Latest / A Thought for the Week / Ki Tisa: The Key Word

Transcript

Ki Tisa: The Key Word · A Thought for the Week

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome to a Thought for the Week, a Torah in
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Motion podcast. I'm Jake Hellman, founding director of Torah in Motion,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and it's a pleasure to have you here with us.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: This week's podcast is sponsored by fran Schiffrin, an observant
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of the recent jord say of her father Jack Noovitz
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: ya Alko have been David Zel, may his nashama havan aaliyah,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: and may we be blessed with good health and long life.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: The Bible is the foundational book of Judaism, of all
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: monotheistic religions, and in many ways of civilization itself. It
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: is for traditional Jews the word of God. Yet at
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: least on a practical level, it is not the most
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: important book of Judaism. If one lived according to what
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: it says in the Bible, it would have very little
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: in common with the way we practice our Judaism today.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: We would have no idea how to keep shabat the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: laws of cashrut. We wouldn't even know how to make matsa,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: or we would have no idea that want us to
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: blow a chauffeur on Russiashana. We wouldn't know what to
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: write on a mezusa or what is a mazusa. We
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: would be stoning people left and right, poking out people's eyes,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: doing all kinds of things that we do not do,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and we're not supposed to do, and we're never meant
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: to do. It is the aura law, the Torrischablpah that
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: explains the Torah, interprets it, and it is by its
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: explanations and interpretations that we live so much so that
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the tongue would go so far as to say our
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: covenants with God is specifically due to the aura. Lamarain
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: get in sixty B says Lokar cut his sparklet breeding Israel.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: God made his covenant with Israel Labi shield durham God
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: only made his covenant with Israel only because of the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: aura lawdvarim al And he quotes a verse from this
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: week's Barshak Tisai alpi hadima ala. It's because I'll pee,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I'll pair with the mouth Hamel, these mouth things, so
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: to speak, kar rati ita breath bet Israel, I made
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: with you a covenant and the Jewish people. So it
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: is because of the varim hala pi ha varim. The
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: bur also in the Taways means to speak very often
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: by dabar the varim often in speak. But of course
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: i'll pie had Ram. Now, if you take a look
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: at the kamara inside, you will notice that the tamud
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: only quotes the second half of the verse. I just
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: quoted you only one half of the verse. That's the
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: relevant part of the verse that allows Raban to claim
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: that the covenant with God and Jewish people is based
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: only because of the or A law. But if you
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: read the first half of the verse, and there's no
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: doubt that our talmudik stage is assumed that anybody who
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: is learning this is conversant and knows the Torah very well.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: So you will see something that the first half of
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the verse seems to absolutely contradict what Revokhana is saying.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: The first half of the verse is vayo marshama Moosha.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: God said to Mosha katov lecha at ramler write for
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: you these things kio piavremela. Because of these things that
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: you're going to write down cartiek embritati Israel. You have
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: to write it down because this is going to be
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: the sign of our covenant. So God tells Mosha to
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: write down this word, this is the covenant that God
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: has made with the Jewish people. And the verse begins,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Kadov write these things because it's these things that are
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: written down that I made for you a evenant. So
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: how in the world did the sages get off this
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: idea that it's referring to the oral law. So the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: biblical word key has many meanings. We often read it
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: as because, which is how it seems to read. Here,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: write this down, because this is the covenant that I made.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: The word key you know, because if you know key,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: if this something happens when when you keyl arts when
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: you come to the land, and sometimes means despite rather
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: not this, but that. And we have many examples of
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: all these in the Torah, and our sages are clearly
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: adding an additional layer of meaning. They're interpreting the word
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: key as despite rather write this down key, I'll be
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: even though despite the fact that the main part of
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: the tours oral, I still want you to write it down.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: We need a toa even though the the main part
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: is the torishibel path. Just to show you another example
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: where the word key I can and does mean both
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: because and despite now that we celebrated pouring recording this
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: day after pouring pessach is around the corner. And of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: course the main goal of pessof the main teaching. The
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: reason we had to be slaves in Egypt was to
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: teach us not to mistreat slaves. And over and over
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and over the Tori tells us don't mistreat. In many forms,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: key gave remat to embarrass merum, and it's normally translated
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: because you were slaves inland of Egypt, you know what
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: it's like to suffer. Don't make others suffer. But it
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: can also mean despite very often people who suffer say,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: you know, if I went through it, you can go
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: through it too. So Tore says, despite the fact that
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: you were mistreating your game, don't do it other people.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I think it's a beautiful idea where both explanations of
