Parshat Ki Tissa

And Moses said to the Lord: "Look, You say to me: 'Bring this people up!' But You have not informed me whom You will send with me. And You said: 'I have known you by name and you have also found favor in My eyes.' And now, if I have indeed found favor in Your eyes, pray let me know Your ways, so that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your eyes; and consider that this nation is Your people."

(Shemot 33:12-13)

 

And Moses said... Look - That is to say: Look at the trouble I'm in.

(Ibn Ezra ad loc)

 

He asked to be told the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, and He granted it to him, for it is said, pray let me know Your ways. He said to Him: Lord of the Universe, why is there a righteous man who enjoys a good life and a righteous man who suffers evil; there is a wicked man who enjoys a good life and a wicked man who suffers evil?

...rather, this is what He told him: A righteous man who enjoys a good life [he is] a completely righteous man; a righteous man who suffers evil - an incompletely righteous man. An evil man who enjoys a good life [is] an incompletely wicked man; a wicked man who suffers evil - a completely wicked man.

(Berakhot 7a)

 

 

Noah was a righteous man he was perfect - Righteous man - tzadik - means he [fulfilled his obligations] between man and Heaven; "wicked man" means the contrary. However, righteous man he was perfect [which can also be read, a perfect righteous man] means that he was also righteous in connection to [relations] between man and his fellow. And so we find that the Sages (Berakhot 85) distinguish between the tzadik who has a good life and the tzadik who suffers, that the former is a complete tzadik [tzadik gamur] and the latter an incomplete tzadik; but the difference between complete and incomplete is not explained. This matter can be clarified by referring to the verse in Isaiah (3:10-11), Praise the righteous man for he is good, for the fruit of their deeds they shall eat. Woe to the wicked [who does] evil, for the recompense of his hands shall be done to him. In reference to this they said in Kiddushin 40: "But is there such a thing as a good tzadik and a bad tzadik? Rather, one who is good both to Heaven and to people is a good tzadik. [One who is] good to Heaven but bad to people is a tzadik who is not good. Similarly [it may be asked regarding the phrase] Woe to the wicked [who does] evil [or: Woe to the evil wicked man] - is there an evil wicked man and one who is not evil? Rather, one who is bad both to Heaven and to people is an evil wicked man." We have learned that the verse for the fruit of their deeds they shall eat applies to the tzadik who is good both to Heaven and to people - that is, he will eat his fruit [his divine reward] in this world.

(HaAmek Davar Bereishit 6:9)

 

This man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt

Charisma and the Golden Calf

Ronen Ahituv

Many have tried to understand what brought the Israelites to commit the terrible sin of the Golden calf so soon after witnessing so many miracles. Various solutions have been offered to this problem, most of which treat it as a theological question. Let us try to discuss it in terms of the verse in which the sinners themselves explain their actions:

The people gathered against Aaron, and they said to him: "Come on! Make us gods that will go before us, because this man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt we don't know what has become of him." (Shemot 32:1)

The Israelites' request is based upon the assumption that Moses is the god who goes before the people and that it was he who took them out of Egypt. Since Moses went missing, a replacement had to be found.

We see that Moses' role in the people's imagination was an important factor in the sin of the Calf. The sin was not only a function of the relationship between the people and God; Moses also had a part in it - albeit a passive role. Moses was seen by the people as a divine figure and not a mere human being. Moses may not have been the only god they believed in, and perhaps they thought there was another god above him, but it they certainly thought that Moses was the particular god who took them out of Egypt.

At first glance the Israelites appear to be seriously and dangerously wrongheaded. However, upon closer examination of Scripture - and of the midrashim - we find their belief has some basis. Let us consider four verses and one midrash that support the idea of Moses being superhuman:

And the Lord said to Moses: See, I have given you as a god to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. (Shemot 7:1)

And the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in Moses, His servant.(Shemot 14:31)

And we cried out to the Lord, and He heard out voices and sent an angel, and he took us out of Egypt.(Bamidbar 20:16)

And this is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, gave (Devarim 33:1)

A prayer of Moses, man of God. If man, then why god? And if god, why man?

Rather, when he stood before Pharaoh he was called "god," for it is said: See, I have given you as a god to Pharaoh (Shemot 7:1); but when he fled from him, he was called a "man."

Another thing: when he was cast into the Nile he was called a "man," but when he changed it into blood he was called "god"...

