Parshas Ki Tisa – A Second Chance

A SECOND CHANCE

by Roy Neuberger

I would like to bring you up to date on a few things.

First, I received quite a few inquiries concerning the lost cufflinks about which I wrote several weeks ago. Thank you for your concern. My wife found them!

Second, another lost item: a Jewish soul! I described in the column on December 28 how a young mother was dramatically rescued from her overturned car in the middle of the night in a torrential storm on a small road in Israel. This is actually our own grand-daughter, Tehilla, who lives with her family near Ashkelon. I stated that a young couple pulled her out, but I later found out that, in fact, three vehicles arrived and their occupants stopped to rescue her.

The first was driven by a young man from Bnai Brak. He himself was apparently off the derech[1] (meaning that he had strayed off the path of Torah), but, actually, as we will see, he found the derech that night! The second was driven by a medic for Magen Dovid Adam, and the third was a van full of yeshiva boys from Sderot. They all stopped and – with great difficulty – got her out of the car, called police and ambulance. In short, they saved her life.

A few weeks ago, our family made a Seudas Hoda’ah[2] in Yerushalayim. We invited all these brave rescuers. The only one able to attend was the first young man, whose name, appropriately, is “Chai.”[3] He had one of those piled-up haircuts, with no yarmulka. Before the meal, we davened maariv[4]. Chai came running after us and asked to borrow a yarmulka. When it came to bentching[5], he put a napkin on his head (until someone stuck a hat on him).

Chai felt like one of the family. The next day, he wrote to Tehilla: “I have finally found a mishpacha[6]!” He is coming to them for Shabbos, and … this just in: Chai himself was in a serious accident last week! Miraculously, he survived.

I said above that Chai was “off the derech,” but in fact, on Route 3, he found the derech! And that is how it is: when we do acts of kindness we heal the entire world, including ourselves.

This week’s Torah Portion tells the story of the aigel[7], the smashing of the luchos[8] and the carving of a second set. This, my friends, is the story of life. We are all weak and vulnerable. It is easy to veer off the derech. The pressures are enormous and the world is filled with danger.

When the Tablets are smashed, it could have been “all over.” But it wasn’t all over. “Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Carve for yourself two stone Tablets like the first ones, and I shall inscribe on the Tablets the words that were on the first Tablets.” (Exodus 34:1)

This means that we now have to work! We have to carve out new Tablets, and that is not easy. But we will do it if we understand that our lives depend on it. And Hashem will write on those Tablets. He says to Moshe, “Be prepared in the morning…. Stand by Me.” (Exodus 34:2)

Morning is coming. If we stand by Hashem, we will see the Sunrise.

[1] “Derech” literally means “road”

[2] A “Seudas Hoda’ah” is a meal for the purpose of expressing thanks to G-d for a miracle.

[3] “Chai” means “life.”

[4] The evening prayer

[5] Blessing after the meal

[6] “Family”

[7] The Golden Calf

[8] The Two Tablets Hashem gave to Moses

Morning Star at daybreak

*          *          *          *

Roy Neuberger, author and public speaker, can be reached at roy@2020vision.co.il.

© Copyright 2019 by Roy S. Neuberger

Rabbi Winston – Parashas Ki Sisa

“And you, speak to the Children of Israel and say: ‘Only keep My Shabbosos! For it is a sign between Me and you for your generations, to know that I, God, make you holy.’” (Shemos 31:13) 

SHABBOS POPS UP a few times in the Torah, including in this week’s parsha. As Rashi explains, the halachah of Shabbos is juxtaposed with the building of the Mishkan, to teach that its construction does not override the laws of Shabbos. On Shabbos, all work on the Mishkan ceased.

Following the discussion about Shabbos begins the episode of the golden calf, the latter seemingly having nothing to do with the former. But, that is usually not the case in the Torah, and in this case, not likely, given the opinion that the Mishkan was God’s response to the golden calf. 

This is the link:

“And you, speak to the Children of Israel and say: ‘Only keep My Shabbosos! For it is a sign between Me and you for your generations, to know that I, God, make you holy.’” (Shemos 31:13)

For it is a sign between Me and you: It is a sign of distinction between us that I have chosen you, by granting you as an inheritance My day of rest for [your] rest … to know: [So that] the nations [should know] that I, God, sanctify you. (Rashi)

Why have we been commanded to observe Shabbos? The usual answer is, to remind us the God is Boss, and that all we accomplish the other six days of the week is because of His blessing. Shabbos reminds us that we owe EVERYTHING to Him.

