Parshas Ki Tisa

BS"D

This week's Torah portion is Parshas Ki Tisa (literally, "When you lift up", or "take the sum"), from the verse which reads, "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: When you take the sum of the children of Israel according to their numbers, let each one give to the Lord an atonement for his soul when they are counted; then there will be no plague among them when they are counted" (Exodus 30:11-12). This refers to the collecting of the silver half-shekel that was conducted to finance the building of the Tabernacle (and which we continue to collect every year).
Included in this week's sidra is one of the most perplexing stories in the Torah, the Incident of the Golden Calf. Barely three months out of Egypt, after witnessing the Miracles of the Exodus and the Splitting of the Red Sea, and the Divine Revelation at Sinai, the Jewish people fell from their great height and built an idol right at the base of Mt. Sinai. While there are many explanations of how this came about, what I would like to focus on is that which immediately followed: the supplications of Moshe Our Great Teacher to gain forgiveness for the children of Israel. Very famously, during Moshe's exchange with Hashem, Hashem offers to destroy the entire Jewish people, and to begin them again from Moshe and his offspring. In response, Moshe tells Hashem: either forgive them or take me out of your Book! Moshe cast his lot with his people, and in doing so established an eternal paradigm for leadership not only amongst the Jewish people, but throughout the world. To be a true leader is to be with your "flock" even in their lowest moments, even at the times when, on the outside, nothing looks right, and even when it means standing up to G-d Almighty Himself! And how does he do it? Because he sees into their essence, and he finds the place where they are truly "good at heart", and it is from this place that we can start to build and move forward.
So what do we do now, thousands of years later? Our sages teach that in each generation there is an embodiment of Moses, who leads the Jewish people, and also the nations of the world, in just this very manner. For our generation, this is the Lubavitcher Rebbe, whose expansive teachings and countless pieces of advice given over the span of 50+ years to millions of visitors and correspondents from around the entire globe continue to guide us in finding our essence, even during the most trying times. I encourage everyone to check out the following link to learn a little more about his leadership:

http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/default_cdo/jewish/The-Rebbe.htm

Wishing everyone a very meaningful and restful shabbos,
Eli

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