our forefathers have always protected us. In this Parsha, Moses also asked to see the Glory of G-d but G-d only showed him his ‘back’. Man can never see or know the true essence of G-d until we die. As I noted in a previous dvar Torah, we see the term funeral encoded in the term כי לא יראני האדם וחי, “For no human can see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20). If we take the acronym of the encircled letters (rearranged), it spells the term לויה, levaya or funeral. Moreover, even the word in Hebrew for truth, emes, אמת, alludes to death as if we remove the t, aleph, it spells ,מת, meis or death. Hence, when we die we will know the truth. However, we must start our trek to the truth before we die. We must study the wisdom of the Lord with the study of His Torah so that we can live a truthful life. We must remove the veils of false ideologies and study Torah with a true heart as the termכיתשא, ki sisa, with Atbash code can also be read as לב אמת, Lev Emes or truthful heart. Indeed when Moses went to study with G-d, the Torah tells us that he removed his mask. The Torah says ובבא משה לפני ה' לדבר אתו יסיר את מסוה, “when Moses would come before Hashem to speak with Him, he would remove the mask”(Exodus 34:34). If we take the acronym of the encircled letters, it spells the term תורה, Torah. The lesson about Moses should apply to us as well. When we study the Torah, we remove the darkness of our lives and we open ourselves up to the light of the Lord.
As noted previously, the Parsha of the week influences and controls current events. The main news events of the week were the Bush trip abroad to Europe, which was labeled as mending fences. He has told Iran that they cannot have nuclear weapons. This threat can cause a reaction from this country. Remember, the 19 terrorists that wreaked much havoc on our nation on 9/11 were not apparently sent from any given country. Imagine if a country would actually attack us.The damage could be irreparable. We must trek very carefully when passing foreign doctrine. In this Parsha, Moses mended fences between G-d and the Children of Israel. This week, (2/24/05), the Pope was readmitted in the Hospital with a relapse of pneumonia and he had a tracheotomy in his throat and he was put on a respirator. This means that he was put out of commission. Many people are now talking about his replacement. To separate the mundane from the holiness, Moshe went away from his people for a forty day period and as Moses did not come back in time, the people demanded another leader which lead to the tragic event of the molten calf. The Torah says עשו להם עגל מסכה וישתחוו לו, “they have made themselves a molten calf, prostrated themselves” (Exodus 32:8). If we take the acronym of the encircled letters, it spells the term, עולם, olam, meaning hidden, universe or nations. Most nations of the world are chasing their molten calf, whether it is by money or other physical desire. They are hiding from the truth. The Torah says we must destroy our idols and only worship the one and only G-d and only then can we have a truthful heart.
A refua shlaima to my father, Yaakov Zev Ben Malka Blima who is recovering from stroke.
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