Parashas Ki Sissa

Our Parsha this Shabbos is Ki Sissa.The words 'Ki Sissa,' means "When you take a Census," and refers to the Half Shekel that was to be given by each person for the construction and upkeep of the Tabernacle.We should never count people or souls directly but rather use a coin or other object to count people so there will not be an 'Ain Horah ,' - ' An Evil Eye,' on the amount of people counted for Evil always tries to lessen Good and Good People. Our Rabbis tell us many reasons why it was half a shekel.Two Halves make a whole and this reminds us that no Jew must be an Island alone, but must stand together with their fellow Jew.It was also a relatively small amount and this allowed all to be able to contribute, rich and poor alike, and thus taught that what is important, is not how much one has , but with what love in heart one gives to the cause, and that each and every Jew has equal value in this World and that one must be humble and know that we are all the same in HaShem's Eyes, depending on how we behave and how we keep His Commandments.
We note that this was to be given to atone for our souls, yet up till now, no major Aveirah had yet been mentioned . Sadly one was about to come and is talked of in this Parsha, the 'Chait Ha Eigel,'the 'Sin of the golden calf.' Some of our Sages like Rashi say that this Command to give the half-shekel was given after the sin of the calf, but other sages say this was given before. 
Suffice it to say., HaShem Sees the future and Knew what we would do, yet Hoped we would not do that,for Free Choice is always given us and we can always change our destiny at any moment.HaShem Could have given us this Law of the Half-Shekel , so we would be able to atone for this terrible sin of the Chait Ha Eigel .How merciful and loving is HaShem , even when we wrong Him so deeply, for He Prepares a way before our wrong to help us fix it. The same was His Kindness in Making the solution to Adam and Chava leaving the Garden of Eden and us all thus ending up here, for HaShem there too Prepared the solution to this original Aveirah , before their Sin and this solution from HaShem is Mashiach. So Merciful is HaShem, if we could only make ourselves worthy.
Our Rabbis bring up another interesting thought,which so fits this time of Purim, for in the Megillah of Esther, we note that haman paid a certain amount into the royal treasuries for annihilating us Jews, and the amount of the Half Shekel that HaShem asked of us so many years before the Purim happening, matched it, even though HaShem had Asked us for this Half Shekel so many years before it even happened.How HaShem watches over us.
After the Commandment of the Half Shekel, which we Jews still keep today and give at this time of the Jewish Year,HaShem Commanded about the making of the Copper Laver - Kiyor for Sanctity (made from the Copper Mirrors that the Jewish Women used in mitzrayim,to beautify themselves for their husbands so that their husbands would come in tired from slavery and be with their wives so children could be conceived and the nation would continue to grow,in contrary to Pharaoh's attempts to try stop the growth of our Jewish people) , and then the making of the Holy Anointment Oil, where the one that Moshe organized, is still in the World today, hidden till Moshiach Comes, and this Holy Oil is not allowed to be replicated for any other purpose than HaShem Commands.
Then HaShem Commands Moshe about Miriam's relative, Betzalel son of Uri, son of Chur,from the Tribe of Yehudah, who will, at thirteen years old, do all the building of the Tabernacle and other things HaShem Commanded , for he would be able to see how the Heavenly Parts look, on which it will be modeled.He was to be helped by Oholiav , son of Ahisamach of the Tribe of Dan. Here again, HaShem Looks into the future , and Rewards the family of Chur, for his sacrifice of being killed when he tried to stop the airev rav building the golden calf.
HaShem then Teaches of the Shabbos and its Holiness to our people.
The Parsha then goes on with the tragic event of the Chait Ha Eigel.But what really happened here.
Moshe had said he would be gone for forty days and return. The date he was to return was on the Seventeenth of Tammuz, on which he came down with the Tablets, and saw the revelry around the golden calf and it was on this day, the 17th of Tammuz, that the Tablets were broken.This day is a Fast Day for us Jews.
Moshe , as I just mentioned , said he would be forty days. 
