You Come to God for Yourself (Parshat Ki Tisah)

i
Moses is up on the Mountain with God and he is long in coming down.

So the people are frightened.

The people say to Aaron: the Man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.

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So Aaron tells the people: Take…the gold rings of your wives, your sons, and your daughters; and Aaron takes the rings and casts them into a fire.

And the Golden Calf is made.

ii
The gold and silver and copper and cloth and jewels of the Mishkan—the dwelling-place of God—are to be offered by every person whose heart so moves him.

And every man in every census of Israel must pay a half-shekel…for his soul.

These half-shekels will fund the work of the Mishkan.

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To make God’s house, you give of your own heart, of your own soul.

To make the Golden Calf, you hand over your wife’s jewelry, your children’s jewelry--someone else's jewelry.

iii
You can come to the divine yourself.

Or you can expect that others will come to the divine for you.

*
Which of these options you choose is the difference between the path toward idol-worship, and the path toward the house of God.

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