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Ketoret
Samim on Ki Tissa
Hagaon
Rav Ketoret
Samim zt”l on Parshat Ki
Tissa
(from
Ketoret
Samim quoted in Mayana Shel Torah)
Moshe, the Wealthy Tzaddik
Print Version
After
G-d forgave the people for the sin of the golden
calf, he told Moshe to fashion two new tablets,
"Pesal lekha shnei luchot avanim." The Sages, building
on the verb "pesal" (fashion, carve out), say (Midrash
Rabbah 46), "The remnants (pesolet) of the [precious]
stones are yours. Said the Holy One, blessed be
He, 'Moshe has the right to the stones. When all
of Israel was busy asking their Egyptian neighbors
for silver and gold, Moshe was involved with taking
the bones of Yosef out of Egypt. Moshe remained
poor, but now I will give him the remnants of the
precious stones and he will become rich."
Asked the Ketoret Samim, "Why did G-d not give Moshe
his wealth immediately when the Jews left Egypt?
Why did he wait four months until the breaking of
the tablets to make Moshe wealthy?
He answers: it only became important for Moshe to
become wealthy after the sin of the golden calf.
When Moshe interceded on behalf of the people of
Israel, his defense was that Israel was not able
to withstand the temptation of the silver and gold
they were loaded with. He said to G-d, "A lion does
not roar from a container of straw but from a container
of meat (= Israel would not have sinned if You had
not brought them so much wealth).
However, in his position as the teacher of Israel
he was obligated to rebuke the people for their
misuse of the gold that G-d gave them. However,
if Moshe had remained poor, they could have retorted,
"Who are you to criticize us for misusing the gold?
You never had such a temptation. Had you been rich,
perhaps you also might have sinned." Moshe himself
had no interest in wealth, but when there was a
need for him to be in a position to be able to give
rebuke to the people of Israel, G-d gave him the
reward that was coming to him from four months earlier.
That way the people saw that Moshe was the same
tzaddik that he was before despite his immense wealth
and his rebuke was powerful because he was also
a role model for a wealthy tzaddik.
[prepared
by Eliezer Kwass]
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