Parshat Ki Tisa - The Right To Be Wrong
In this week's parsha we read about the building of the Golden Calf. This unfortunate event was the cause of so much division and suffering in the lives of the Israelites. By losing our connection with HaShem, we lost our connection with each other.
All HaShem wants is for us to want to connect, and because of our destructive behavior HaShem told Moshe that Israel would be destroyed, and HaShem would rebuild from Moshe.
Moshe Rabbeinu, our Rabbi, our teacher, challenged God and said "HaShem, if you destroy the people, then take me out of your book!". That is, Moshe told HaShem that he was not interested in being connected to a God that would destroy his children, even after the biggest mistakes.
At that point, HaShem not only forgives the Israelites for the Golden Calf, but also teaches us about being merciful. We all do the wrong things sometimes, but it is what we do after that is most important. Do we give up or do we get up and try again?
In this parsha, Moshe teaches us all that it is okay to be wrong and to make mistakes. He also teaches us that the most important thing is to remember that we all make mistakes and that we should not only always get up and try again, but we should but we should try and help each other always get back up again, because that is the right thing to do.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think HaShem wanted to start over after the Israelites made the mistake of the Golden Calf?
2. If HaShem told you that everyone else had made a huge mistake and everyone would be destroyed except you, how do you think you would react?
3. Have you every made a mistake and tried again? Why did you try again?
Discussion & Answers from last week:
1. What are three different "uniforms" that you wear during the week?
In the morning I wear Tallit and Tefillin for tefillah, I wear a button-down collar shirt every day for work, I wear pyjamas at night, and I wear a suit on Shabbat. (That was 5. Oops.)
2. Why do you think it is important to change your clothes for different activities?
The way we dress affects the way we can function. My suit, while comfortable to wear during the day, would not be comfortable to wear to bed; it would be too limiting. Every type of clothing has a different purpose and works differently and lets us define the kind of person we want to be and how well we can perform in different situations.
3. Have you every judged someone based on the way they were dressed? Why did you judge them the way you did?
Of course I have judged people based on looks, and sometimes that is wrong and sometimes it is correct. When I go into a restaurant or a store, I look for a person in uniform if I have any questions. Their uniform lets me know that they are the right person to ask. I have also made mistakes though. I have seen someone dressed in 'shleppy' clothes and thought that maybe they weren't so educated, or someone in a suit and thought they were successful, but found out after that the person in 'shleppy' clothes was a great Rabbi and teacher who was doing yard work, and that the person in a suit had just come from a job interview and the suit was borrowed. The context of the clothing is very important to understanding what it is showing us about the person wearing those clothes.
