This week's section is called Ki Tis\u00e1, when you count (this refers to the fact that when you want to count the number of people in the Jewish community, you must do it through something else, in this case, half a shekel. Nowadays, a verse or another system is used, but you shouldn't count directly).<\/p>\n
Among the topics that appear in this parashah is the Ketoret, the incense that was to be offered daily in the Temple. Our sages explain that the incense was composed of eleven different spices (see Rashi on verse Exodus 30:34 and Baal haTurim on verse 30:37).<\/p>\n
Among those eleven spices was galbanum (jelbena in Hebrew), whose aroma was unpleasant. Obviously, when it refers to unpleasantness, it refers to humankind, since, in God's eyes, there are no pleasant or unpleasant aromas, except when He Himself defines something as pleasing to Him, such as the aroma of sacrifices burned on the altar. In fact, our sages dwell on the idea that when a dove was burned on the altar, including its feathers, it produced an extremely unpleasant aroma for humans. However, the fact that God calls it a pleasant aroma teaches us that God values the offering of a wealthy person (which was generally a cow or a goat) as much as the offering of a poor person (a dove).<\/p>\n
Returning to frankincense, galbanum teaches us yet another idea (despite its unpleasant aroma): we must include the sinners of the Jewish people in our fasts and prayers. This same idea is expressed in the Hebrew word for congregation: Tzibur. This word is composed primarily of three letters: tzadik, symbolizing the righteous (tzadikim); bet, symbolizing the middle-class (beinonim); and reish, symbolizing the wicked (reshaim). In other words, a congregation is formed by all three types of people.<\/p>\n
Judaism posits that God does not decree that a person is righteous or wicked. There is no destiny or predetermination. There is, however, a natural inclination within each person to be one way or another, generally dictated by the influence of the astrological sign under which they were born, but this influence is not determining; it can be overcome. However, according to this idea (of including the wicked alongside the rest of the congregation), a problem arises: God would be forcing a group of people within the congregation to be wicked, such that otherwise, we wouldn't have a complete incense offering or a complete congregation...<\/p>\n
There are several ways to think about this question, at different levels:<\/p>\n
1. God does not decree that individuals must behave in any particular way. Each person has free will to choose their own path. The fact that God has said there will be wicked people is not a justification for doing evil, nor does it force the wicked to act wickedly. No one can justify themselves by saying that they complete the offering of incense or the congregation through their evil deeds.<\/p>\n
2. There will always be different levels of people, and even if everyone acts, speaks, and thinks correctly according to the laws of the Torah, differences will always exist, such that we can say one is higher than another. Thus, compared to the supremely righteous, the "lower" righteous person would be called wicked (but compared to a truly wicked person, the lower righteous person is supremely righteous).<\/p>\n
Be that as it may, in a world where, sadly, there are Jews who do not know their own roots and traditions, this week's parashah teaches us very directly that we must bring them closer to the Torah, as Aaron (another great protagonist of this week's reading) used to do, according to the words of our sages (Pirkei Avot 1:12) "love peace, pursue peace, love creatures and bring them closer to the Torah.".<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"La secci\u00f3n de esta semana se llama Ki Tis\u00e1, cuando cuentes (esto se refiere a que cuando se quiera contar la cantidad de personas del pueblo jud\u00edo, se debe hacer a trav\u00e9s de otra cosa, en este caso, medio shekel. Hoy en d\u00eda se utiliza un vers\u00edculo u otro sistema, pero no deben contarse directamente).… Read More \u00bbBad smell...<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,56],"tags":[1155,1033,1024,969,978,1003,1009,973,942],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editoriales","category-ki-tisa","tag-incienso","tag-libre-albedrio","tag-ofrenda","tag-parasha-2","tag-pirkei-avot","tag-rezo","tag-sacrificio","tag-templo","tag-tora"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Ketoret.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/avatar1400.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"castbox":{"key":"castbox","url":"","label":"CastBox","class":"castbox","icon":"castbox.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/rabino-tuvia-serber","embedCode":"Mal olor...<\/a><\/blockquote>