Dear Friends
This week’s Parsha Ki Sisa recounts one of the most dramatic and painful moments in the Torah.
Just weeks after standing at Mount Sinai and hearing G-d speak, the Jewish people panic when Moses delays returning from the mountain. In their confusion and fear they create the Golden Calf, and a terrible mistake unfolds. It becomes one of the great spiritual failures of our history.
In the aftermath, G-d describes the Jewish people with a striking phrase:
“I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.” (Exodus 32:9)
At first glance, that does not sound flattering. A stiff neck suggests stubbornness—an unwillingness to bend, to listen, or to change direction.
But later in the very same Parsha something remarkable happens. When Moses pleads with G-d for forgiveness, he actually uses that same description as part of his argument:
“…for it is a stiff-necked people; forgive our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” (Exodus 34:9)
Moses seems to be saying, "Yes, we are stubborn." But that same stubbornness can also be our strength.
Because every human trait has two sides. A shadow side and a light side.
The shadow side of stubbornness is obvious. It can make a person refuse to admit mistakes, resist guidance, or cling to something they should let go of. That stubbornness played a role in the tragedy of the Golden Calf.
But stubbornness also has a light side. It can mean resilience. It can mean loyalty. It can mean refusing to abandon what is sacred even when the world pressures you to.
Jewish history is filled with that kind of positive stubbornness.
Empires tried to erase us. Cultures tried to absorb us. Ideas tried to replace our traditions. Yet generation after generation of Jews remained Jewish—sometimes quietly, sometimes heroically, but always with that same refusal to let go.
Parents insisted their children learn Torah. Families kept Shabbat even when it was difficult. Jews held on to their identity even when it cost them.
That is the light side of being a stiff-necked people.
And perhaps that is the deeper lesson of the Parsha. The goal is not to erase our personality traits. The goal is to channel them.
The same energy that can lead to mistakes can also lead to greatness when directed in the right way.
A stubborn people can also be a deeply loyal people.
A people who fall far can also be a people who rise high again.
And that, in many ways, is the story of the Jewish people.
Wishing you a wonderful Shabbat,
Shabbat Shalom ,
Rabbi Yitzi & Rishi Hein