I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and YouTube.
This week’s parasha is Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11-34:35).
Watch complete video here. It is higher quality than the cam stream below.
* Ex. 30:12 Every man shall give HaShem an atonement for his soul. Do we Jews ever think about atoning for our sins anymore? I know that is the center of Christianity, believing in God’s son who died on a cross to save mankind from sin.
* Is the Torah against taking part in a census?
* Ex. 30:15 The wealthy shall not give more and the poor shall not give less.
* The purpose of Jews is to bring knowledge of God and His moral demands to the world. If Jews don’t live up to this, there’s no reason for Jews.
* Ex. 30:19 Torah wants people to wash their hands.
* God seems so upset that it appears that God may not know the future. If He knows the future, how can He get disappointed when it happens?
* What does karet mean? To be cut off from one’s people?
* What can you tell me about this artist Bezalel (Ex. 31:2)?
* God says to Moses, “Your people…” (Ex. 32:7)
* Jews are called a “stiff-necked people.” So important to free the neck! There are more joints in the neck than any other part of the body, so if the neck is stiff, the whole body will be stiff and the stiff-necked person will go through life in a strait-jacket of unnecessary tension. This will not only effect his movement and comfort, it will contort his thinking, and make it tend to lock up. Similarly, the stiff-necked person will be locked into all sorts of habitual impulses that don’t serve him. He will lack mental, emotional and physical freedom and life will become increasingly miserable for him as he ages and he is less able to accomplish the normal tasks of daily life. It is very hard for a stiff-necked person to be happy and free.
* Ex. 32:12. What would the Egyptians say? The opinions of the goyim about Jews are important because Jews are to embody the divine will for the world. If Jews look bad on earth, God and His moral law look bad.
* When the Israelites are having an orgy, Joshua hears the whooping and thinks they are going to war (Ex. 32:17). Sex and violence are closely related and often sound alike. All sex contains an element of violence aka penetration. It’s not just a gentle act, particularly if it is done right.
* Aaron says, this is a people bent on evil. No taking personal responsibility. (Ex. 32:22)
* Whoever is for HaShem, join me! (Ex. 32:26)
* The Comic Torah: Good for the Jews? God is portrayed as a hot chick who shows Moses, a black gangster, Her glory!
* Chaim Amalek emails: May a torah Jew celebrate St. Valentine’s Day by giving his honey flowers and the like? I think Luke and Rabbs should put their collective thinking caps on tonight to discuss this further.
