27 Feb INTERTWINED SOULS

This week’s parsha, Ki Sisa, tells of the
tragic episode of the Eigel HaZahav, the
Golden Calf.
Imagine Moshe Rabbeinu, descending
from Har Sinai with the Aseres HaDibros.
He heard sounds of partying, and sees his
beloved people celebrating around the
Eigel. Overcome with pain and heartache,
Moshe casts the Luchos, shattering them
at the foot of the mountain.
As distraught as he was, Moshe remained
first and foremost “Rabbeinu”, the
devoted, loving leader of Bnei Yisroel.
I think of a dedicated, caring father,
painfully aware of his child’s acting up in
school. Yet, the father has his son’s back,
and stands before the principal on his
behalf.
Though disappointed, Moshe was a
faithful leader and felt a responsibility
towards Bnei Yisroel. A duty that led him
to tell HaShem, “If you do not forgive
their sin, Macheini nah misifrecha asher

kosavta, Erase my name from Your book
that You have written.” (Shemos 32:32)
Moshe was not the first one mentioned in
the Torah to face devastation. Generations
earlier, Noach faced the destruction of the
world due to torrential rains and
floodwaters.
Two people. Two responses. When Noach
learned of the impending flood, he
listened to HaShem’s instructions and
built a teiva that became a safe haven for
him, his family and the various species of
animals that he brought inside. While
Noach was able to save his family, we do
not find that he beseeched HaShem to
save the world, to spare his fellow man.
Not one prayer.
In contrast, after the sin of the Golden
Calf, Moshe stood strong and steadfast
before HaShem, asking for compassion
and forgiveness on behalf of Bnei Yisroel.
He was prepared to forfeit his own honor.
A tefilla from the depth of his soul. A
tefilla that saved the nation.
The Holy Arizal teaches that there are
times when a part of a neshama returns to

the world in order to fulfill mitzvos
that were not performed properly.
A gilgul neshamos, (from the word
galgal, meaning a wheel, to come
around), a reincarnation of the soul
to return with the mission of
rectifying past misdeeds.
Chazal teach that Moshe was a
gilgul of Noach. We see many
connections, an intertwining of the
two neshamos. While Noach didn’t
daven for the saving of his fellow man,
Moshe pleaded and begged for his people.
There are many more soul connections.
We find the word teiva used only twice in
the Chumash. The teiva that Noach built
as a refuge from the flood, and the teiva
that Yocheved placed her baby Moshe in.
Each teiva was a place of protection, of
saving. Noach from the floodwaters,
Moshe from the decree of Pharaoh – to
throw every Jewish baby boy into the
river. In both cases, the saving was from
water.
In Noach’s time, it rained forty days and
forty nights. Moshe was on Har Sinai for
forty days and forty nights. Within
Noach’s teiva, there was a tzohar, a
source of light. And when Moshe was
born, Rashi quotes the Gemara in Sotah
that the home of Amram and Yocheved
became illuminated with light.
Furthermore, when Moshe received the
Torah, his face radiated a Keren Ohr, a
mystical, spiritual light.
Another parallel between Moshe and
Noach is in Moshe’s plea, macheini,
erase my name. The Hebrew spelling of
macheini is mem, ches, nun, yud. One
can rearrange the order of the letters to
form the phrase mei Noach, the waters
of Noach (mem, yud and nun, ches).
Additionally, if we examine the Hebrew
letters of macheini, we find Noach’s
name within it, albeit, reversed (ches,
nun). This signifies that Noach had it
all backwards. He sought favor in
HaShem’s eyes by doing only what he
was told, doing for himself, and nothing
more. He missed what it was all about,
that HaShem wants us to be there for
others.

Noach worked on his teiva for one-
hundred-twenty years. Moshe lived to

one-hundred-twenty. Finally, the Torah
(Bereishes 9:20) refers to Noach as an
Ish Ha-adama, a man of the earth, while

Moshe was called an Ish HaElokim, a
man of HaShem (Devarim33:1).
The Lubavitch Rebbe teaches that though
our neshama is a gilgul of a previous
neshama, mitzvos whose observance was
performed properly in a previous lifetime,
come easy to us to fulfill. It is the mitzvos
that were found to be difficult to observe
in a previous lifetime, that we, as a gilgul,
are now given the opportunity to rectify.
My mother would tell a story she heard
from her zeide, Rav Zvi Hirsch Cohen
zt”l. It was about the rov of Chernovitz,
whose son had a rebellious streak.
After much deliberation, members of the
community decided that the rov must be
told that his son should leave town, as he
was a negative influence upon the youth
of the village. A group was chosen to
speak to the rov.
It was before Rosh HaShana. The
delegation went to the rov’s home, where
the gabbai asked them to please wait a
bit, as the rov was davening in an
adjoining room.
Suddenly, they heard the rov crying,
pleading to HaShem. “HaShem, please
find love, kindness and compassion for
all of Klal Yisroel. They’re Your children.
Please, love them and bless them. And, if
you ask, who am I to say this, I will say
that I have a son who falls and stumbles
on Your path, who sometimes is very
distant. But if someone would come and
say ‘send him away’, I would fight for my
son and not listen.”
Without saying a word, the contingent
rose and left the rov’s home.
As Moshe looked beyond the misdeeds of
Bnei Yisroel and pleaded with HaShem
for forgiveness, so too should we look
beyond the wrongs of others and be
accepting and understanding. And, as
HaShem forgave Bnei Yisroel, so too
should we follow His ways, and be
forgiving of others.