Parashas Ki Sissa Parashas Parah

Our Parsha this Shabbos is Parashas Ki Sissa and also this Shabbos is Parashas Parah so the Maftir is Bamidbar 19:1-22 and the Haftorah is for Parashas Parah Yechezkel Ezekiel 36:16-38 , seeing as this is the next specific Shabbos of the four special Shabbos before Pesach . We read Parashas Parah about the Parah Aduma the Red Cow , which deals with purification at this time , for in times of old , people needed to purify themselves , before coming to Yerushalaim for the coming Pilgrim Festival of Passover .
In the previous Parsha , the Incense Altar was Instructed , so we start this Parsha of Ki Sissa , with continuing of the Instructions of what is necessary for the Tent of Meeting . 
HaShem Instructs Moshe that when he takes a census of the Children of Israel , " Ki Sissa " each is to give a half a shekel , when counting them , so that there be no plague among them when counting them . We know from of old , that we are not to count Jews directly , but rather to use objects or verses from Psalms when numbering , for Satan , accounts everyone's sins and when Jews count Jews directly , they are highlighted for the Aveirahs they do and Satan brings their Aveirahs before the Heavenly Court and calls upon HaShem's Attribute Of Justice to come to the fore , and for HaShem's Attribute Of Mercy , To Stand Back . So we make sure to never count Jews directly , but rather use objects or something else in the counting . We saw the effects of the plague in Dovid Ha Melech's time , when he counted the people ( misunderstanding the Torah Verse here when he had the people counted ) and by Torah Depth , instituted the pronouncing of a hundred Blessings every day , that we need to do , which stayed the Plague . In Dovid Ha Melech's time , 70 000 people died in that Plague . The Evil Eye , when we show how many we are , is watching and waiting to do negativity , thus counting of our people , must not ever be direct . Our Sages believe that when the nations saw us receiving the Torah , some cast an eye of jealousy and this brought negativity , which as we know resulted in the Tablets , that were first given amid open celebration , being shattered . So the Second Tablets were given more quietly ( Yalkut MeAm Loez ) . Thus HaShem Had us use half a Shekel in the counting . Wealthy and poor alike , were to give half a Shekel to atone for their souls and to be given for the work of the Tent Of Meeting and as a remembrance before HaShem for the Children of Israel , to atone for our souls . How interesting to note that it was half a Shekel , for it would thus take two Jews to make a single full Shekel , which shows that no Jew is an Island , but must always be together with his or her fellow Jew religiously to make the whole . We need our fellow Jews to help lift us up and better ourselves and all of us as a nation must be one as a nation , and with HaShem's Mitzvos .
HaShem Then Instructed on the making of the copper " Kiyor " - " Laver " for Aharon and his sons to wash their hands and feet when they come to the Tent of Meeting or when approaching the Altar to serve , as an eternal decree for them and their offspring for the geberations . The " " Nechoshes " - " Copper " used in it would also spiritually work against Samael , who used the " Nachash " - " Snake " ( same root letters ) , to entice Chava - Eve . Even today , we Toivel Negel Vassar for various reasons and at certain times . HaShem Then Instructed on the Holy " Shemen Ha Mishchah " - " Annointment Oil " and its ingredients . It was to be made with " the handiwork of a perfumer " so its making would be exactly as a professional perfumer would make it , in that day . With it , was the Tent of Meeting and the Ark of the Testimonial Tablets , the Table and all its utensils , the Menorah and all its utensils and the Incense Altar , the Elevation - offering Altar and all its utensils and the Laver and its base to be annointed with the Annointment Oil and thus sanctify them so they remain holy of holies . Aharon too and his sons , were to be annointed . This oil is to remain throughout the generations and it is never to be duplicated . HaShem Instructed Moshe on the Incense and its ingredients , also the handiwork of a perfumer and it's likeness was never to be made . 