R. Abin said: His bottom half was called "man" [his top half, "god"] (Midrash Tehillim 90)

The verses listed above support the notion that Moses was superhuman. He is explicitly referred to as a "god," and, together with God, he is an object of faith. He is also called an "angel," but perhaps the clearest indication of his status is given by the expression the man of God, which the midrash understands literally: Moses was - at least in part - a god.

True, the midrash can be read as reacting to "that man" who is believed by his followers to combine the human and the divine, but it cannot be denied that the cited verses seem to support Moses' divinity.

If Moses was in fact divine, and the Israelites were dependent upon him, how could they survive without their leader-god? The call for a replacement is genuine and justified, but Aaron cannot fill Moses' shoes, so no replacement is to be found. Thus, there is nothing at all surprising about the sin of the Golden Calf.

God first reacts to the sin by telling Moses, Go, descend, for your people that you have brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly. God, perhaps ironically, repeats the claim held by those who worship the Calf: It was Moses who brought Israel up from Egypt! Not by a seraph, nor by God, but rather Moses, in person...

It seems that God's jealousy is not directed against the Calf, which is nothing but a lump of gold, but rather against His prophet Moses, to whom was misdirected praise deserved by the God who saved them from Egypt.

Moses corrects the description, and says; Why, O Lord, should Your anger be kindled against Your people whom You have brought up from the land of Egypt? (Shemot 32:11). So - Moses had no part in the cult of personality surrounding him; rather, he correctly states that God and God alone is the redeemer. It is the only way to assuage God's anger.

Moses, with great modesty, emphasizes his awareness of the division of roles between himself and God. True, the people do not share Moses' understanding, but at least he himself is not personally caught up in delusions. Moses' personal awareness of how things truly stand does have some influence, and it prevents the popular error from gaining further ground.

Who are these words aimed at? The charismatic men of God who continue to be found among us even today. Indeed, the word "charisma" derives from the Greek; it means "gift of god." A person's ability to charm people and pull them after him was understood to be a divine gift; this serves to justify the common image of the charismatic person as blessed by God or even serving as His representative on earth. Such people are not to be blamed for possessing phenomenal abilities or for being viewed as superhuman by the masses. Their great powers can be used towards holy and important goals of redemption, repair, and education.

However, when those charismatic leaders start believing in the superlatives spoken of them, they and the entire community become endangered by the terrible sin of "hubris." The more they succeed and achieve communal results, the greater the danger will become.

If a "man of God" leader fails, how will we contend with the calamity? Will we blame God Himself for the fiasco?

And if he never does fail, who will replace this Moses when we don't know what has become of him?

The biblical story implies that even though Moses completely avoided the trap of hubris, he failed to prevent the sin of the Calf that was connected with his popular image. This shows us that at the end of the day, responsibility rests on the believers themselves and not solely on the charismatic leader. A venerated leader is limited in his ability to avoid being deified, and he should not be alone in contending with that danger. The sin of the Calf teaches us that the public must also take pains to overcome its spiritual dependency in order not to find itself dancing once more around a holy Golden Calf.

Ronen Ahituv from Mitzpe Netufa is a teacher and a darshan.

 

This is what they are to give, everyone that goes through the counting: half a shekel...

Rabbi Abba bar Aha said: It is impossible to determine the nature of this people; they are asked to contribute for the calf and they do so, they are asked to contribute to the Tabernacle and they comply.

(J. Shekalim 1:1)

 

The symbol with which everyone expresses personal commitment to giving and doing is the Mahatzit Hashekel -- the half-shekel. The individual's contribution - even though it be as complete as possible - can, objectively speaking, never be complete. An individual's action is never more than a small part of something; for his action to be whole, there must be equal devotion on the part of his brother. The individual is not expected to complete anything: "You are not obliged to complete the work." But he is expected to contribute his share towards the whole, through the half-shekel [The shekel is the equivalent of 20 gera, and the individual offering is 10 gera]; his contribution is, in itself, subjectively complete and rounded-off. His contribution is the most perfect thing which he is able to do, and he must weigh on the scales of his conscience. His action is only partial, infinitesimal in comparison with the whole which must be done, but his duty is to not conserve any effort, talent or wealth in advancing attainment of the whole and of the general well-being. Even though "You are not required to complete the work - you are not free to desist there from." His half-shekel will be 10 gera of the Holy-Shrine shekel.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch on Shemot 30:13)

 

When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with the finger of God.

