#KiTisa #GoldenCalf #TenCommandments
Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum of Hebron talks about this week's Torah portion of Ki Tisa and how the broken tablets can be used to inspire us today.
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This Shabbat, the Jewish nation falls from the great grandeur of Mount Sinai, where God personally reveals himself to the Jewish people, to the terrible, horrific downfall of the Golden Calf.
Moshe is so upset that he breaks the Luchot, the two tablets if the ten Commandments.
Hashem is determined to destroy the Jewish nation and he promises Moshe a personal reconciliation.
“I'll give you a different nation. I'll give you a different people. I'll give you an alternative nation that will be able to replace the Jewish people who have sinned and gone astray.”
And Moses refuses. Without the Jewish people, he says, I'm worthless.
If the Jewish people are destroyed, then wipe me out from your book. I want no part of the Torah.
And Moses beseeches God. And he prays and prays even though the Jewish people had sinned.
At the climax of his prayer he says "remember Hashem, remember what you promised to your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You promised them their descendants will be as great as the stars in heaven, that you give to their descendants this land, the promised land. And therefore in the merit of the forefathers, please don't destroy the Jewish people. Please have compassion upon your nation.”
And the Torah says once Moses evoked the merit of the forefathers and the promise God had made, God regretted the punishment that he had in mind to do to the people.
Sometimes when the Jewish people are stuck, they always have one special secret weapon. That's called the Zehut Avot, the merit of the forefathers, who are buried in Hebron.
When we evoke and awaken that merit, God automatically is filled with mercy and compassion, no matter how bad our sins are, and brings us forgiveness for our sins and our mistakes.
We should be privileged to take all the broken tablets from this Shabbat and make the nation whole once again and bring the ultimate Teshuva MeAhava, teshuva from love.
