Ki Tisa – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.

This Torah Portion( Ki Tisa) is very rich; it continues to tell us about the construction of the Tabernacle. Bezalel is appointed as the chef artist, and with great skill and wisdom he designed and made the sacred vessels for the Tabernacle.

The portion starts with the command to take a population census, a necessary step in creating national order and proper administration.

This week we read again about the importance of keeping the Sabbath. This commandment is mentioned from the beginning, in the story of creation, at the beginning of Genesis:

During the beginning of the Exodus, when the Children of Israel just went out of Egypt, they learned about the Sabbath from the heavenly bread of mana. God tells them to collect the mana during the week, but there will be no mana on the Sabbath. Then again, keeping the Sabbath appears in the ten commandments:

In our Ki Tisa, the Sabbath will become a symbol; a sign of the eternal covenant between the people of Israel and God.

Keeping the Sabbath is one of the most important commandments, and so Jewish literature is full of discussions and rulings about. The Sabbath is frequently mentioned in the New Testament as well, sometimes giving us a different prospective on the seventh day.

It’s good for us to know that there are different rulings about the Sabbath. Two rabbinical schools, Beit Hillel and Beit Shamai, differ from each other in their approach to the commandments.Hillel’s teachings are more open and tolerant, and Shamai’s are stricter and more legalistic.

Beit Shamai did not take into account the people’s ability to follow the ruling, while Hillel tried not to overload people without a good reason.

And what was Yeshua’s position?

Yeshua and the New Testament will often combine between the two. When looking at ourselves and our relationships with God, we better be strict and uncompromising. However, towards others, we should be understanding and give them the benefit of the doubt. As an example, let’s look at Yeshua’s famous saying:

Yeshua compares the shortcomings of one person with the similar shortcomings of his friends, and according to this saying, Yeshua says we should look at our own problems and issues as a big plank in the eye, that stands out. But the shortcomings of others must look to us as small and thin, as a speck.

Yeshua teaches us to be strict towards ourselves, but forgiving and understanding towards others. Let’s look back to the Sabbath ruling in the New Testament. In Mathew, chapter 12, Yeshua is asked the following question:

This question comes as a test; what will Yeshua say, what will his answer be?

According to Yeshua, there is a list of priorities. People come before the Sabbath because the Sabbath is given to men; not that man was created in order to keep the Sabbath.

So according to Yeshua, people are more important than the Sabbath, and if we can help a person, or heal a man on Sabbath, we should do it. And that is why Yeshua is healing people on Sabbath, contrary to the view of some of the sages in his days.

This example seems to support the view that the Pharisees and Yeshua are opposites, or even bitter enemies. This view is inaccurate, and even wrong. Among the different groups of Judaism, the Pharisees were the closest to Yeshua and because they were very close, Yeshua is criticizing them the most, because he has greater expectations from them.

Apostle Paul even testifies about himself in Acts chapter 23 (v.6), that he is a

“But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”

Paul doesn’t say, “I was”, but “I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee.”

When we read the New Testament, we see that Yeshua is very close with the Pharisees:

Even more so, Yeshua commands his disciples to observe the Rabbinical rulings, but then immediately he criticizes them in a most harsh way, as we see it in Mathew 23:1-3.

In this saying, Yeshua acknowledges the right of scribes and Pharisees to interpret the Torah, and to make legal halachic rulings for the entire Jewish nation, including Yeshua’s disciples.

But, after establishing the status of the sages, Yeshua accuses them of chasing after honor and power; accusing them of hypocrisy when they do not obey the Torah themselves. They talk, but do not follow.

The obvious tension between Yeshua and the Pharisees in the New Testament is based on a deep internal disagreement of someone who comes from within, in order to fix and repair. Not as an enemy, who comes to destroy.

In a similar way, the Prophets are filled with criticism towards Israel’s leadership and people. The people of Israel did not like it, and were often hostile towards them and their efforts. However, in the aftermath, we know that the prophets wanted the best for their people. We must see and understand the words of Yeshua in the same way.

Is there anyone who thinks that the Pharisees, in the days of Yeshua, were more hypocrites, more corrupt, or loved power and authority more than other religious leaders in Judaism or Christianity through history? The answer must be: “No!”

You cannot find a group of people through history, including all kinds of Christian denominations and all kinds of sects in Judaism, that is entirely pure and incorruptible. I consider the Messianic Jews, a group within Judaism. Most likely, Yeshua would be critical towards us today, and his criticism could be much harsher.

