| The Portion of Ki Tisa The portion of Ki Tisa relates the terrible sin of the Children of Israel- the sin of idolatry. The people await Moses' return from the top of Mt. Sinai. When he doesn't return they turn to Aaron and convince him to make the Golden Calf. G-d tells Moses to descend from the mountain "because your people have become corrupt". Moses descends, smashes the tablets of the covenant and is commanded to kill the sinners. This event is so difficult that whenever evil overtakes the Jewish people it is considered to be part of the punishment for the sin of the Golden Calf. As Rashi comments "that we never have a directive which is not in some way connected to the incident of the Golden Calf, as it is written " And on the day when I will give the order" (Exodus 32;34)." And once again we find an expression of pain in the Torah where throughout the entire length we find the letter "vav" bending on top and on the bottom (some were erased by proofreaders but most remain to remind us of the seriousness of the sin). The punishment is also joined to the fact that the Almighty will not accept the prayers of the people, as it is written in Lamentations 3;8 "Even when I call out and cry for help He shuts out my prayer." This punishment is expressed in the unique form of the letter "kuf", in accordance with the words of the Rokeiach that a closed "kuf" alludes to the fact that they will not be able to withstand their enemies.
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