Category — Vayakhel

A Catholic priest, a Protestant minister, and a rabbi are discussing what they would like people to say after they die and their bodies are on display in open caskets.

Priest: I would like someone to say “He was a righteous man, an honest man, and very generous.”

Minister: I would like someone to say “He was very kind and fair, and he was very good to his parishioners.”

Rabbi: I would want someone to say “Look, he’s moving.”

***

How much lower could have they fallen?

They had been at the greatest divine revelation in history, barely over a month ago, and now they created a golden calf and cried “this is your G-d”, and within just a few hours have committed the three gravest sins; idolatry, murder and adultery!

Many reasons are given for this disastrous mood swing, but all agree it was sin, a big mistake… So here comes the huge question: when you write a book, the title tells you in one or two words what the story is all about, so let’s see what the title of this disturbing part of history is: Hmm… the name of our Torah portion, ye the one in which this tale is transcribed in such detail, is “Ki Sisa”; which translates nothing less than; “when you will rise”.

RISE!? RISE!? For crying out loud!

The sin that infuriated G-d so much, and on first thought He wanted to kill every Jew! Rise?

Moses smashed the tablets when he saw the camaraderie around the golden calf, that’s how serious it was!

Rise?

Yes! Rise!

Our sages teach us that every fall helps us climb higher, and every failure is a stepping stool for future growth. We grow from mistakes and become better people through struggle, if we choose to…

Thanks to the sin of the golden calf, we gained the day of Yom Kippur when G-d cleanses us for our sins. Thanks to the broken tablets we received the second set of tablets with so many more Mitzvos!

And the list of honey that poured out this sour story is very long indeed…

So back to our question what does sinning got to do with rising? Once again we’ll use the Yeshivish logic (making 360° twists with the thumb) to put forth the answer;

If you say, that failure leads to success, in essence you are saying that……… failure is success and fall is rise.

Simply: There is no such thing as a failure! – If you choose!

Ki Sisa! Yesterday you blundered? Today you climb higher!

As for the title (what’s the connection to the article?);

The word not found in the Jewish dictionary is: Failure.