What’s Good About Mistakes? - A Taste of Text—Ki Tisa

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What's Good About Mistakes?: A Taste of Text—Ki Tisa

When one partner betrays the other, for reconciliation to occur, each must feel that “we are so connected that you mean more to me than whatever it was that you did.”

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Chana Weisberg is host of the Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories podcast and curator of advanced learning experiences on Chabad.org. She lectures internationally on issues relating to women, relationships, meaning, self-esteem and the Jewish soul. She is the author of six books. Her latest book, Shabbat Delights, is a two-volume series on the weekly Torah portion.

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EBS USA March 16, 2017

We can trust everything G-d Does Excellent study. Our G-d knows what situation will afford us the opportunity to "rise." The challenge is to believe and follow Him, not the world's wisdoms. What we slip on is what needs fixing; when we ask G-d to forgive us and to make things right, He lifts us.

He's awesome. (His ways are not our ways.)
Isaiah 55:8
We can trust everything He does.
Psalm 33

Quote- The idiomatic meaning is “when you take the census of the Israelites” but literally, these words mean "When you raise up." Ki Tisa. Reply

Leah980 London March 5, 2021

in response to EBS:

Very well said! Indeed Hashem’s ways are not our ways... Reply

Sylvia UK February 25, 2016

Thank you Thank you all for your contribution to Ki Tisa, I enjoyed this. Reply

Kayo Tokyo, Japan March 6, 2012

Very insightful B"H

Your comment on the relationship with your daughter is very insightful and helps me understand and put it into my everyday practice for the relationship with my loved ones. Reply

chana weisberg Thornhill, Ontario March 5, 2012

To L Noah I agree with you. The first step to self growth is the ability to be honest about yourself and your actions--and admit when you veered off the right path. Reply

chana weisberg Thornhill, Ontario March 5, 2012

To Gil You raise a good point but let's broaden our perspectives on this.
The Jewish people had just heard the Ten Commandments, with G-d Himself warning them against idolatry and the resultant immorality it would bring to their entire society. And yet a small group (the "mixed multitude") were able to incite the others to rebel against this new set of morality and in the process kill anyone who opposed them, no matter how great he might be (and that was why Aaron realized he could not stop them, but only try to delay them).
So the issue really is a matter of how we view what happens next. No, I don't view it as a "punishment" from a merciless G-d who whips His young nation into obedience. I think of it more as a natural consequence, of the need to eradicate a fast spreading infectious disease or poison from their midst before allowing it to fester further and corrupt more of the nation.
For some more thoughts, see here: www.chabad.org/593951
Or here: www.chabad.org/168272 Reply

L Noah Encino, CA March 4, 2012

that's true In some cases, a person has no regrets about what they do. They'll say, I'm not doing anything wrong, I didn't touch it. I tell them their thoughts are not positive, and negative forces feed off of us every time we do something not good for our soul. Reply

Gil Seligman Great Neck, N.Y. U.S.A. March 4, 2012

Ki Tissa So Moshe, who pleads for his errant flock's lives to be spared by G-d for their transgression, then sics the Levites to slay with the sword 3,000 souls. These warnings came before the giving of Torah; a vagabond, basically uneducated people, fearful, enslaved for over 300 years, to a man-god. The death sentence does not meet the "crime." "Measure for measure." These people intellectually, and psychologically, were akin to children. There leader disappeared for weeks. They needed a transitional object, as a toddler needs his "blanky" to allay their fears. If you save one life you figuretively have saved the world, and vice versa. " You don't execute your children for action predicated on fear of being abandoned. No matter how the sparcity of words - this passage needs furthur elucidation. As Jews we are trying to get over to the world that we follow a just, merciful, charitable, moral, strict, and forgiving Creator. Reply

What's Good About Mistakes?: A Taste of Text—Ki Tisa

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