There has been much talk recently of bullying in high places. Bullying is, of course a debilitating and humiliating experience and should never be tolerated. It is not the same thing, however, as the often tense and combustible relations of people working in high pressure jobs, and there are few positions more pressured than working for a Prime Minister, whoever he may be. Whether you work in the Palace, Mayor’s office or Number 10, you should know what to expect, and a quiet life is not it. This is worth bearing in mind as we read our Parshah. The Jewish people sin with the Golden Calf and G-d is not amused. After G-d is persuaded by Moses not to ditch them and start over again with his kids, G-d does decree that He will no longer dwell among them, but use an emissary. The people are too fickle and prone to annoy G-d. Direct contact with the Divine might lead to a disaster. Better to be safe than sorry. Moses, however, does not accept this policy and the middle part of the Parshah relates his quite audacious demand that G-d return to personally dwell among them. G-d agrees and to mitigate somewhat the consequences reveals His thirteen attributes of mercy. Yet the original dilemma is not solved and we see throughout the rest of the Torah that when the Jews misbehave there are dire consequences. The same can be seen by examining the context of our special Haftorah. G-d declares that though He punished Israel with exile for their sins, His Name is so intertwined with theirs that He will be forced to redeem them, despite their unworthiness. But there is another side to this promise. Earlier on the people claim that since they are in Exile the covenant is void and they don’t have to keep the Torah. G-d replies that they can’t escape so easily and if they try and be like the other nations, He will be King over them anyway, with ‘outpoured fury’. Being Jewish has consequences. Moses asked and got close proximity to G-d, but that also entails greater responsibility. ‘You alone have I known among the nations’, declares the prophet Amos, ‘therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities’. And as Ezekiel points out, there is no escape, for us or G-d. That is what it means to be Jewish. Like working close to the centre of temporal power it is a privilege but also a burden; exhilarating, but also somewhat dangerous. How do we deal with this situation? Allege Divine bullying and try to run away from our Jewish mission or accept our privileged position along with the pressures it entails.

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

Sidra Statistics

Parshat Ki-Tissah

·         has 139 verses ;

·         is the 9th in Exodus, 21st in the Torah

·         longest in Exodus, 9th longest in the Torah

·         has 4 pos + 5 neg = 9 mitzvot.