Ki Tisa / Parah

A lot happens in our Parshah this week! It begins with laws regarding “Machatzit Hashekel”, the half shekel, which was collected from each person once a year, as a means of census for the nation.The Parshah continues with instructions about building the washing basin, which would be used by the Kohanim in the Mishkan; the anointment oil, which Moshe would use to sanctify the Mishkan, its vessels, and the Kohanim; and the incense mixture.

The bulk of the rest of the Parshah is taken up by one of the most perplexing episodes in the Torah, the sin of the golden calf. How could the People of Israel have fallen so far, so fast, after just a short while ago witnessing the revelation at Sinai, and the great miracles of their exodus from Egypt? Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that the mistake that the People of Israel made was assuming that they needed an intermediary to represent them to God. Quoting the verse, “Make us gods which shall go before us, for this man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him,” Hirsch shows that the golden calf was not an attempt to replace God, but a plan to substitute for Moshe. In Hirsch’s words, “They had not completely and clearly absorbed the Jewish conception that man has free access directly to God, without the necessity of any intermediary, and that the one and only necessary condition is acting in obedience to the behests of God.”

We also read a special Maftir today, Parshat Parah, which discusses the purification process one would undergo through the use of the ashes of the red heifer. It is read in the weeks leading up to Pesach as a reminder that Pesach is coming and that we once had to purify ourselves in order to partake of the Paschal sacrifice. Today, it serves as a reminder to prepare ourselves, physically and spiritually for the upcoming holiday of redemption.