PARSHAT KI TISSA – EMBEDDED THOUGHTS
Parshat Ki Tissa tells the story of the sin of the Golden Calf.
Briefly: On the day still celebrated as the holiday of Shavuot, Moshe (Moses) ascended to heaven where he was presented with the Ten Commandments. The entire nation heard Hashem (G-d) Himself speaking the first two commandments on the Oneness of Hashem and the prohibition against idolatry. Moshe remained in ‘the Above’ for 40 days during which time he was taught the entire Torah. While in heaven, Moshe was presented with two stone tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed.
The Jews then erred. They mistakenly calculated that Moshe was expected back by a certain time. When he did not arrive by then, they assumed that he would never return. They therefore created a Golden Calf, which they thought could somehow act as their intermediary to Hashem in lieu of Moshe. The situation then somehow devolved into outright worship of the Calf. In truth, Moshe was not due back until a somewhat later time.
Hashem told Moshe who was still on the mountain, “Go descend – for your nation that you brought up from Egypt has become corrupt. They have strayed quickly from the way that I have commanded them; they have made themselves a molten calf, prostrated themselves to it and sacrificed to it and they said, “This is your G-d, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt” (Ki Tissa 32:8,9).” Moshe descended from the mountain, and upon observing their debauchery, he cast the tablets from his hand, breaking them.
Hashem considered destroying all of the Jews and rebuilding the nation from Moshe’s progeny. Moshe responded by ascending to Heaven for two successive 40 day periods to pray for their forgiveness. Hashem accepted his prayers, and presented Moshe with a second set of the tablets. The day of Moshe’s final return with the tablets was the 10th of Tishrei, a date has since been celebrated as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Parshat Tetzaveh describes that when Moshe appeared with the second tablets on Yom Kippur, there was an intense emanation of the Divine Presence upon his face. In fact, it was so awe inspiring, that the Jews were afraid to look at him. From then on, Moshe donned a veil when he interacted with the people. And when Moshe entered the Tabernacle to speak with Hashem, he removed the veil.
Why did Hashem bestow His emanation upon Moshe at that time?
The commentary of the Daat Zekenim Mibaalei Hatosafot (Ki Sissa 34:30) explains that it was to correct their mistake of attributing divinity to the Golden Calf. The Divine Presence upon his face confirmed that it was Moshe and not the Calf that spoke on behalf of Hashem.
It is hard to understand why the people had to be reminded that the Calf was a sham. As the Midrash Rabbah (51:6) on Parshat Pekudei explains, their basic attitude was to believe in Hashem. Their worship of the Calf was a temporary aberration from which they quickly repented – in full. Furthermore, when Moshe came upon the scene he forcefully demonstrated that the Calf was a bogus deity. He burned it and then ground it up and cast it into water, which he made the Jews drink (Ki Tissa 32:20). Moshe also organized the Tribe of Levi who killed the 3,000 Jews who committed outright idolatry with the Calf.
Seemingly, all of this indicates that the remaining Jews were totally disabused of the error of their Calf-worship. If so, was it necessary to ‘light up’ Moshe’s countenance to demonstrate that worshiping the Calf was a mistake?
This demonstrates that once a mistaken idea takes hold in a person’s mind, it becomes embedded and very hard to totally uproot. It is like a lingering disease that might ‘seem’ to be cured but whose traces remain in the body, only to surface at a later date in full force. Hashem, who sees our inner thoughts, knew that despite all that transpired after Moshe’s return and despite their sincere repentance, lingering ruminants of their idolatrous beliefs remained alive and well within them. And like a disease, those latent beliefs could later blossom into full fledged idolatry. So, to help further remove those beliefs, Hashem performed the miracle of the emanation upon Moshe’s face.
‘In a word:’
This teaches the need to be wary of exposure to beliefs that are antithetical to traditional Torah values whenever possible. For example, it might be necessary for one’s work or studies to interact with individuals whose morals and ethics are sorely lacking – but that doesn’t mean that, if possible, those people shouldn’t be avoided socially. “Business is business,” but needlessly comparing ideologies over dinner could leave a harmful and enduring mental imprint.
In a similar vein, it would be best if parents could monitor the TV and movies watched by their children. (This might be a caricature, but) a present day incarnation of ‘wholesome’ family media might feature a separated married couple with children where the father has another girlfriend with children who is separated from her husband and ditto the mother and her boyfriend. What makes it ‘wholesome’ is that they all get along happily.
Leaving religion aside, the basic notion that infidelity in marriage is really ‘wholesome’ becomes an unseen poison pill carried into adulthood that can eventually ruin any marriage. Even good marriages tend to have periods of difficulty. If those periods are toughed out, many more years of marital bliss can ensue. But believing that it is really OK to relieve the tension at home through an adulterous tryst could lead to going down that path. That, in turn, could wreck the marriage and inflict permanent emotional harm on one’s children.
Once unwholesome ideas become embedded into one’s psyche, they are most difficult to completely remove.
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