פרשת כי תשא

Dvar Torah

“United we stand, divided we…”

(שמות ל:יב-יג) כִּי תִשָּׂא אֶת־רֹאשׁ בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם וְנָתְנוּ אִישׁ כֹּפֶר נַפְשׁוֹ לַה' בִּפְקֹד אֹתָם וְלֹא־יִהְיֶה בָהֶם נֶגֶף בִּפְקֹד אֹתָם: זֶה יִתְּנוּ כָּל־הָעֹבֵר עַל־הַפְּקֻדִים מַחֲצִית הַשֶּׁקֶל בְּשֶׁקֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ עֶשְׂרִים גֵּרָה הַשֶּׁקֶל מַחֲצִית הַשֶּׁקֶל תְּרוּמָה לַה':

“When you will count the heads of the children of Israel and they should give… a half of a Shekel of the Holy Shekel…”

In this week’s Parasha the Torah tells us about how Moshe should conduct a census of the Jewish people.  Each person should give a half of a Shekel as a means of being counted.  This money would then be used to purchase the Karban Tamid (the offering brought twice daily in the Temple) and the upkeep of the Mishkon and, later, the Bet Hamikdash.  Everyone gave the same size gift so that we all would have an equal part of these special things.  The amount that the Torah tells us we should use is a half of a shekel.

Why only a half of a shekel?  If we would all give a whole shekel, which is not a large sum of money, we would double our donations.  Why did the Torah choose a half?

There was once a father who had five sons.  Each of them was strong, smart, and well off.  Toward the end of his life, the father called his sons together.  He told his dear sons that he wanted to teach them a very important lesson that they would need to remember always.  In his hand, he held a bunch of small sticks tied together.  Each son was given a chance to break the bunch of sticks, but none of them could - the sticks were too strong together.  Then their father untied the bunch and gave each of his sons one stick and asked them to try and break his stick.  Of course, all of them had no problem breaking the sticks.  Their father explained that together the sons were a strong group, but if they separated they are all breakable just like the sticks.

The reason that the Torah tells us to use a half of a shekel is to show us that on our own we are nothing, but if we stand as one together we are too strong to break.  We are all part of one nation, but each one of us is nothing alone.  The half shekel needs another half just to be a whole, and we need each other to be complete.

If we keep in mind how important it is for us to stand as one nation… then maybe we will soon see peace in Israel and the world, and the coming of the Mashiach.

Shabbat Shalom!

Parsha Questions

1) How should the בית ישראל count the number of people each year? What was used? (שמות ל:יב יג -)

2) What age was counted? Why? (רש"י שמות ל:יד)

3) Who was allowed to give more or less than a מחצית השקל? (שמות ל:טו)

4) Why do you think this was? (YOU THINK QUESTION)

5) Describe the כיור. (רש"י שמות ל:יח)

6) Where was the כיור placed? Why? (שמות ל:יח-כא)

7) What was the כיור made of? Where did this material come from?

(שמות ל:יח and רש"י שמות לח:ח)

8) From where did the רבנן learn that the oil that משה made to anoint אהרון was used for all generations? (רש"י שמות ל:לא and תלמוד הוריות יא:)

9) Who was to build and oversee the creation of the משקן? (שמות לא:ב)

10) Explain the difference between חכמה, בינה, and דעת. (רש"י שמות לא:ג)

11) Why does the תורה interrupt the building of the משקן to discuss the מצוה of שבת? (רש"י שמות לא:יג). What do we learn from this?

12) כי אות הוא ביני וביניכם..., what is שבת a sign of? (רש"י שמות לא:יג)  

13) What was the date that Hashem gave משה the לוחת? (רש"י שמות לא:יח)

14) Explain אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה. How do we see this in פרשת כי תשא? (רש"י שמות לא:יח) 

15) How did the בני ישראל miscount the forty days that משה was on הר סיני? (רש"י שמות לב:א)

16) Why did אהרן agree to help make a new god to lead the בני ישראל? (רש"י שמות לב:ב)

17) How did the gold become a golden calf? (רש"י שמות לב:ד)

18) When משה was pleading with Hashem to forgive the בני ישראל, why did he mention אברהם, יצחק, and יעקב? (רש"י שמות לב:יג)

19) Describe the writing on the לוחת. (שמות לב:טו-טז , עיין ברש"י)

20) How did משה punish the בני ישראל for serving the עגל הזהב? (רש"י שמות לב:כ)

21) What did משה ask of Hashem regarding His forgiveness to the בני ישראל? (שמות לב:לב)

22) What big change would there be in the way that the בני ישראל traveled after the חט העגל? (שמות לג:א-ג)

23) How did the בני ישראל react to this news? What did they do? (שמות לג:ד)

24) What did משה do now that Hashem was no longer dwelling amongst the בני ישראל? (שמות לג:ז)

25) Who should get the stones for the second לוחת? Why? (רש"י שמות לד:א)

26) Who wrote the second set of לוחת? (שמות לד:א)

27) List the thirteen attributes of Hashem. (שמות לד:ו-ז)

28) What did משה do when he heard Hashem say these attributes? Explain why.

 (שמות לד:ח ועיין ברש"י)

29) What did משה need to do after spending another forty days in Heaven with Hashem?

 (שמות לד:ל-לג)

30) What did he do when he spoke with Hashem? (שמות לד:ל-מא)

  

TORAH TRIVIA!

Super Stumper Question:

This a question to ask others and discuss the answers.

Answer to last week’s question:

The 4 Brachot only said once each year (outside of Israel) are (1) on lighting candles for Yom Kippur  (2) on a fruit tree budding in Nissan (3) searching/burning Chametz (4) on Tisha B'Av in Mincha we request redemption and rebuilding of our Bet Hamikdash.

Question of the week:

What B’rachos would be added to the list above inside of Israel?

 FOOD Section!

Can you guess what this recipe connects to this week’s Parsha?

GOLD

BBQ SAUCE

Great for wings!

Ingredients:

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups prepared mustard

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 1/2 cups Splenda granular or 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

1 cup water

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 -2 teaspoon onion powder or 1/2 cup finely minced onion, sauteed

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

OPTIONAL Add for HOT Version of Sauce

1/4-3/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1/2-3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

2 -3 teaspoons Louisiana hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

1) In saucepan, whisk together all dry ingredients.

2) Add mustard, tomato paste, and molasses.

3) Slowly add vinegar, whisking till blended.

4) Add water and whisk to blend.

5) Heat over medium-low heat till hot; lower to simmer and simmer 30-45 minutes.

6) Cool, then pour into glass bottle or other non-reactive container.

7) Refrigerate, if desired.

8) Our favorite way to use this sauce to baste bone-in chicken when grilling.

9) The sooner you baste, the more browned the chicken gets, and we like it browned and charred (not burned), so we baste early and frequently.