The Pharisees were the most faithful and dedicated group of people to Torah at the time of Yeshua, and because of that, they were under a magnifying glass, and Yeshua’s criticism was focused on them.

Are we, as a nation, free from the criticism? Of course not! The central and the most difficult story in our Torah Portion is the making of the golden calf, and the stone tablets of the covenant, broken by Moses.

The golden calf became an international symbol of sin and rebellion against God, almost in the same way as the apple from the garden of Eden.

What did actually happen there? Moses ascended to Mt. Sinai for 40 days; a month and a-half. There was no sign and no message from him. The Israelites began to ask, what happened to Moses?It is easy for us to judge the children of Israel, to ask how could they?

I am not trying to justify their sin, but 40 days have passed, and their leader, who went up to meet with God, is not coming back. It is written that Moses was delayed. They are probably asking themselves, what to do. Moses is gone and he did not come back; what shall we do now?

Shall we get up and go? Shall we continue our journey, or wait longer? How long shall we wait? Another week, another month, a year?

The children of Israel sinned. They built a new god. They build the golden calf.Their actions cut short the meeting between Moses and God and God is sending Moses down from the mountain, because the people have sinned and became corrupted.

As a result of this sin, God wants to destroy the nation, to destroy Israel, and start a new nation from Moses.But Moses, like Abraham, stands before God and he says to Him: You took this nation from Egypt, with your mighty hand and outstretched arm, with glory, so that all will see and know that there is only one God – the God of Abraham, Isaak and Jacob.

But, if you will destroy these people in the wilderness, what will the other nations think? That you took Israel out of slavery only to destroy them in the wilderness?

Moses goes on, asking the Lord to spare the people, even if not for their own sake, then for the sake of their fathers, for the sake of the promises given to Abraham, Isaak and Jacob. And Moses succeeds in convincing God.

This is an incredibly powerful verse of the Torah. I don’t think we are able to comprehend the greatness of the situation. The Torah calls us, humans, flesh and blood, to have a dialog with God. The Torah tells us that we have the power and the ability to change and to fix the world; we can talk to God and even change his mind.

And before you say that this right was given to Moses alone, I will tell you that there are other examples in the Bible, when fasting and prayer appeased God. In the book of Jonah, we read that when the people of Nineveh fasted and repented, God change his mind and spared the city. Nineveh wasn’t destroyed, as the Lord initially intended. (Jonah 3:5)

One of Yeshua’s parables in the New Testament, speaks of the widow and the judge; it appears in Luke, chapter 18.

In this parable, Yeshua tells us about a poor and lonely widow, who was mistreated. In order to get justice, she turns to the judge, asking him for help over and over again.

At the beginning, the judge turns her away, her story does not touch him, he does not feel compassion or care about her justice.But eventually, even that judge broke. He took the case and granted justice to the widow.

What caused the judge to do it? It was not pity or mercy, neither was it the fear of God. The judge from Yeshua’s parable admits that the only thing that caused him to get justice for the poor widow, is her persistency. It was her none-stop pleading and endless asking, that achieved her requests.

The judge understood, that if he wants her to stop and leave him alone, he better take care of her case. Otherwise, she will keep coming back every day, asking for justice. It was easier for him take care of her case and be free of her. The judge got tired of that old nag.

Yeshua is teaching us through this parable, that when we are consistent in our prayers, we will, eventually, receive the answer.If that judge answered the widow, how much more will the Lord answer those asking him.

To be constant in our prayers means to continue praying, to plead with God and do not stop, until we get the answer. As is written at the beginning of the parable:

Isaiah writes (chapter 62):

And then:

These verses tell us to always pray for Jerusalem, to always speak of Jerusalem; until her righteousness and her salvation will be seen by all. This is our job as believers.

God’s faithful, those who pray to Him, are the guards on the walls of Jerusalem. And they, or us, cannot be silent; not by day, nor by night.

There are two important points here:One: towards God, we must be persistent in our prayers, do not give him rest. Remind him of his promises and his prophesies about the salvation of Israel and Jerusalem.

The second point is our obligation to break down the circle of lies that are spread about Israel, and to spread the truth instead; that justice and righteousness are on our side.

While acting on both of these points, we need to be persistent, to pray over and over again, and do not stop till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.

We learn this from Yeshua’s parable and teaching: