A Covenant for All Time
D’var Torah on Parashat Ki Tisa
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
March 12, 2025
The early Talmudic Rabbis coined a phrase in Hebrew that is still in use today: “The Holy One, blessed be He, created the remedy before the sickness” (הקדים רפואה למכה). In other words, even before we find out what the problem is, the solution is already there. All that remains for us is to make the connection. So it is with this week's Torah portion, Ki Tisa ("When you take a census," Exodus 30:11--34:35), one of the most important portions in the entire Torah.
This is the portion where we learn of the failure of faith of the Israelites, only weeks after receiving the Ten Commandments. While Moses is busy on the top of Mt. Sinai, communing with God and receiving from God's own hand the two Tablets of the Law (and admittedly, he's gone a long time), the Israelites gang up on Aaron and force him to create the Golden Calf.
It was a major failing, but one that is understandable. People need visible images to sustain their faith. Imagination is good for a while; faith without proof is admirable. But the great challenges of reality force us to seek proof for what we believe. Perhaps Aaron understood this better than Moses, which is why he agreed to the demands of the Israelites (and escapes any punishment). Moses and God however are incensed by this failure.
Yet—following a dramatic argument between Moses and God—God ultimately agrees to forgive the Israelites. Moses reminds God of humanity's inherent weakness: We are, after all, imperfect and fallible, formed of clay and dust. In a famous declaration, repeated several times on Yom Kippur—Adonai, Adonai (Ex. 34:6-7)—God commits to restrain anger and wrath, to mete out not only justice but also mercy and compassion. Without question, there will be consequences to all our deeds--consequences which, for better or worse, will carry on for generations after us. And of course there can be no forgiveness before repentance and repair ar. But in the end there will be forgiveness.
It's a great story, but there's an even bigger question that lies behind it: Is the Covenant between God and Israel eternal; and—if broken—can it be repaired.
And here is where the "remedy" the rabbis speak of comes in.
Earlier in the portion, yet before the incident of the Golden Calf, God throws us a lifeline: Shabbat. V'shamru V'nai Yisrael et ha-Shabbat (Ex. 31:16-17), "The Israelite people shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time: It shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days Adonai made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day [Adonai] ceased from work and was refreshed."
Our commitment to God can be expressed in many ways. But in the end, Shabbat is the foremost sign of the eternity of God's Covenant with us. We may wrestle with God, we may question God's intentions. But as long as we observe Shabbat, as long as we remain committed to tikkun olam, carrying on the sacred, ongoing work of creation, God remains our God, and we remain Israel, the People of God. God's Covenant with Israel is “for all time.” It is eternal.
© 2025 by Boaz D. Heilman
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