Down in the Camp, the Eirev Rav, the egyptian and other people that Moshe had brought with the Jews, started to agitate, that the fortieth day had arrived and Moshe was still not back.They had actually miscalculated, for Moshe had gone off at noon and that day was not counted , as the start of the day would be a full day from the coming evening, so they were incorrect.Satan had let the people see a physical manifestation of Moshe above the Mount, so some believed Moshe had passed.This was in reality, Moshe's Physicality, for Moshe had extended himself past the physical while being up there so long with HaShem. Chur,tried to calm them but they would not be calmed , and in their violence, they killed Chur. They then went to Aharon, complaining how they have to travel outside the Clouds of Glory and can't walk within the Camp of the Children of Israel.Aharon tried to calm their fervor, but they wouldn't listen and these 3000 airev rav got more violent and aggressive and persuasive in making doubt among the people. They demanded Aharon to make a Calf to lead them.Aharon asked for the Jewelry , hoping against hope that the people would not part with it and he might delay, for as he said,'A Festival for HaShem Tomorrow,' for he knew that Moshe would return and that he might delay them long enough. But to no avail, they demanded that the women hand over their earrings. The women refused, to give them for such an unholy cause and the women were rewarded in the end by reaching Eretz Yisroel and also having Rosh Chodesh in their honor , not to have to work on it. The Eirev Rav and now those who they had persuaded, tore the rings from the women's ears ,and brought it to Aharon and insisted he fashion it into a calf. He threw it into the fire without forming it, hoping it would melt, but the two sons of Bilaam (from the family of Lavan), Yanus and Yambrus , using the negative powers of Tum'a and with the help of a young man called Micha, whom Moshe had saved from being put in the wall in Egypt, threw into the furnace a scroll, that Moshe had used to raise Yosef from the Nile to take him out of Egypt, with the words on the scroll 'Alay Shor,' which meant ' Arise Ox,' (the word 'Ox' was a description that Yosef's Father Yaakov had used for Yosef in Yaakov's final Blessing to his sons as if to say that Yosef was steadfast in keeping Yiddishkeit even in a foreign land) and out of the furnace, a living Golden Calf emerged, bleating and walking. The Eirev Rav didn't stop there,for they made twelve other calves for each Tribe, and thus said to the Jews ' these are your gods (plural) oh Israel .' Some worshiped it,while others wanted to bring offerings to it and others just saw it as an intermediary Chas Ve Shalom .The Leviyim did not get involved as didn't the majority of the people.
While the Eirev Rav were sacrificing to the calf, HaShem was in the process of Writing the Ten Commandments on the Tablets. HaShem Became very angry and Said to Moshe to go down for his people had become corrupt. The reason HaShem Referred to them as Moshe's people, was in reference to the Eirev Rav - The Mixed Multitude, for HaShem Had Advised Moshe that they should not be brought along.Moshe ,being filled with compassion,felt sorry for them.HaShem said to Moshe that Moshe should leave HaShem's Presence so that HaShem Could Destroy the people in an instant and Make Moshe a great nation. This was a hint to Moshe not to leave so HaShem Would not Destroy us. True to form, Moshe humbly pleaded for the people and did not accept just for himself that HaShem Would only Bless him . Moshe pleaded and pleaded and only when mentioning the Patriarchs, did HaShem relent to a small extent.
Moshe descended with the Miraculous Tablets , within which the letters floated within and that read the same on both sides.On the way down, Moshe passed Joshua, who had faithfully waited for Moshe the whole forty days.When they reached the bottom and saw the people's revelry, Moshe was very angry and held up the Tablets, whose letters had now left the Tablets and risen back to HaShem , ready to smash them.The Elders tried to stop him, but Moshe was stronger .The Tablets were shattered at the foot of the Mountain.The calf was burned and ground into fine powder and sprinkled over the water and like an unfaithful spouse, became a drink like of the Sotah.The people were made to drink.