HaShem Calls Betzalel son of Uri , son of Chur of the Tribe of Yehudah , who was thirteen years old at the time and the great grandson of Miriam ( Midrash Shemos Rabbi Weissman ) . Chur was the one slain when he tried to stop the revellers at the Chait Ha Eigel Golden Calf . Miriam's great grandson being endowed and chosen , was a reward for her actions in saving Moshe and many other Jewish babies , at the time of the decree of Pharaoh , to kill our male babies and she disobeyed . Betzalel was specially endowed , for all the work of making all that HaShem Wanted Made , by HaShem Giving him an understanding of the depth of each article that was to be made , a depth that showed it's spiritual meaning and representation of its counterpart in Shamaim Heaven . Also , Betzalel , say our Rabbis , was shown the beauty of the mechanics of how HaShem Created Creation with the Hebrew Letters . Betzalel's name within it is " Betzail El " - which means , " in the Shadow of the Almighty , " ( Midrash Shemos - Rabbi Weissman ) for HaShem Let Him See , the inner workings of Creation . HaShem Also Called to help him , Oholiav son of Achisamach of the Tribe of Dan . HaShem Then Instructs on the Shabbos , as a sign between HaShem and us , for keeping the Shabbos , shows a full faith belief in the Truth , That HaShem Made the other Six Days of Creation . The Shabbos is put here , with the making of the Tabernacle , for those labors needed for its construction , are the same 39 Melachos - Forbidden Labours on forbidden to be done on the Shabbos , for even for Shabbos , must the Construction take a halt , for Shabbos is to be kept . 
When HaShem Finished Talking To Moshe , HaShem Gave Moshe the two Tablets of Testimony , stone tablets Inscribed By The Finger of G-D .
Moshe had gone up the Moutain on the 7th of Sivan and said he would return forty days and forty nights later . The people mistook the time , for they counted as part of the forty days , the day he left them and this was not the case . They therefore expected him back on the 16th of Tammuz , but he was due back on the 17th of Tammuz ( now a Fast Day ) . When midday came and went on the 16th , the people started to agitate . Satan , took advantage of the situation , and even showed them in the air , a part of the physicality of Moshe , which he had shed when he went up the Mountain , making them think he had died , Chas Ve Shalom . The people started to agitate , and they crowded around Aharon . It was the Eirev Rav , the 3000 mixed multitude that had come with the Children of Israel , that incited them to worry . it was the Eirev Rav that were outside the Clouds of Glory , not traveling within the Camp of Israel , that took this worry to their advantage , by saying to Aharon that the wanted a leader themselves as a representation of Moshe ( Yalkut MeAm Loez ) . The Vision of HaShem's Throne of Glory , the Merkava , had ( as Yechezkiel mentions ) four images on it , an ox , a man , a lion and an eagle , and so , they thought a representation of an ox would hold a place for the holiness of HaShem . How wrong they were . Chur had tried to stop them , but they had slain him , with stones . In crowding around Aharon , they threatened him too . Aharon knew that Moshe would be back , but they refused to believe him and told Aharon to make " gods " plural to go before them , for they thought their leader Moshe was not returning . Yanus and Yambus , Bilaam's sons had come with , and when Aharon asked the people for their gold rings , he thought that the women would prortest , that this should not be done to HaShem , which is exactly what the women did ( and thus they were rewarded for all time , with not having to work on Rosh Chodesh ) , for Aharon hoped that this would delay the people long enough so that Moshe would by then return .
Also , who came along was a man by the name of Micha , whom Moshe had saved as a baby , that HaShem Had Advised not to save , who was going to be put into the building for the Egyptians , as a brick , as many of our babies were put in to their walls . Moshe had saved him , and subsequently , when Moshe was raising the coffin of Yosef from the Nile , and using a scroll that Moshe had written on it , the words , " Alei Shor Alei Shor " - " Arise Ox Arise Ox , " which was Yaakov's representation of Yosef , as a strong boned ox that keeps to our Holy Beliefs without wavering . Micha , that day , after Yosef had been raised , took the scroll and kept it . So when Aharon threw the gold into the furnace , Yanus and Yambrus , came along and with their powers of Tum'a , said incantations and at that moment , Micha threw into the furnace , the scroll that said " Alei Shor Alei Shor , " and so , out of the Furnace emerged a living bleating golden ox . In fact , twelve other golden oxen came out too , one for each Tribe and it was the Eirev Rav , the mixed multitide , that said to us , " These be your gods oh Israel " ( plural ) ( talking to us Jews as " your " ) .
The people wanted an altar as well . 