The Torah’s answer in this week’s parsha is a little different. We keep Shabbos to make a statement to the rest of the world, that our holiness as a people is only because of God. We do not sanctify ourselves, but we are sanctified because God makes us holy. 

And how does God do this? Through Shabbos itself. The truth is, God does this through ALL the mitzvos, but Shabbos is a SUPER mitzvah. This is why the Talmud says that when a person properly keeps Shabbos, it’s as if they have fulfilled the ENTIRE Torah. Shabbos “synergizes” what what all the OTHER mitzvos accomplish only in part. 

On the outside, to someone who does not understand what mitzvos actually do, even if they already observe them, it seems like just a matter of doing what we are told. But Shabbos and mitzvos are about a lot more than this, and knowing what that “more” is means being able to access its potential advantage in life. 

A very basic analogy is like a person who is well connected to the President of a country. He may not work in a government office, and on the street, look just like everyone else around him. But there is one thing that makes him extremely unique and more powerful from the average person. It’s the phone in his pocket that connects him directly to the President, anywhere he goes and at any time. 

If this person gets in trouble, he has to make but one call, and his protection comes immediately. If he goes out to dinner and the restaurant is over-crowded, he just uses his phone, makes the call, and gets seated immediately. His phone is a portal to power, available for use at his bidding. 

Is it the phone that makes this person powerful? No. It is his relationship with the leader of the country. The phone is merely a portal to access that relationship, and to benefit from it. Without his close connection to the President of his country, his phone is just another communication device of the masses. 

What makes the mitzvos so powerful is the way they connect the person who performs them to God. Every time a person does a mitzvah the RIGHT way (as a mitzvah and halachically correct), a portal for Divine light and holiness opens up between God and the person. Automatically, a person’s level of kedushah—holiness—increases.

Shabbos is God’s once-a-week open door policy. You just have to come dressed for the occasion, physically AND spiritually. For the person who prepares for Shabbos, physically, emotionally, the door swings wide open and the holiness free flows from God to the person on the other side of it. To the extent to which the person is “there” for Shabbos, that is the extent to which they will be the recipient of unbelievable holiness and spiritual growth.

There’s no faking it, or duplicating it. Man has tried, but the eventual result has been pogroms, crusades, and suicide attacks. Life has many “doors,” but few lead to a holy destination if not prescribed by the Torah.

The golden calf made this point the strongest. The Erev Rav didn’t push atheism or agnosticism on the Jewish people. They pushed an alternative approach to religion on them, claiming that THESE were the gods that took them out of Egypt. They were claiming that holiness can also be manmade, and more advantageous when it is. 

The halachos of Shabbos follow the laws of the Mishkan, as Rashi explains, to emphasize that they do not get pushed off for the construction of the Mishkan. But, they precede the incident of the golden calf to tell us that kedushah can only come from God, and the way He says. Any other attempt is at best a forgery and, at worst, a golden calf. 

“Beresheet” in Parshas Ki Tisa (The Golden Calf)

This week we have the Israeli Election Parties Deadline for formation of said parties, and we have the SpaceX Launch of Israeli Lunar Lander. How auspicious the timing of these events.

Parasha Ki Tisa - Golden Calf




–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Parties must finalize and submit their slates to the Central Elections Committee by Thursday at 10PM timesofisrael

To the Moon! SpaceX to Launch Israeli Lunar Lander (and More) on Thursday Space.com
[link to video –– https://www.space.com/spacex-to-launch-israeli-moon-lander.html?jwsource=cl]

An artist's depiction of the Beresheet lander on the moon's surface

The lander, called "Beresheet" (in the beginning), will launch at 8:45 p.m. EST (0145 GMT, Feb. 22) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. You can watch the launch live on Space.com courtesy of SpaceX or directly through SpaceX's webcast page or on Facebook via the lander's creators.

Hungarian FM: Soros is the Problem [an expert defining of Liberalism in action]

[I’m posting this because the Hungarian FM describes a situation that he explains clearly and succinctly about what Liberalism is doing in Europe (also America). His thinking is remarkable and worthy of reading {and because of the linkage between Soros’s ‘vision’ and that of Lapid and Zandberg coalesce,) foretelling a danger for Israel.]

