Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ki Tisa (כי תשא) and Parshat Parah (פרשת פרה). The main focus of the parsha this week is The Sin of the Golden Calf. HaShem tells Moshe to go down to his people. He drops or throws the original tablets, smashing them. And then we have the aftermath of the sin. A new set of tablets are created by Moshe. The sages say that we received the instructions for the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was to create a mobile Har Sinai so that HaShem would always be with us. And Parshat Parah is a reminder that we need to become ritually pure before the upcoming Pesach (Passover) holiday. But the Parah Adumah (the red cow) is a fixing for the Golden Calf. By the way, I recently saw the red cows that are being raised in Israel in an effort to be able to fullfill the purification ritual.

So if we take all of that into consideration, this week my wife and I have spent significant quality time in our safe room due to missile alerts. And during the day, I would take my work laptop with me because I was helping customers with the aftermath of the attacks on the AWS AZs in Bahrain and the UAE. Just as the HaShem did after the sin of the golden calf, we have fixes, the red cow. After the destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temples, the sages pivoted and made adjustments. And now after destruction in various places around The Middle East, folks are working together to pivot and adjust and help each other, physically, virtually and logically (like with computer stuff).

This past week was also Purim, where the Jews of Persia were to be attacked. We did have some alerts during Purim, but were able to hear Megillah and have a quiet, small festive meal with some friends. We make due, adjust and pivot as needed and as we have done throughout Covid, Oct 7th, June’s 12 days and now. We must believe that this will end for the better and that things will improve on the other side and we pray that the human costs will not be too high.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Shabbat Shalom.