Aharon knew full well that Moshe would return and so said the words , " A Festival for HaShem Tomorrow . " 
HaShem's Anger understandably came to the fore , for while HaShem Was In The Process , Of Writing the Tablets , that were miraculous themselves , for they read the same way , on both sides , and letters like the Mem and Samech that are circular , actually floated in the air within them , the people were breaking their covenant like a marriage to HaShem , with their actions . 
HaShem Told Moshe to go down , for " your people ( the Eirev Rav that HaShem Had advised that Moshe should not bring along and Moshe felt sorry for them ) " had corrupted themselves . Moshe couldn't believe that the people would have done this and kept trying to defend them , but HaShem Kept Corroborating more and more , that yes , they did make it and when Moshe said surely they wouldn't pray to it , HaShem Again Corroborated that yes they did . Moshe said surely they wouldn't Sacrifice to it , and again HaShem Said they did .
It was then that HaShem Allowed Moshe to fulfill one of his spiritual reasons for being there at that time , for HaShem Said To Moshe , " Desist from Me , Let my anger flare up against them and I Shall Annihilate them and I Shall Make you into a great nation . " This was a cue to Moshe that if Moshe does not leave HaShem , and defends them , then HaShem Won't Destroy them . Moshe cared nothing for himself and the offer to make from him a great nation . Our Rabbis believe Moshe may have been the original Noach , who went into the Ark and did not ask for the people to be saved and so , when Moshe said the words to HaShem , " Why HaShem , should Your Anger flare up against Your people , " ( and when Moshe continued through the years to defend us ) , at that noment , Moshe rectified the time when as Noach he might have done this very action of asking for the people of Noach's day to be saved .
Moshe Pleads and Prays for us and only when bringing up the Fore-Fathers , does he attain for us a relent . For Moshe said there must be at least ten holy people then , and so HaShem counts Moshe and his brother Aharon and five others - Elazar Isamar , Pinchas , Yehoshua and Kaleiv ( trying the same track that Avraham tried for ten people necessary to save the people and Moshe tells HaShem , that at least with the seven , HaShem Can add Himself and if not , to add to the seven , HaShem can " then add Avraham , Yitzchak and Yaakov . " HaShem Accepted this ( Midrash Shemos - Rabbi Weissman ) . 
Moshe descended and met Yehoshuah at the bottom , who thought it was the sound of war , but Moshe spoke of a sound of " Anot " - " distress " but also a sound of " anah " "answering HaShem's Goodness , " with unfaithfulness .
When Moshe saw what was happening , he himself became angry and he saw the letters on the Luchos , leaving the Tablets and rising up to Heaven . Moshe reasoned that if the people would get the Tablets , they would be more bound by them as an unfaithful wife would be if she was under the marriage contract Kesubah , and so , even though all 70 elders rushed to Moshe to try wrestle the Tablets from his hands , he overpowered them all , and smashed the Tablets at the foot of the Mountain . The Calf , he burnt in fire and ground it to a fine powder and sprinkled it over the water , and just as a Sotah takes the test of unfaithfulnes , so did he make the Children of Israel drink and their punishment was according to if they worshiped the calf or not . 
Moshe questioned Aharon , who answered that the gold was thrown into the furnace and the calf just emerged . Aharon had exposed the bad ones who did harbor a want to idol worship , to disgrace . 
Moshe had them choose on which side they were , if they were on the Eternal's Side . The Levites who , like the women had not taken part , gathered around Moshe , and Moshe instructed that the Eirev Rav , be slain. All 3000 Eirev Rav were killed . HaShem Sent a Plague that dealt with those involved in the worshiping of the Golden Calf .
All 3000 Eirev Rav died that day and those who internally worshiped the Calf . Once the item of the sin had been destroyed . Moshe could return to HaShem , to again beg for his people . Moshe again was up on the Mountain for another forty days , till the 29th of Av begging for the people's forgiveness , when HaShem Had Forgiven the people and Agreed To Give them the Second Tablets . It was on Rosh Chodesh Elul , that Moshe went up a Third Time for forty days , neither eating nor drinking , and retuned on the Tenth of Tishrei , Yom Kippur , when HaShem Had Forgiven the people In Closeness again . Thus is the day of Yom Kippur , one of Atonement and Forgiveness . Thank you Moshe for speaking up for us all . Thank you HaShem For Forgiving us To The Point That You Did . Moshe felt that HaShem had been Angry at the people and turned aside , so Moshe too , put his tent 2000 amos away from the Camp , the T' Chum Shabbos , the limit one may walk outside on Shabbos from the city limit . Whenever Moshe would come out of his tent , the people would rise and remain standing till he went back in . The people really showed their feelings of needing forgiveness . 
