Ki Tisa
Chassidic philosophy explains the concept of a “descent for the sake of an ascent.” Basically, this alludes to how our mistakes and failures are often an integral part of what helps us reach our goals. Just like a flat line on an EKG means death, there is no such thing as a life with no bumps. It is specifically the ups and downs in life that provide the lessons we need to grow, and make us who we are.
In this week’s Torah portion we read of the sin of the Golden Calf—a pretty big mess-up as far as mistakes go—especially considering that this was a mere forty days after the Jewish people witnessed the greatest revelation at Mount Sinai. Yet it would be through this mistake that the Jewish people would complete their Sinai experience, by learning the integral lesson of how to turn their failure into growth.
Enjoy our selections this week, and may we all come to see how through our descents we are able to reach even greater ascents, as we find the lessons in our successes as well as in our challenges.
Sara Esther Crispe,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
In order to complete the lesson of Sinai, the Jews needed to experience the beauty that comes from turning failure into growth . . .
Much is made of Abraham’s valiant efforts to save the city of Sodom, but something about the story just doesn’t add up . . .
If you have not made any strong moral decisions, you lose out on the opportunity to be accountable for your choices.
Is there any benefit in compelling your child to do what is right, when he’s doing so only because he cannot disobey you?
A holy half-shekel reveals the importance of judging one’s fellow favorably.
All you need to know about the quest for a soulmate. The Jewish perspective on the selection process, dating, and the need to marry in the first place!
How do I know when I have found “the one”? I’m scared that while I wait for Mr. Perfect, I am letting go of Mr. Almost Perfect . . .
“My wife,” complained the man, “every week she makes for Shabbat a delicious kugel. All week I work and shlep, just for that kugel!”
Here I was, experiencing all of my new baby’s “firsts,” while at the same time experiencing the same things with my mother, only they were her lasts . . .
Childhood can be a time of great struggle, but also of great joy. The fabric of our children’s lives is being woven minute by minute.
Some say G‑d created the world so we could party. It’s only half true. He created it so He could party with us . . .
Inside his brain was a primitive compartment that could not be tricked or turned off, and it continued to think about it, imagining the cemetery and the gravestone, with his family standing around it . . .
I was ten before I found out that people don’t like Jews. Unreal, strange, impossible. And true: my childhood in Kenya was sheltered.
What does metafiction and vicarious experience have to do with prayer?
The immediate implication of true creation is that nothing “must be.”
The Baal Shem Tov taught that in every word you speak, you should intend to subdue, distinguish and sweeten.
“When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘It is manna,’ because they did not know what it was.” But what does “manna” mean?
I am thoroughly annoyed with rabbinic interpretations. There seems to be total whitewashing of the stories, just to make the heroes look sinless.
How to prepare yourself for Shabbat, and how to have all the food prepared in advance in honor of the holy day of rest.
People think that Torah is about something: that it comes to explain our world, what has happened and what will happen, where each thing belongs and what to do with it.
In a way, this is true. But ultimately, Torah isn’t about anything—everything is about Torah.
Before creating a world, the sages say, G-d first compose...