When the people saw that Moses was late in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron, and they said to him: "Come on! Make us gods that will go before us, because this man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt we don't know what has become of him."

(Shemot 31:18; 32:1)

 

Is it possible that the Children of Israel - only forty days after the Revelation at Sinai, while the words I am the Lord and You shall have no gods still echo in their ears - are seeking other gods?!

It appears that the Torah wished to teach us, by presenting a number of examples, that indeed, such things can occur. The assumption that people who stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai are incapable of again sinking into ignorance, into foolishness, into the abomination of idolatry - such an assumption is basically fallacious...

Overt miracles - one-time wondrous happenings - do not change a person, his personality, his habits. They may strongly impress him temporarily, but they do not cut him off from his world, his accomplishments, his past, his lifetime habits.

(From N. Leibowitz, Iyyunim Besefer Shemot, pg. 399)

 

All of the types of holiness, [that of] the Land of Israel, Jerusalem and the Temple, they are but details and branches of the Torah, and they are sanctified through the Torah's holiness... Do not imagine, God forbid, that the Temple and the Tabernacle are intrinsically holy objects! God dwells among His sons, and if they, to a man, have transgressed the Covenant (Hosea 6:7), all holiness is removed from them, and they become like profane vessels "intruders came and desecrated it." Titus entered the Holy of Holies with a prostitute and was not harmed (Gittin 56b) because its holiness had been removed. More than that - the Tablets - the writing of God - are not holy in themselves, but only for your sake when you observe that which is written in them...no created thing is holy in itself, but only in that Israel observes the Torah.

...None of the holy places are founded in religion... [As for] Mount Sinai, the place of religion, as soon as the Divine Presence left it - the sheep and cattle climbed up it (Shemot 19:13)!

(Meshekh Hokhmah Shemot 32:19;12: 21)

 

Our Rabbi Moses exemplified this when he broke the tablets as soon as he saw the people transgress the commandment make no idol or image for yourself. We must understand that the expression idol or any image applies not only to the golden calf made by Israel, but to every natural existent: Nation, land, homeland, flag, army, idea, a personality, and so forth, whenever they are treated as being holy.

(Y. Leibowitz: Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashiyot HaShavu'a, pg. 401)

 

Face to face

And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face - The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "Did I not stipulate with you that if your face expresses anger, My face will placate your face, and when My face expresses anger, your face will placate Mine? Go back and enter the camp!" For it is said, and the Lord spoke to Moses face to face.

(Shemot Rabbah 45)

 

And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face - We do not know whether the lower one raised himself up, or if the higher one lowered Himself down. R. Yehoshua ben Levi said: It was, so to speak, that the Exalted One of the Universe bent Himself down, for it is said: And the Lord descended into the tent.

(Tanhuma Ki Tissa 27)

 

...Moses, our teacher, [would prophesize] without the medium of an angel, as [Bamidbar 12:8] states: Mouth to mouth I speak to him, and [Shemot 33:11] states: And God spoke to Moses face to face. [Bamidbar 12:8] states: He gazes upon the image of God - i.e., there was no metaphor. Rather, he would perceive the matter in its fullness, without metaphor or allegory. The Torah testifies concerning him [Bamidbar 12:8]: I speak to him...] manifestly, without allegory. His appreciation of prophecy would not be through metaphor, but through open revelation, appreciating the matter in its fullness. All the [other] prophets are overawed, terrified, and confounded [by the revelations they experience], but Moses, our teacher, would not [respond in this manner], as [Shemot 33:11] relates: [God spoke to Moses...] as a man speaks to a friend - i.e., just as a person will not be awe-struck from hearing his friend's words, so, too, Moses' mental power was sufficient to comprehend the words of prophecy while he was standing in a composed state.

(RaMBaM Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 7:6, Based on Tauger translation)

 

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: "Son of man! The house of Israel, as long as they lived on their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their misdeeds, like the uncleanness of a woman in the period of her separation was their way before Me. Wherefore I poured My wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. According to their way and their misdeeds did I judge them... For I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you to your land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean; from all your impurities and from all your abominations will I cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

(From the haftara for Parashat Parah, Ezekiel 36)

 

 

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