Ki Tisa: 5782 - A special interpretation on the weekly parsha attributed to Reb Levi Yitzchok, the Rebbe's father • Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with the weekly insight on Parshas Ki Tisa.

00:01 In the weekly parsha, there is a very special interpretation from the Rebbe’s father, Reb Levi Yitzchak. We learn that after the sin of the Golden Calf, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu: “Leave Me be, and I will destroy them.” But what about the promise I made to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, that I would make their descendants into a great nation? Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu: “I will make you into a great nation.” You are their descendant, so I will make you into a great nation. Moshe Rabbeinu says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “And now, if You will forgive their sin—and if not, erase me, please, from Your book that You have written.” At first glance, something seems to be missing from the continuation of the verse. Rashi points this out and says: If You forgive them, then good; I will not ask You to erase me. “And if not, erase me, please, from Your book that You have written.” The wording is abbreviated. Reb Levi Yitzchak asks: Why does it have to be written in this abbreviated form? Why couldn’t it say, “If You forgive them, then good; and if not, erase me, please, from Your book”? Rather, he explained it this way: When Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu, “Leave Me be, and I will destroy them”—but what will become of the promise?—“I will make you into a great nation,” Moshe Rabbeinu answers Hakadosh Boruch Hu: You want to destroy the Jewish people? And why do You want to destroy them? Because You have a promise to fulfill: “I will make you into a great nation.” That means I would be the reason You want to destroy them. Moshe Rabbeinu says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “If You will forgive—and if not, erase me, please, from Your book that You have written.” If there is even a possibility that I could be the cause of “I will destroy them,” G-d forbid, then I am ashamed of myself. I am ashamed of my very existence. So, “If You will forgive—and if not, erase me, please, from Your book that You have written.”