Dear BSO Congregant,

This coming Shabbat, March 12 -13, 2004 - Adar 20, 5764, we will read Parshat Keee Tissa (annual cycle - Exodus 30:11 -34:35; triennial cycle - Exodus 33:12 - 34:35). This Shabbat is also called Shabbat Parah because we read a special maftir aliyah (Numbers 19:1-22) which command us to sacrifice a parah adumah - a red heifer whose ashes were used the purification ritual so that all could partake and share in the Passover sacrifice. Therefore we always read this portion on a Shabbat after Purim and prior to Passover.

The Haftarah is from Ezekiel 36:16-38 and is special for Shabbat Parah.

This is also the third of the "arba parshiot - the four portions" which are added to the regular Torah readings, (two) before Purim and (two) before Passover.

In this week’s Torah portion of Kee Tisa we read a critical and well-known biblical story – “The Story of the Golden Calf.” This story reminds us of the Israelites’ strong and immediate desire to see God. A Golden Calf becomes an idol which is worshiped. It becomes our history’s most extreme case of inappropriate worship of God.

Once Moses comes down from Mount Sinai and after he actually sees the Israelites worshiping the golden calf, Moses becomes so angry that he breaks the tablets which have been inscribed by “the finger of God.” Most often, our anger reflects something in ourselves about which we are angry. Moses may have been angry that he didn’t succeed in teaching the people enough about God to prevent this abhorrent form of worship. So the Torah portion tells us that Moses tries again. And then in Exodus 34, the so-called “13 attributes” of God are presented to Moses in verses 6-7:

“…The Lord! The Lord! A God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving inequity, transgression and sin; yet….”

These Biblical verses are very familiar. We sing them with passion throughout the day of Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement, and we chant them on other festivals as well.

We chant these verses throughout Yom Kippur to remind us that just as these verses contained the lesson which Moses needed to learn after the sin of the golden calf, so we need to learn the same lesson and be reminded of it throughout Yom Kippur as we atone for sins committed during the past year. We plead with God, “Our ancestors built a golden calf instead of worshiping You. But You forgave them, even when their leader, Moses, was so angry he shattered Your tablets of law into small tiny pieces. So please forgive us also, God. Be hanun v’rahum – be gracious and merciful. Let us accept your tablets and Your Torah once again as You allowed Moses to present them a second time to our ancestors.”

This is how I understand the story of the golden calf as being part of the story of our people each and every year of our lives. We not only read about it when we come to this Torah portion of Kee Tisa - we live it throughout the year, and it is brought to a climax when we (selectively) quote from this story to ourselves and in God’s presence on Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – the holiest day of the year.

And, there is probably at least a hint of the most important lesson we learn from the incident of the golden calf at the beginning of every weekday evening service. Come to minyan on any week night and you will hear the service begin, not with Barchu, but rather with Psalms 78:38 and 20:10 – “V’Hoo Rahum …God, being merciful, grants atonement for sin and is not destroyed. Time and again God restrains wrath, refuses to let rage be all-consuming. Save us, Lord. Answer us, O King, when we call.” (Page 201 in Siddur Sim Shalom.)

Why is this placed at the beginning of the evening weekday service? On any given day of the week is it possible that we may have done something sinful, that we may have performed an inappropriate act during the course of any given day? Yes, I would think so. While most of our acts are probably appropriate and, even in many cases mitzvot, it is quite possible that during the course of the day we might say or do something we wish we hadn’t said or done.

Now it is time to daven the evening service. I am ready to end my day. If I take God seriously, I think about my day, and my relationship with God. And, if I’m honest, I may spend a little time considering where during the day I may have missed the mark and committed an act which may be similar (but not as extreme) to worshiping the golden calf. And so, our siddur commands us to start our evening service with the words - “V’Hoo Rahum … – God is the merciful One….” It is, in essence, a two sentence recap of the story of the golden calf which reminds us of God’s forgiveness and mercy.

At the end of the day we remember that just as God pronounced God’s graciousness and mercy to our ancestors after they built and worshiped the golden calf, so we can turn to God in God’s graciousness and mercy after constructing and worshiping the many golden calves which tempt us on any given day.

Let us strive to be like Moses. But, instead of breaking the tablets, let us break up our day, accumulate all of its pieces, reconstruct them, remodel them, rework them, and learn from them as we await the beginning of the new, and hopefully better, day which will follow.

Candle lighting time is 5:53 PM.

Our Friday night service will begin at 7:30 PM.

Our Shabbat morning service will begin at 9:00 AM. We will celebrate the B'nai Mitzvah of Joshua Gale & David Wasserman. Mazel Tov!

Our Shabbat Minha service will begin at 5:30 PM. We will celebrate the B'nai Mitzvah of Matthew Osborne. Mazel Tov!

Our service on Sunday morning, March 14 will begin at 8:45 AM.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Philip Pohl