Deep thought for Parshah Ki Tisa

By way of background, Ki Tisa is notable for two things: First and formost, the story of the Golden Calf is told here, and the second is the instructions on the census, where every Jewish male 20 years and older, regardless of their wealth (or poverty), had to give half a shekel.

We learn a number of things here, but one thing in particular is that we are not individually whole, that we are but half, and must be with another in order to complete ourselves. In a sense, this first reading (which reviews the census) itself reinforces this.

This reading is 41 sentences long, and twice that is 92, which in turn is written as Tzadek-Bet. I would suggest that there is an underlying reinforcement that we must have two Tzadeks, wise men, from which we learn, that when two wise men review Torah and reach a consensus, then there is some underlying assurance they have reached a correct reading of Torah.

Shavuah tov!