Thread by @GREENESJ333

Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote, "SHABBAT SHALOM EVERYONE

Parshat Ki Tisa
Exodus 30:11–34:35

Part I

(1). That everyone was responsible equally, to donate 1/2 shekel of silver in value to the construction of the Sanctuary.
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This was the first tax levied for a public purpose, and it was the first tax levied by Israelites on Israelites for a Israelite purpose, in contrast to Egypt where our people paid Egyptians for Egyptian purposes.
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And, perhaps most importantly, it was an equal tax, the same amount for each person regardless of who they were, regardless of status, regardless of position. All of our people were equal, both under law, and in responsibility. That alone was a revolutionary concept.
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(2). Two skilled men were put in charge of building the Sanctuary, which was to be impressive, of great beauty and color, and to be 100% portable, and of the highest quality of construction.
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This required organizing people skilled in design, engineering, carpentry, fabric production, dye-making, and art, something amazing considering these were people born in slavery in an alien culture.
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And the people are commanded that they must not do any of the work on Shabbat. Our Sages thereafter deduced that those creative skills that were required for building the Sanctuary for the whole nation were those exact things that should not be done on Shabbat.
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PART II -

Is the drama that unfolded because of expectations. People expected Moshe to come down off the mountain sooner than some guessed - the seeming delay opening the door to worry and impatience,
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and opening opportunity to those who had interests in contesting Moshe’s leadership and, for some, who preferred to return to Egypt and regain the status they had there (those that had privileged positions by conforming to the Egyptians & gaining favor with Egyptian leaders,
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like Korach). So to show their rebellion and appease their former masters, they party, they build a golden calf and celebrate the end of Moshe. Of course, Moshe comes down off the mountain, is angry, smashes the tablets in his hands,
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and destroyed the idol his opponents built and in the confusion, many of the “never Moshe” pro-Egypt protesters, die.

We see the same kind of thing happening through our history, don’t we? Jews who convert to other religions for positions and wealth to avoid persecution,
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and who too often turn against us and persecute us or at least make persecuting us more palatable to the Gentiles. “Court Jews”- who have little in common with Jewish interests, but who the Gentile Establishment calls “Jewish leaders”,
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assuming their opinions are “Jewish” opinion”. Or how about the Jews who are so desperate to see Judaism as just another religion with a few different prayers but part of some great universal belief system in which to be submerged,
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so as to fit in with their Gentile associates, to buy safety and acceptance by playing down differences, or by going so far as to adopt everything that is not Jewish.
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Yes, we see it all the time, in signs held by Jewish kids supporting BDS and more, and in Israelis who try to mimic everything European as if assuming that it is better and has better answers than anything Jewish.
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IN THE PAST FEW YEARS WE SAW KORAKH in the form of so-called Jewish leaders in the US and Europe threatening the Jewish National Fund not to help Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.
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We can see Korakh, in those, in both Israel and the Diaspora, who hate the idea of Israel establishing its Jewish identity and Jewish culture in law, establishing Shabbat as the national day of rest,
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establishing Jewish symbols as an expression of the majority of the Israeli nation. We all know of Korakh who would prefer Israel to be a totally secular, Eurocentric nation.
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Of course, they would never demand that Italy and France end their Sunday business close-downs or demand that so many countries take the cross off their flags, but for Israel, they demand that Shabbat and Jewish symbols be put aside.
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Double Standards always indicate hypocrisy, and in some ways, in our case, a Jewish Stockholm syndrome left over from 2000 years of persecution and exclusion.

Think about it."
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