Table Talk

In Parashat Ti-Kisa, the Isrealites are told to give half of a shekel of silver for tzedakah. Moses could then use each half-shekel for a census so we could count all of the People. Also, “wise-hearted” Aholiav and Betzalel are placed in charge of constructing the Mishkan, or portable Sanctuary's construction.

Earlier in the Torah, Moshe went up Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. The People counted wrong and thought he would return a day earlier than he said he would. They got scared and made a golden calf to worship. As we all know, the Israelites had just received the Ten Commandments that teaches us not to worship any idols, but only to pray to Hashem.

Hashem got so mad and wanted to destroy the nation and start over with Moses. Moses argues with Hashem and convinces Hashem to give the People another chance. Moses then comes down the mountain carrying the two tablets on which Hashem had written the Ten Commandments. Moses saw the people dancing around the Golden Calf and he got so mad he broke the tablets. Moses prays to Hashem again to forgive the people, and in the end only the people who participated were punished.

Our Rabbis teach that it was on Yom Kippur that Hashem forgave the Israelites. Hashem forgives us too on Yom Kippur, and so we are also supposed to always forgive people when they apologize.

This parsha teaches us the power of forgiveness and second chances. One time, a few years ago, I went to a camp. There was a girl who did not behave properly. She wasn’t very nice at all. During my free time I decided to confront her about it. We sat down and I explained to her how she should treat people in order to have fun with friends, because no one wants to be friends with a person who picks on them. The girl understood my message and started to act nicer and treat people with kindness and honesty. We all gave her a second chance, and as soon as the girl met my other friends we all started to bond into a nice friendship. In the end, knowing that I changed someone in a good way made me feel really good about myself.

Just like Hashem ultimately forgives the Jewish people, I think it’s important to be the type of person that forgives and gives people second chances because forgiving people can affect you and others in good ways. When you give someone a second chance, it makes you and others feel better and it can fix many of the problems in our lives.

Thank you and Shabbat Shalom!