This week’s Torah portion is Ki Tisa: Exodus 30:11 — 34:35
This week’s Torah portion is Ki Tisa, which is about how the Israelites donate to building God’s Mishkan, which was like a synagogue in the desert. Another key event is the golden calf, when the Israelites disobey God and try to make an idol to worship.
One theme that I noticed in the Torah portion is the holiness and uniqueness of God. This theme appears frequently in the Torah overall because there is nothing, and no one, like God — He is the creator of everything and the Almighty. The Shema states that God is one.
This means that nobody and nothing can ever be like Him. As Maimonides, a famous Jewish philosopher, wrote: “He is singular in such a way that there exists no singularity like Him in this universe” (quoted by Rabbi Tzi Freeman of Chabad).
In this week’s Torah portion, the Israelites make holy spices which will be used to make the Mishkan itself, and all the important items that were in the Mishkan, holy. This spice mixture is one of a kind and should never be copied. As it says in Exodus 30:32: “You must not make anything like it in the same proportions; it is sacred.” The Torah says that the spices should never be used for other purposes because they are very holy and unique, just like God. They can only be made by someone from the family chosen to make them. The spices reminded the Israelites how anything God commands them to make, even if it doesn’t seem holy at first, will be very holy, because it was commanded by God.
Speaking about commandments, in this week’s Torah portion, we also learn the story of the golden calf. God is so unique, and He trusts that who He chose to be His people are indeed the right people. But in this story, Moses goes up Mount Sinai to retrieve the Ten Commandments, and while Moses is gone, the Israelites get skeptical and think God is a fake. This leads them to make their own “God” by melting down their gold earrings into a golden calf. After Moses comes down from Mount Sinai, he is so angry about the golden calf that he throws down the Ten Commandments, shattering them. God is also very angry and threatens to destroy the Israelites, saying: “Now, let Me be, that My anger may blaze forth against them and that I may destroy them.” (Exodus 30:10)
Moses talks to God and gets Him to calm down a bit. This leads God to let Moses go back up the mountain and retrieve a second set of the Ten Commandments. Some people would be very surprised that God has given the Israelites a second chance. We can learn from the incident of the golden calf about the uniqueness of God because God gave the Israelites a second chance, unlike what most people would do. The Israelites betrayed God, but God forgave them, showing them that God is singular and has abilities beyond human comprehension for everything, including forgiveness.
Every night I say the Shema, reminding myself that God is unique and special. This particular story about the golden calf relates to my life because whenever I make mistakes, people forgive me and show me mercy, just like what God did in this story. We are all human and make mistakes. We should forgive each other for the mistakes we make. Nobody is perfect except for God, and God is one. ■
Elan Turkel is a seventh-grade student at Krieger Schechter Day School.