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the word are true. So we have that same idea
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: here that the Revohanan is clearly interpreting the word key
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: despite the fact that it is okay. We have a torch,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: which represents the divine, divine revelation, so to speak directly
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: or through Mosha, and then we have the torche bel path,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: which allows us to observe what's written in the torch
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Now this verse appears in the immediate aftermath of the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: sin of the Golden cap, which is, you know, when
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: people think of Parsia kakisa, that stuff on the mish com.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: But the way, you know, it's much easier to focus
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: and speak about, of course, the sin of the Great Agel.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: And basically what the verse is saying is that there
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: was a new covenant. Right Cau was going to destroy
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: the Jewish people and Mosha so to speak, not so
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: to speak, that's what it says in the Torah. He
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: convinced God to re establish the covenant with the Jewish people.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: And that's of course the basis of Young Kipper. That's
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: when it happened, That's when the tour was regiven, and
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: that's why we have Young Kipper every year. Now, this
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: has to be for some reason that this verse follows
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: immediately on that first okay, and contextually it's talking about
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: the covenant, but the idea of deriving the aural law.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: So it must be that there is a connection between
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the Golden Calf and the aural law. And what I
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: would like to suggest is that what was the sin
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: of the Golden Calf, And there's much to speak about
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: but basically the Jewish people miscalculated when Mosha was going
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: to come down from the mountain, and the Jewish people
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: thought he died. He's not coming back. And the Jewish
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: people's connection to God, to Torah, to everything was only
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: through Mosha. If Mosha is not here, there is no Torah.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: And of course the message that we had to learn,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and perhaps why God wanted us to learn and call
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that Mosha for forty days, is that it's not dependent
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: on Mosha. The tour is not dependent them and all
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: it's independent the Mosha. And of course Mosha had the
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: spear and say for advarium all the time, He's going
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: to die, and what's going to happen after you? You
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: guys are going to sin? And of course the idea
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: is that the Torah exists independent of Mosha. And we
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: don't follow it because of who said it. We follow
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: because of what is said, not who gave it to us.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: But what's in the Torah leaving out God for that,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: of course we say because God gave it, but it's
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: not dependent on any one person. This, of course is
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the message of Pourim that pouring everything is hidden esterire
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: last year, we all know you have to read between
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the lines, you know, the surface story and what's going
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: on is That's why they are can be very different.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: That's why there's so many interpretations. What is the point
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: of the story. And the main missing person in the
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: mcgilla is not Mosha but God. God's name of course
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: does not appear in the McGill. And of course the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: message of migey let us there is even when God
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: doesn't appear, he's behind the scenes. That's the way we've
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: been living for the last twenty five hundred years. It's
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: not a coincidence that our rabbis teach us that I'm
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: pouring and only I'm pouringm The Jewish people accepted the
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Torah willingly. So the Madish Tankuma asked, what do you
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: mean what happened to us of an Ishma the Jewish
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: we all know thought in kindergarten. The Jewish people said,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: of course, we'll do, we will listen. So that meets
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: rush Tankuma to me on Parsian. Noah says, yeah, that
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: was by the writ, the law and what God said. Okay,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: they appeared him on side that God revealed themselves. Okay,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: they're going to accept it. The auralle what the rabbis
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: make up. It means this and that that's not. We
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: can't accept that, and they needed, as it almost says,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: a mountain over their head to accept it. It was
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: only a pooring that they finally accepted the aura law
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: willingly and the orala. Of course, the text plays a
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: minor part. The Torah is a very small book. You
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: can read it in ten to fifteen hours. With the
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: entire fight book to the Torah detarabalpe, you need five
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: hundred years and you won't read everything. So even when
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: God no longer speaks to us directly, he's behind the scenes.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: And that, of course is the message of Agel, the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: message of Porium, and the message of Jewish life for
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: the last twenty five hundred years. The task of the
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Jewish people is to carry out the will of God
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: as we understand it, as we interpret it, even if
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: we do not feel the acute presence of God. May
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: we merit to do such. Chebat shalom. We hope you
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: enjoyed a thought for the week at Torrah in Motion podcast.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: If you found it meaningful, please share it with a friend.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: We will love to hear your comments feedback. Both positive
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: and negative at podcasts at torrentmotion dot org, and please
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: rate and review this podcast on your favorite podcast. If
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: you'd like to party with us and spread word throughout
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the world, please visit tore InMotion dot org. Slash Tony
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: thank you very much, looking forward to learning with you
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: next week.