The Fight About Liberalism

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that the issue the Hungarian government has is with the views held by George Soros.

The Hungarian government has a problem with Hungarian-born American financier George Soros’s "vision for Hungary and Europe", not with his Jewish religion, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

“When we have a debate with George Soros, it has nothing to do with his religion,” Szijjarto said. “We don’t care about his religion. We care about his visions – and he has totally different visions about the future of Europe and the future of Hungary than we do.”

When Soros “went open with his debate” with the Hungarian government, “we had to react,” Szijjarto asserted.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accused of using antisemitic imagery and themes in his campaign against Soros, an accusation Szijjarto adamantly denies.

“Yes, we are in open conflict [with Soros], but it has nothing to do with the religion of any of us, it has to do with that vision. And whoever includes religion in this debate is representing an antisemitic approach, because we don’t care about his religion,” he said.

The Hungarian foreign minister was in Israel Tuesday to attend a summit of the Visegrad Group – Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. When Poland backed out over Israeli comments regarding Polish complicity in the Holocaust and Polish antisemitism, the formal summit was canceled, but the prime ministers of the other three countries came and held a joint meeting as well as bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Hungarian government, Szijjarto said, “can be really proud of our track record when it comes to the fight against antisemitism. We have announced a policy of zero tolerance against antisemitism. And in Hungary we are really proud of the fact that the biggest Jewish community in Central Europe lives in Hungary... if you will come to Budapest, you will see the vivid cultural life, you will see there is no need for guards with weapons standing around synagogues, or guards with weapons at Jewish cultural events.”

Who is Distorting the Holocaust

Regarding the disagreement with Israel about the narrative that will be presented at a Holocaust museum in Budapest under construction – and concern in Israel that it will try to equate horrors of Nazism to those of Communism – Szijjarto said that the prime ministers of both countries have set up teams to address the issue.

“For us, it is important to address the issue properly, to the satisfaction of all stakeholders,” he said. “It is being addressed.”

The Hungarian foreign minister said his country was not trying to equate Nazism with Communism, a type of “Holocaust distortion” that some observers say is taking place in parts of Eastern Europe.

“No, they were not the same,” he said. “Nazism was Nazism, and Communism was Communism. Both of them are terrible, and both of them caused suffering for millions and tens of millions. We need to address them one by one.”

Coining a New Phrase

As to criticism from some in Israel, such as Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg, that Jerusalem should not be forging such close ties with “illiberal” democracies in Europe, Szijjarto took issue with the term “illiberal democracy.”

He quoted Orban as saying that

“there is a very unfair and biased approach in Europe in this regard, because if the liberals do not win an election, then it is the whole country that is considered nondemocratic. In this sense it is illiberal, because it is not the liberals who will govern.” 

[See Liberalism Destroys the World]

Szijjarto termed it “unfair” that “when a conservative, Christian-Democratic, Center-Right party wins the elections, then all the liberal media jumps on it and says it is not a democracy, because the liberals did not win. But this is the decision of the people, and democracy is about respecting the decisions and the will of the people. And if the people voted in favor of us in two previous elections by a two-thirds majority, then this must be respected by everyone, even liberals.”

Source: JPost

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ALSO READ:

Beware of Sanders/Gantz and the allures of the left. Two-state solution means your sons died for nothing. arutzsheva

Why is Glick interfereing?

UPTICK IN TERROR EXPECTED: INCITING MORE TERRORISM Hamas: "Protect Al-Aqsa in any way” arutzsheva

Likud: Gantz and Lapid will usher in ‘leftist’ government ‘backed by Arabs’ timesofisrael. [One should realize that TOI has a leftist socialist news agenda.[

Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi - Liberalism & How It Destroys The World

Liberalism



Can A Person Really Change His Nature Or Only Suppress It?

UPDATE: Rabbi Mizrachi on Science, the Stars, the Three Parts to the Talmud

*I am posting an apology about this post. First, it was coded via google/blogspot/videos as a “PARTIAL” Video which was supposed to begin in the last 1/4 of the video, this was where Rabbi Mizrahi beautifully scientifically describes what appears to most people, as a “falling star” and then goes on to explain more about our solar system and then about the three part to the Talmud. Very interesting. However, even though i still see the coding, it did not do what I coded. Instead it began from the beginning. So Sorry.

