Golden Calf. The biggest scam in our history. A golden calf at the foot of the mountain on which the Torah was given - Mount Sinai.
What went through their minds forty days after the giving of the Torah? How did they come up with the idea of dancing around a metal calf and defining it as "God, your God, Israel"?
But when you look at the initiators of the calf and the dancers of the dances, you understand the whole story. You also understand why, in front of the remnant of our Temple, in front of the most sacred place for the people of Israel, the ideological descendants of those sons of Belial can stand and dance a cheerful reform dance.
We understand how a member of the Israeli Knesset can dance on the blood of a Jew killed by fire from our forces during a stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion intersection.
We understand that we have not yet gotten rid of that destructive Arab-Rav that has accompanied us for more than three thousand three hundred years.
Rise or fall?
A friend wrote the following words last week: "My husband can't calm down. He's as sad as I've seen him in a long time. He repeats the words over and over again: 'I can't digest. I can't absorb,' and tells me more and more stories about a man of inner peace. A man who doesn't want to stand out. And I listen and cry.
""He says that good things are always said about people who have died, but I thought the same about him when he was alive. Eliav Gelman (Yid. M.S.) was the perfect person. A friend you could trust with your eyes closed. A person who was all kindness and sensitivity to others. A person who studied Torah with great perseverance and dedication. A person who was all perfection. In personality. In character. In goodness. In soul. In nobility. In the whole complex called a person.".
And so another week passed, at the end of which we read in synagogue the story of the calf, the story that has accompanied us for thousands of years, and is still not over. Because that sin that came through the fault of the evening rabbi, continues and haunts us to this day.
Instead of talking about Israel's shortcomings, let's talk about their virtues. In Parashat Ki-Tisha we find two matters that are completely opposite in their content.
Alongside the mention of the first tablets and their virtues, the act of the calf and the breaking of the tablets appear. Immediately afterwards, the Torah tells of Moses' prayer, his seeing the glory of God, and the giving of the last tablets.
What is the connection between the name of the parsha, which expresses exaltation – for it will carry, and the content of the parsha, which in part presents the people of Israel in their humiliation?
Three steps
The answer to this question lies in understanding the purpose of the parasha, since each parasha has a special interest unique to it. The purpose of Parasha Ki-Tisa is that it openly contains the entire purpose and order of the creation of the world. This can be found hinted at in the structure of the parasha. At the beginning, in the middle, and at the end.
In the creation of the world, God determined that every matter would be divided into three stages. The beginning of the matter is the intention of the deed, its planning. After that comes the 'within' – the deed, the thing itself. Finally, we have the sum and conclusion of the whole matter.
We can see an example of this in the clue hidden in the first letters: A, B, C.
A' is the first letter in the word "Anchi" which opens the Ten Commandments and includes them all. The letter A alludes to the Torah that preceded the world, and is also the purpose of its creation. This is actually the intention of creation, as it is written in the Midrash that God created the world "for the sake of the Torah, which is called the beginning.".
Be is the first letter in the word "Genesis" that begins the act of creation. It is the middle, the thing itself – the entire creation of the world and the work in it according to what is written in the Torah, intended to realize the purpose of creation.
G is the letter that opens the word "redemption" which is the completion, completeness and purpose of all creation. When the coming of the Messiah and the future redemption, the Torah will come to its complete expression in the world. That the entire world will be a dwelling place for God, blessed be He.
The sequence of creation reflects the three stages in nature. First, God's will arose to create the world, then came the actual creation, and finally we have the completion of creation - in the future redemption - through our actions and work here in the world.
Sin and its reward
Our parsha – Parsha Ki Tisha – is also based on these three stages. The first tablets express the intention of creation – on them God, the Blessed One, inscribed the Ten Commandments, starting with the vertical, which is the foundation of everything. These tablets were the work of God’s hands, and they are what gave us the strength to continue to stages two and three.
But, since this is a revelation of light from above at a very high level, a revelation that the world is not yet ready for on its own, it is fitting that there should be the breaking of the tablets and the sin of the calf. The descent into the sin of the calf and the breaking of the tablets allude to the second stage: the descent into the world, which is also the one that gives the possibility of sin. But why? What is the benefit of this?
Because by working in the world - even in a state of decline - the creatures will fulfill the intention of creation and thus be able to reach the third stage. A stage in which the world is already ready on its own for Divine illumination, and therefore there is no breaking.
This is the matter of the last tablets. The ascension that came through the descent, the elevation of those who have repented above the level of the righteous. Indeed, to the last tablets, which were the work of Moses (the Creator), were added laws, midrash, and legends – doubly resourceful – that were not for sin, the children of Israel would not have received.
It is precisely the ascension that stems from man's actions that is the purpose of creation. And it is what brings about the elevation in the final tablets – in which there is no breakage at all, until it brings about the perfection of stage three – the true and complete redemption.
The writer is the owner ""My choice"", event host, lecturer and radio broadcaster. For comments: [email protected]
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