Parshas Ki Sisa

“When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with the finger of God.” (Sh’mos 31:18)

What a sight to see! The revelation at Har Sinai!

When Moshe Rabbeinu ascended Har Sinai Hashem presented him with the luchos (tablets). Upon his decent Moshe Rabbeinu discovered that the B’nai Yisroel had committed a grave sin. So grave that for all future generations everyday tzar (distress) will be connected to this sin. This avairah was the sin of the golden calf. Moshe Rabbeinu disappointed and astonished smashed the luchos. He eventually ascended back up the mountain to daven and received another set of luchos. So powerful was this experience that it created a whole new level of kedusha (holiness) in Moshe. We learn from the passuk that when Moshe Rabbeinu returned to the B’nai Yisroel his holy face was radiating. This radiation was unique and was so powerful no one from the B’nai Yisroel would approach him, as the passuk says, “And they were afraid to come near him.” This shows how holy Moshe Rabbeinu became after experiencing such closeness to the Creator.

“When Moses had finished speaking with them, he placed a mask on his face.” (Sh’mos 34:33)

The passuk teaches us that at first Moshe Rabbeinu was unaware of the radiance however later he indeed realized and understood that the B’nai Yisroel were refraining from contact with him because of it, so he put a mask on his face and would only remove it when he spoke with Hashem.

The Be’er Moshe, explains Moshe Rabbeinu saw a need for this mask because he wanted to spare the people of embarrassment of how they had deprived themselves of such closeness to Hashem to the point where they were unable to even look at this prophet.

 This illustrates a beautiful picture of Moshe Rabbainu’s unending care and consideration of each and every Jew. May we all strive to be great like Moshe Rabbeinu in our closeness to Hashem and reach a supreme standard where we are always caring for each and every Jew! –Amen!

HAVE A GREAT SHABBOS AND WEEKEND!Stay tuned for next week’s Parsha called, Parshas Vayakhel!