MHA-FYOS Dean's Blog

In a section near the end of this week’s parasha – Parashat Ki Tisa – the Torah presents some of the mitzvot related to the chaggim – the Jewish festivals. Particular attention in the section is given to the holiday of Pesach. This section concludes with two mitzvot – all first fruits are to be brought to the Temple to be given to the kohen and the commandment not to cook milk together with meat. At first glance, the connection between the beginning and the end of this section is not obvious. Pesach and the prohibition to mix milk and meat seem unrelated. In a very novel and interesting approach, Rabbenu Ovadiah Seforno identifies a theme that runs through the section. Seforno explains that the mitzvot in this section are aimed to reorient a person’s concept of the true source of success. Hashem is the source of our material success and well-being. There are two moments in which a person is particularly susceptible to forgetting this idea. Celebrating a spring festival – Pesach – is ai...

This week’s perasha , Ki Tisa, describes the sin of the Golden Calf. For forty days after Hashem’s revelation at Mount Sinai, B'nei Yisrael had been anxiously awaiting Moshe’s return. The pasuk says, “and the nation saw that Moshe delayed ( boshesh ) to come down from the mountain.” There is a well-known Midrash on this pasuk . Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What is the significance of the Torah using the word boshesh – “And the nation saw that Moshe was boshesh , coming late.”? Do not read the word as boshesh – coming late – rather – ba’u shesh – six hours of the day came (and went). The Midrash continues: When Moshe ascended to heaven, he told b’nei yisrael that he would return at the end of 40 days at the beginning of the sixth hour. B’nei yisrael thought that the day that he ascended was to be included in the count of 40 days, when in fact, he said 40 complete days. He had ascended on the seventh of Sivan and he intended to return on the seventeenth of Tammuz. On th...