PARSHAT KI TISA - BRINGING BACK THAT OLD BURNING DESIRE

[TorahZionist]

BS"D

YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDI
Jerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kreuser SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva

PARSHAT KI TISA
17 Adar I 5768/22-23 February 2008


BRINGING BACK THAT OLD BURNING DESIRE

“Hashem spoke to Moses saying: When you will take a census of the
Children of Israel, according to their count, every man shall give Hashem an
atonement for his soul when counting them, and there will be no plague among
them when counting them.”

So our parsha opens up with the seemingly basic law which the Torah
brings down, on the prohibition to count the Jewish people. The Torah goes
on to teach us of the great punishment of one who does count the Children of
Israel: that he will bring a plague among the people. The Torah then goes on
to teach us how one goes about counting the people -by taking a half-shekel
coin from each person - and in this way, one can know how many Jews there
are.

Nothing could be clearer or simpler. Amazingly, then, we find that none
other than our own King David transgresses this very prohibition of counting
the Jewish people, as the Book of Samuel tells us: “The anger of Hashem
again flared against Israel, and He enticed David because of them to say, go
count the people of Israel and Judea.” Here, King David commands his
general, Yoav, to travel throughout the Jewish nation and count the people.
Yoav, who understood the seriousness of this prohibition, tried without
success to put David off, but the King would not have it, and in the end,
Yoav reluctantly goes on his mission. But how can this be: Something that
every school child knows, the great King David did not?

The answer is as important to the times of King David as it is in our
day. Surely, King David knew about the prohibition of counting the Jewish
people, but clarity of the law was taken away from the King in order to
bring about punishment to the Jewish people. Similarly, we sometimes find in
our day that clarity is taken away from some of the leading Rabbis when it
comes to the commandment of living in the Land of Israel and rebuilding the
holy Temple.

Why was punishment brought against the Jewish people in the time of King
David, by his hand? Our Rabbis tell us that in the time of King David, there
was no desire by the people to go up and build the holy Temple. Everyone was
content to stay in their well-built homes, watch TV, and see a good DVD, and
for the Temple - why, that’s not for our generation... They were quick to
say: See, even the prophet told David that it was not for him to build a
House for the L-rd. There were a million excuses that the people came up
with: We cannot go up to the Temple Mount, for who knows where we will
tread; or, how about this one: The nation is not ready, etc. etc. etc. But
still, Hashem Who knows all inner thoughts, knew the real truth - that the
people had no desire to build G-d's House. Let the next generation deal with
it. And so, a terrible plague came upon the people that killed off some
70,000 Jews. 70,000 Jews fell - all because they cared not for G-d's House.
Too horrible to think about, yet still, our Rabbis at the time decreed that
in order for such a horrible plague not to befall the Jewish people again,
we must pray for the Temple three times a day to awaken within us the desire
for G-d's House, and also act to ensure that the holy Temple will be
rebuilt.

And as true as this was in the time of King David, it is certainly true
in our day. The roadmap has been placed before us. If we want to refrain
from past troubles that befell the Jewish people, the road is clear for all
to see: Rebuild the House of G-d, for it is the only way to ensure peace and
prosperity for the Jewish people and the entire world.

With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen


****************************************************************************
Today we all know that Rabbi Kahane was right! Help spread the Jewish Idea -
Join the Jewish Idea's E-mail list and spread the word!
[email protected]