The original name of his video is 

The Evil Inclination Grows According to the Spiritual Growth

* Ive been out of the loop over 8-10 days and only now getting back to myself, so I thought to correct this matter.

LIBERMAN: WANT JEWISH CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN? MOVE TO ISRAEL

Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beytenu Party, said on Tuesday that Jews who

“want their children and grandchildren to remain Jewish have only one choice: move to Israel as soon as possible.”

“A wave of antisemitism is sweeping the world and gaining momentum,” Liberman said in the statement. “Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar in the US Congress expresses support for the BDS movement and writes antisemitic tweets.”

Liberman’s comments came on Tuesday, almost 48 hours after Jewish and non-Jewish leaders across Israel and the US hastily responded to antisemitic comments by Omar, who tweeted that she believes AIPAC pays politicians to be pro-Israel.

The former defense minister said that Omar’s tweets are not isolated, but rather are part of a rising wave of antisemitic incidents around the world, and point to an increasing rate of assimilation.
“Neo-Nazi demonstrations with hundreds of participants take place in Budapest, Hungary, and the police don’t lift a finger,” he said. “Antisemitic slurs are hurled at Jews on the London Underground and on the Frankfurt high-speed train in Germany. In the heart of Paris, yellow paint was sprayed on a Jewish-owned restaurant and the word ‘Jude’ was written all over it.”

Specifically, he cited a 16% increase in antisemitic incidents in the UK and a 74% increase in France.

“Jews throughout the world and in Europe in particular, must draw conclusions from these antisemitic incidents,” Liberman said.


Minister: Anti-Semitism in France spreading like poison
arutzsheva
France's interior minister decries 'poison' of bigotry, notes 74% increase in anti-Semitic incidents in France in 2018 over previous year.
The number of anti-Semitic incidents in France surged in 2018, jumping a whopping 74% compared to the number in 2017, a senior French official said Monday night. France’s interior minister, Christophe Castaner, lamented Monday that anti-Jewish acts were becoming increasingly commonplace. “Anti-Semitism is spreading like poison,” Castaner said, warning that the surge of anti-Jewish acts constituted “an attack against hope.” The interior minister noted that the number of anti-Semitic acts reported in 2018 had jumped from 311 in 2017 to 541 – a 74% increase.

SWASTIKAS AND ANTI-SEMITIC GRAFFITI FOUND IN PARIS FOR 2ND TIME IN 3 DAYS
JPost.com

JUDEN!’ SPRAY PAINTED IN YELLOW ON WINDOW OF PARIS BAGEL SHOP
Jpost.com

TWENTY SWASTIKAS DISCOVERED DEFACING MURAL AT SYDNEY'S FAMED BONDI BEACH
JPost.com

JEWISH CEMETERY DESECRATED IN MANCHESTER
JPost.com

U.S. CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST: HITLER WAS 'FINE' IF HE HAD STAYED IN GERMANY
JPost.com


Neo-Nazi Budapest march reminiscent of dark days'
'Hate crimes, legislative attacks that are new anti-Semitism have spread, so is danger that anti-Semitism will turn into deadly terrorism.’

In the center of Budapest, Hungary, a mass march of inflamed neo-Nazis chanted anti-Semitic slogans using symbols and fascist posters. Despite protests and appeals by Jewish organizations around the world, the Hungarian authorities chose to ignore the traditional parade.

President of the Conference of Rabbis of Europe and rabbi of Moscow Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt responded by saying that the images of Budapest are unbearable and painful and remind us of the darkest chapters of the last century.the neo-Nazis attack Europe's freedom and values. "The indifference of the Hungarian authorities is shocking, and they must take into account the influence of such hate messages.” arutzsheva


Data of Labour anti-Semitism released
Jewish Labour MPs say party's admission of 673 complaints of anti-Semitism in the last 10 months 'incomplete,’

The storm of anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party is not subsiding, and the Jews in the party are furious. Party Secretary Jenny Formby said the party had received 673 complaints of anti-Semitic acts by its members in the past 10 months alone, revealing the figure after pressure from party MPs. According to her, 96 party members were suspended immediately from the party because of their behavior between April 2018 and January 2019, and 12 were expelled from the Labour ranks. arutzsheva