Ki Tissa

I am not so much concerned about the nature of God as our relationship with him. After all, God is God and how much can we comprehend the Almighty? If we understood everything that God is and does we would be as God. His ways are opaque. That is we cannot possibly hope to understand them.

 

Yet we all have moments when we feel as if we want or need to see the Holy One, feel His Presence. Can you think of some of those times? It would make a great conversation at dinnertime to discuss it with people you were close with and see if there are similarities between the times you wish to see God and the times they wished to see God (or the hand of God).

 

Ki Tissa contains a similar idea.  Here, Moshe begs to understand God’s ways (see 33:13).  Remember, Moshe saw God two other times in his life.  Can you recall them?  One was when Moshe saw the apparition of the blazing bush.  The other was when God called Moshe to the top of Mount Sinai.  Both times, Moshe was brought to God, not vice versa. But now that Moshe has had some deep disappointments in his life he wants to understand what God does, not just see him. Why do you think it is so important to Moshe to now understand why God does what He does?

 

And does God explain his ways? No. God answers Moshe in an unusual and unexpected manner. See verses 21 to 23. Why do you think the Lord answers Moshe in this way rather than respond to what Moshe asked of Him?

 

There is a wonderful tale told of the great tzaddik and Sage, Rabbi Akiva. Akiva set out on a long journey that took him to a small town where there was but one inn. He asked for a room for the night but was denied even a place in the stable with the animals.

Akiva turned away to spend a solitary night in the fields with nothing but a fire to warm him and a rooster and his donkey his company. In the middle of the night, wind came and blew the fire out. Akiva opened his eyes, shuddered from the cold, said, “This must be for good.” and then tried to warm himself until he fell back asleep.  He later awoke with a start as he discovered his donkey had wandered away in the dark and was nowhere to be found.  Again, Akiva uttered, “This must be for good.” Later that same night Akiva was dismayed t find his rooster had died during the cold night.  Again, “This must be for good.”

In the early morning Akiva saw smoke rising in the distance.  Venturing out toward to wafting smoke he discovered that marauders had taken the village that he tried to sleep in the previous night.  They had razed everything.  One more time, Akiva affirmed, “This must be for good.”

 

This story, long with the one we read in this weeks’ parasha is all about faith and trust that all things are for our good.

 

 

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