HaShem Agreed with the action of breaking the Tablets, for HaShem Knew that Moshe reasoned that the Tablets being received by the people, would be like a Marriage Contract , and if the people had not yet received it, they would not be judged so harshly.
Moshe questioned Aharon, who said that the gold was thrown into the fire and a calf just emerged.Aharon was punished by losing his two sons later on.He was to lose four of them, but Moshe's prayers saved the other two sons.Moshe again went to plead with HaShem for the people, even being prepared to sacrifice himself for them, but HaShen would not allow that.
HaShem said He would Send now his Angel to guide them and Moshe again pleaded that he would not want the people to leave till HaShem relented and led them Himself.
Moshe followed HaShem's example and pitched his tent 2000 amos from the Camp (The Shabbos limit ) and the people would rise when he spoke.Moshe then pleaded for HaShem's nearness and asked to understand HaShem Way of running the World.HaShem Showed Moshe a part of His Back, that was so powerful, it even shone through solid rock in the depths of a cave.For HaShem's Face may not be seen.
HaShem asked Moshe to take the Sapphire that miraculously appeared under Moshe's Tent and to carve two Stone Tablets and again, to come up the Mountain.It was on the 1st of Elul that Moshe went up again with the Second Tablets and HaShem Inscribed them again and also Taught Moshe the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, that we can say to HaShem to gain mercy and favor of forgiveness . Moshe again requests that HaShem Lead the people directly and not just an angel of HaShem.
HaShem Reminds us again near the end of this Parsha, against Avodah Zarah - Idol Worship and breaking the nations idols when coming into the land of Israel , the Festival of Matzos, the Laws of the Firstborn,the Holy Shabbos and the other Pilgrim Festivals of Shavuos and Succos and of Offerings and not to cook a kid in it's mothers milk and the Kashrus of Laws of our people.
Moshe came down from Har Sinai after again 40 days of not eating and drinking , with the Two Tablets ,and the date was the 10th of Tishrei, a day to be remembered for all time that HaShem Had Relented and forgiven us , the day that is Yom Kippur.
When Moshe came down, his face had become radiant and he had to cover his face.when not speaking Torah to them.Here, the Parsha of Ki Sissa ends.
HaShem is beyond Patient with us all and Constantly is Merciful with our Aveirahs, Continuing to Give us life and Hoping that we will change. It is so amazing how long HaShem Waits for us to be good.Even before we sin, HaShem in His Foresight and Mercy,prepares ways for us to Atone and fix what we do.The whole tragic event of the Chait Ha Eigel, teaches us the Love of HaShem and how , no matter what we do, we can always choose to return and do Teshuva and make up for the sins we do. It is never too late and we must never think ourselves so bad that we can't return to Him. HaShem Waits on us and Opens His Loving Arms to us every single morning, for us to just come back. If only we would.
The very fact that HaShem gave us such a small amount as Half a Shekel to contribute , to atone for our souls and that HaShem forgave the most grievous of Sins to Him, as the Chet ha Eigel, and instituted Yom Kippur, shows His Mercy and True Love for His Creation. No one is so Perfect that they never make a human mistake. It is what we do with it when we do,turning away from it and fixing it , never to repeat that Aveirah again, being truly sorry to HaShem. HaShem can always be reached. Without the need for intermediaries. HaShem awaits us to have a direct relationship with Him. He is our G-D and we are His Creation.
And if we live a life like Moshe did, not thinking of ourselves, but of our fellow people and work to lead them to the way of HaShem and love HaShem beyond ourselves, we then let our very souls radiate outwards toward the rest of Creation , and fulfill our very destinies for HaShem and count our lives as true living.
None of us are meant to be an Island. We are to work together with our fellow Jews (like the Half Shekel coming together with another Half Shekel to form a Whole ) and all of Creation , to make Creation into what HaShem Wants it to be , for our Good. We are all in Creation together and HaShem Created all.Let us all work together for HaShem .
With Love to HaShem, I wish HaShem with Love , a Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with Love and to all, a beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love.