Parashat Ki Tisa 5781
by HaRav Nachman Kahana
There is much to be learned not only from the texts of the parshiot, but even from their order of appearance.
The last five parshiot of Shemot are: Teruma, Tetzaveh, Ki Tisa, Vayak’hel and Pekudai.
Teruma and Tetzaveh deal with the Mishkan and its implements, parashat Ki Tisa interrupts the sequence and tells of the sinful, disastrous episode of the Egel HaZahav (the Golden Calf). The two final parshiot, Vayak’hel and Pekudai, return to the subject of the Mishkan and its implements.
Mishkan, Mishkan, episode of idolatry, and again Mikdash, Mikdash (mishkan and mikdash are inter-changeable terms) – what does it mean?
I submit:
The Torah, through the sequence of these five parshiot, is informing the Jewish people of the future that awaits us.
The instructions in parashat Teruma allude to the 479 years of the Mishkan before the Bet Hamikdash was established in Yerushalayim: 39 years in the desert, 14 years at Gilgal, 369 years at Shiloh, and 57 years in Nov and Givon.
Tetzaveh alludes to the 410 years of the Bet Hamikdash of King Shlomo on the Temple Mount in Yerushalayim.
The disastrous, sinful act of idolatry in parashat Ki Tisa alludes to the destruction of King Shlomo’s Bet Hamikdash for reasons of idolatry and the following 70 years of exile.
Parashat Vayak’hel alludes to the Bet Hamikdash built by Ezra and the Jews who returned with him from Babylon and Persia.
Parashat Pekudai alludes to the magnificent Bet HaMikdash built by Hordus (Herod).
The Temples of Ezra and Hordus stood for 420 years before being destroyed by the Romans. The closing of the Book of Shemot alludes to the destruction of the Temple of Hordus and the subsequent 2000-year exile of the Jewish people from our holy land.
The Book following Shemot is Vayikra, which deals in its entirety with the Bet Hamikdash and its service, alluding to the future renaissance of the Jewish people who will return home and build the third Bet Hamikdash.
The time we are living in is one of profound celebration for the beginning of our redemption and salvation. After 2000 years of unspeakable calamities which befell our nation, HaShem has recognized and honors the unflinching loyalty of His people and has returned us to our ancient holy land.
To remain true to the Torah even after the Shoah is worthy of the highest rewards by our Father in Heaven.
He has restored our sovereignty over a large part of Eretz Yisrael and over Yerushalayim.
He has protected us in times of war and has made us prosperous in times of peace. We are creating a Torah empire here the likes of which has not existed in the past 2000 years.
What is transpiring today in the lands of our enemies is a remarkable, miraculous sign of HaShem’s protective wing over His children in Eretz Yisrael.
In the Song at the Sea (Shirat Hayam, Shemot 15:7) the survivors sang:
וברב גאונך תהרס קמיך תשלח חרנך יאכלמו כקש
“With Your infinite genius You destroyed those who rose up against You. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like straw”
At first glance, one would think that instead of:
“With Your infinite genius You destroyed those who rose up against You”
the wording should be:
וברב כחך
With Your infinite strength You destroyed those who rose up against You
But indeed, “With Your infinite genius” is absolutely more accurate. Because it comes to describe how HaShem, in His infinite genius, time and again frustrates the diabolical plans of our enemies in ways which are totally unpredictable, and yet keeps the hidden presence of the Creator intact.
In keeping with this, just consider what is currently happening in our region so suddenly and unexpectedly.
The Arabs will be busy fighting each other for years to come. Sunnis vs. Shiites, and both against the Alawis. Arabs against Iranians. Libyans against each other. Christian Copts vs. Moslems in Egypt. Everyone against everyone in Lebanon and Syria. The Sunnis of Iraq against the Shiites of Iraq and all of them against the Kurds. The Turks against the Kurds, and the former Southern Moslem states of the USSR against Russia and against themselves. The flood of Arab refugees from North Africa into Europe. Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, Bahrain, Oman, Somalia and more.
And in the midst of all this, in the eye of the hurricane, stands the tiny State of Israel – prosperous and happy in the knowledge that HaShem has spread over us His holy cloud of protection, as in the time of our forefathers’ sojourn in the desert.
Indeed, the greatest of life’s experiences is to be a Jew living today in Eretz Yisrael.
The Christian Crusades (of the 21st Century?)
Why is the present American administration, in concert with major Christian countries of Western Europe, continuing the ways of the bad old Obama days? They are running amok to appease the deranged and despicable ayatollahs of Iran; the ones who shout “death to America” whenever a camera appears.
Yet these countries are like the proverbial dog in Mishlei 26,11:
ככלב שב על קאו כסיל שונה באולתו
As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.
They are returning to aid and abet Iran in its quest to produce nuclear bombs.
This brings to memory an incident that occurred here about ten years ago. I was walking to the Old City. At the Jaffa Gate there was a large group of people, obviously very American, lining up to enter. I approached one man and inquired as to who they are and what they represented? He explained that they were American Christians who came to ask forgiveness for what the Christians did to the Jews at the time of the Crusaders. I thanked him and made my way to the front of the line. I inquired as to who was the leader of the group, and man came forward and identified himself as pastor something or other. I then asked him: “Why are you asking our forgiveness for what your co-religionists did to us over 800 years ago, when they did much worse just 70 years ago? His reply was to turn his back to me and walk away.
I suddenly realized that forgiveness was the last thing on their minds. They were part of a campaign to arouse the collective memory of Christians to the ideals of the crusades to bring the Holy Land under Christian control.
This ambition has never left the Christian agenda just because Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn (Saladin) defeated them in the Battle of Hattin in the lower Galilee in 1187. That the Jews have returned home is a major blow to Christian replacement theology, whereby Christianity replaces Judaism as the chosen people. For 2000 years, history was on their side while we roamed the globe begging for a handout from the various nations. They believed we would never return to Eretz Yisrael, much less be sovereign over the land. And to add insult to injury, to be sovereign over Yerushalayim, including their “holy” places. Every day that we are here is one more punch to the solar plexus of Christianity.
I cannot know if the American Christian leaders ever sat in a closed room to plan out the strategy for replacing Medinat Yisrael with the 51st state of the U.S. or the 2nd state of the Vatican, but subconscious thoughts project onto decisions of man and direct his actions.
President Biden is the second Roman Catholic to ascend the office (the first was Jack Kennedy); Mr. Biden is a serious church-going Roman Catholic.
It might become revealed one day that these Christian countries conspired to bring Iran very close to developing a nuclear weapon in order that the State of Israel would implore them to come and save the Jewish State. The US, France, Germany, England and NATO will send tens of thousands of Christian soldiers here and de facto achieve what the Crusaders could not do, that is for Christian control of the Holy Land.
Me Yoday’ah – Who Knows?!
B Here JLMM – Jewish Lives Matter More
Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5781/2021 Nachman Kahana
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