Shabbos Parashas Ki Sisa - 5779
Shabbos Parashas Ki Sisa - 5779
Rabbi Hal Miller
He took it from their hands and bound it up in a cloth, and fashioned it into a molten calf. Then they
said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." [Shemos 32:4]
The entire Jewish people were out in the desert together, and as one the entire nation met the Creator of everything, face to face. No other nation ever met God, although in each of the other religions some one individual claimed to have done so. The awesomeness of the event had to have been overpowering. So how could that generation, the ones closest to God, have fallen so low so quickly? What is the golden
calf incident about?
There appear to be three schools of thought. Some explain that it was the erev rav behind this, rather than the Jews. Others say that what the Jews were asking for is actually legitimate. Yet others say that it was in fact a weakness and sin in the Jewish people.
Yakult Shimoni brings Tehillim [3:3] and Yeshayahu [17:12] to show that the actions of the people regarding the calf constitute a direct violation of "You shall not have any other gods", and says "there is no salvation for them in God," thus it was a sin. Nachshoni says that this proves miracles do not change a person, only time and actions will.
But what really happened? In 32:1 we see why the people asked: they "saw that Moshe had delayed in
descending the mountain". Then, in the same verse, we see what they asked for: "Rise up, make for us elohim that will go before us, for this man Moshe who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what became of him." In 32:2, Aharon begins his activity, directing the people to bring him gold. He then takes up with our verse and makes the statue.
Rashi blames the erev rav, those non-Jews who accompanied the people out of Egypt and constantly caused trouble. He notes that upon completion of the "elohim", it says, "they said, these are your gods." It does not say 'he said', referring to Aharon. It does not say "these are our gods". It was therefore these nonmembers of the family of Israel who gathered around Aharon and bid him make the calf. Ramban, although he disagrees with much of Rashi's other comments, seems to support this point when he notes that whoever was speaking did not say that these are the gods that brought us up out of Egypt, rather "brought you up out of Egypt", implying that the speakers were not actually members of the nation. Clearly, something made now could not have been the power that led them out of Egypt in the preceding months so the Jews would not have thought such.
Kuzari, in a classic interpretation, explains that all the nations at the time had some material component toward which they directed their prayers, and the Jews felt a need to do the same. Since the Revelation, the people expected Moshe to return with the Tablets, for which he would build an Aron, and they would pray towards it to keep themselves focused on God. We find similar in the Cheruvim on top of the Aron in the Temple, and also today with the Torah in the Ark in each synagogue. The difference is that God commanded the Cheruvim and Aron, not the calf.
Beis HaLevi challenges the idea that the Jews did something wrong. He says that every commandment comes with deep reasons that we do not understand. Therefore if we take it upon ourselves to add to or subtract from the commandments, we are likely to miss something critical, thus they would not have done so. Instead, he differs with the translation of 'elohim' as gods, and refers instead to the use in Shemos [22:27] of 'judges' or 'leaders', meaning they were looking for a replacement for Moshe.
Malbim notes that when the people left Egypt, they faced and followed the pillars of fire and cloud as they traveled and prayed. At no time did the people think that those pillars were divine beings, rather symbols for God's leadership, power, and protection. They had no difficulty with that, and were looking for the same here. When Moshe failed to return, the people believed he must have died because they knew that Moshe hadn't taken any food or drink with him. They concluded that there would be no Tablets, no Aron, and no Cheruvim. They needed a human, a man of God, to continue to lead them, so they demanded that Aharon provide this instead. The sin of the calf was not a rebellion, rather a sin involving several missteps and transgressions of several of God's commandments.