Moshe pleaded for HaShem's Nearness and HaShem Shielded Moshe Within a Rock within a Cave and that was still not strong enough to shield the Back of HaShem , As HaShem Showed Moshe the Back Of His Essence . 
It was from Sapphire , that miraculously appeared under his Tent , thus making Moshe quite wealthy , as a reward for his faithfulness and also for his actions of caring only to find Yosef's coffin , while the rest of the people were removing the things from Egypt , that Moshe carved the Second Luchos . 
It was on Moshe's Visit to the Top of rthe Mountain , that HaShem Taught Moshe the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy , to say , to get HaShem's Forgiveness . And so did Moshe Pray these Thirteen Attributes to gain forgiveness for us From HaShem .
HaShem Did Not Want To Go Ahead Of the people and Wanted To Send His Angel instead , but Moshe persuaded HaShem to Go Himself in Leading the people . And it was only in the time of Yehoshuah , that HaShem Sent His Angel before us . 
HaShem Then Instructed on not to let the other nations in Israel be a snare for us and not to allow any form of idol worhip in Israel . Not to let their daughters be with our sons , so our sons will not stray from Holy Judaism . HaShem Instructed us Not to make idols . 
HaShem Instructs on the Festival of Matzos , on the first borns , on the Shabbos , on the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of the Harvest ( Pesach , Shavuos and Succos ) , and on Kashrus , " not to cook a kid in its mother's milk " ( mentioned three times in Torah , for the three injunctions of Kashrus of milk and meat - not to cook it together , eat it together or benefit from mixing it together ) . 
The Second Tablets , Moshe Inscribed and when Moshe came down the Mountain , his face had become radiant When HaShem Had Spoken To him , and so Moshe had to wear a mask on his face to the Children of Israel . So ends the Parsha .
The words " Ki Sissa " literally means , " To Lift the head . " This is true holiness , for in being counted , it really means , being a part of HaShem and thus lifting oneself up to holiness . That is why we are here . When we act as the people did , with the Chait Ha Eigel , we lower ourselves from HaShem . But when we lift ourselves up to holiness , and to each Commandment HaShem Gives us , we lift ourselves up in hoiness and closeness with HaShem , to be counted , as one with HaShem .
We are not here to have physical meaningless lives . We are all here for a greater purpose and future of total meaning . We are here to return to HaShem , not just when it is our time to leave this Earth , but while we are on this Earth . When we become this holy light , we will not have to die . We will be eternal as was the Plan from the Beginning . Being Counted , means counting oneself as one of the Obedient and Holy of HaShem . That is the True Meaning of Life .
That is what brings radiance to us . That is what makes the Light of HaShem Within our souls , radiate outwards . That is what we are here for . Just as Moshe was up on the mountain three times 40 days , to make a total of 120 , which is the same number of years of a person , and was the exact years of Moshe when he lived then , so will we extend these years to eternal living , if we only obey HaShem and be within the counted ones close to HaShem in Obedience and Love . This set of 120 years , is the limit our own actions put on us . This will go away , when we " Ki Sissa " allow ourselves to be totally at one with HaShem , one of His Holy Ones , changing the whole of the present existence , to the one intended , at the Beginning of Creation , the one that is True Eternal Life , within HaShem . The word " Sissa " is also the same spelling as the number ' Teisha " - " Nine " so " Ki " when we go beyond that " Nine , " to the final Ten , we can complete Creation and return to Gan Eiden . 
HaShem Awaits us . HaShem Has Waited for us so very long . It is time for us to return in true and total holiness , and be once and for all " Ki Sissa " be counted as what we were Created to be , Radiant Lights of HaShem .
I wish HaShem With Total and Ever Abiding Love , A Very Special and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh With Love and to all my fellow Jews and all of Creation , a Very Special and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love .