What is it about the shabbat before Pesach that merits the special designation “The Great Shabbat?” Shabbat 113b explains that the Jewish people would be redeemed if we all observed two Shabbatot.

Every Shabbat morning, one half an hour before the davening starts at Musar Avicha, a small band of stalwarts assembles for Rav Ezra’s Mishna shiur. We are working our way, slowly and deliberately, through Menahot, the tractate that deals with the meal-offerings that were brought to the Beit Hamikdash.

Is this logical at all? When I read Parashat Ki Tisa, this is one of the most significant questions that comes to mind.

Parshat Terumah begins with Hashem’s instruction to the Jewish nation to contribute gold, silver, and a variety of other materials to the great cause of erecting and furnishing a Mishkan (Tabernacle). Yet the appeal’s wording is very strange: “Speak to the children of Israel and let them take a portion for me” (Exodus 25:2), begging the obvious question: Why does the Torah tell the people to take a portion when in essence they are giving one?

This Parasha covers many topics, but I would like to focus on a special connection and special attribute (middah). The connection between Moshe Rabenu and his father in law (Yitro) and the middah of respecting one’s elders.