Mishpatim-Shekalim-5772

Congregation Bnai Torah Olympia Dvar Torah Parashat Mishpatim/Shekalim 5772

2012 Rabbi Jaron Matlow MAJEd/JS Page 1

On Shabbat March 10, we will read the following from Parashat Ki Tissa (pp. 539/40 in Humash Etz Hayim:)

:- : - - ' - - :

- - : ' - :- :

- -: He (Moses) said, Oh, let me behold Your Presence! And He

(God) answered, I will make all My goodness pass before

you, and I will proclaim before you the name Hashem, and

the grace that I grant, and the compassion that I show. But,

He said, you cannot see My face, for man may not see me

and live. And the Lord said, See, there is a place near Me.

Station yourself on the rock and, as My Presence passes by,

I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with My

hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away

and you shall see My back; but My face must not be seen.i

Now, I know there are probably two questions youre

wondering right now:

1. Why am I reading from Ki Tissa when we read Mishpatim

today?

2. Why arent I talking about all the social justice issues in this

Parasha.

Ill answer the second first: While the social justice issues are of

vital importance, I wanted to bring a change of pace and explore a

problematic text.

That text is found in todays Parasha, pp 478/9



:

: -

- :

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy

elders of Israel ascended; and they saw the God of Israel:

under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of

sapphire, like the very sky for purity. Yet He did not raise

His hand against the leaders of the Israelites; they beheld

God, and they ate and drank.ii

So, what are we to make of this? We see in Chapter 33 that no

man can see Gods face and live, yet here in todays reading we

have 74 people, who saw God, and God didnt strike them down;

rather they ate a festive meal and drank!

What do you all think? Take congregational input here!!

I have been troubled by this section for a number of years.

To help me understand this, I first went to the Mepharshim, our

classic Torah commentators.

Targum Onkelos renders our verse as They saw the Glory of

the God of Israel. Onkelos renders the Hebrew of verse 10

, they saw (physical vision) as they saw prophetically.

This is the same verb root as we see in verse 11 when we see

; they saw (prophetically).

Rashi learns that they peek and looked were liable for the

death penalty, but HKBH did not want to remove the joy of

Torah, and waited for Nadav and Avihu until they offered their

strange sacrifice; and for the Elders until (Numbers 11:1) the



people complained and the fire of God consumed those in the

outlying parts of the camp. Rashi is basing this on the fact that

God didnt strike out at that time, when the Israelites were

having the festive meal on a Mitzvah, the Seudat Mitzvah, after

receiving the Torah, but waited. He bases this on our text

saying that God did not raise His hand against the leaders.

Ibn Ezra, Ramban and Hizkuni all say that this was by way

of a prophetic vision.

Rashbam sees it as that they saw Gods back, as in our

verse from Ki Tissa.

Rambam, in the Guide to the Perplexed, states that this was

an intuition rather than a physical vision.

Rashi is alone in saying that these 74 actually saw God. Our

other sources all see it as a spiritual experience, but not one

gained by physical senses.

Looking at the Acharonim, or later commentaries, we find:

Hertziii, in his commentary, states that What these men

actually experienced is, of course, beyond human ken; but it

is supposed that they fell into a trance in which this mystic

vision was seen by them.

According to a Chassidic tale,iv Rabbi Zusya of Hanipoli says

It is written - And they beheld

God, and ate and drank. When one sees the attribute of

stern justice which is indicated by the particular Name of

God used in this verse, , one should eat and drink and

be joyful, for thereby one can temper the sternness of a

Divine verdict.



In the Psalm for the penitential season, Psalm 27, we see

One thing I ask of God, ' , to gaze on H

and contemplate in His sanctuary. This gazing, from the verb

, is a very powerful, spiritual encounter, no matter how we

describe it.

In the Talmud (B. Berakhot 17a) Rav states that the World to

Come is not like this world. In the World to Come there is no

eating or drinking (as we had with our verses) rather, the

righteous sit with crowns on their heads and take delight in the

Glory of Gods Presence, as it says, - .

Rashi here says that eating and drinking in this world is like sitting

at the feet of the Shekhina, Gods Presence, in the World to

Come.

Whether or not these 74, Moses, Aaron, Nadav, Avihu and

the 70 elders, actually saw God, or experienced a prophetic vision

or a trance, the bottom line is that they experienced the very Holy

Essence of God, and when they experienced this Essence, they

ate and drank in celebration.

May we always be blessed to experience Gods Holiness,

and eat and drink in celebration.

Shabbat Shalom.



Intro to

-

- First of four special before

- is observed before the beginning of the month of ,

which begins after Wednesday evening. During Temple

times the purpose of this was to collect money to

ensure a flock of animals was obtained that would be able to

serve for the , the Paschal Lamb.

- Our recounts the first census of the people after leaving

Egypt. The practice of collecting from each person to

indirectly count the census is the origin of our always

indirectly counting Jews present, such as the ever popular

not-one, not-two, etc.

The connection between the indirect counting of Israel to the

preparation for is a very ancient tradition, which we recall by

reading our , which begins on page 523, verse 11.



Intro to :

- Our , from the book of Kings, explores the themes of

Census and Social Justice found in the corpus of our

readings today.

- King saw that the Temple treasury was not being used for

Temple upkeep as required. The priests were using the

money for personal desires.

- He changed the method of collection, requiring a collection box,

into which people placed their contribution.

- The royal scribes counted the money in the box the connection

to .

- The money was given to the foremen to pay the laborers directly

for their labor connection to social justice as requires

that day laborers be paid each day for their work.

- We now begin our spiritual preparations for , with the

on page 1277, chapter 12. iHumash Etz Hayim. JPS/RA/USCJ 2001. Pp. 539-40 ii Ibid. Pp. 478/9

iii Hertz, Dr J H, London: Soncino Press. 1981 p. 322.

iv Zevin, Rabbi Shlomo Yosef: A Treasury of Chassidic Tales vol. 1. NY: Mesorah Publications LTD. 1980.

P. 260

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