Parsha:

Ki Tisa 

Description

Hashem approved Moshe's breaking of the luchos (tablets) upon seeing the Golden Calf. After a spiritual fall, we often have no energy to lift ourselves up. The shofar shows us how to return to simplicity after breakage. The second set of luchos are connected to baalei teshuvah (returnees to Jewish observance). We must feel the pain of breakage in order to fix. After we do a sin, we enter a state of aveilus (mourning). There are two types of anguish, and two types of simcha that a person can access to either decend or ascend.