Ki Tissa 5773 - English

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock
Comunidad Hebrea de Guadalajara

Imagine the disappointment.

Just take a few seconds to think about Moses, and about whatever passed through his mind and heart when he came down from Sinai carrying the tablets of the Law, just to see his people worshiping the golden calf.  The man who abandoned the comforts of Midyan only to return to Egypt and free his children from slavery, found before him a community that had removed itself from the covenant agreed upon, with no prior notice, in pursuit of the escape presented by paganism.  In that need of bread for today, hunger for tomorrow, Moses broke down.  As the Tablets with the Ten Commandments fell from his hands, during the seconds that took them to reach the floor and crash, the spirit of the elderly leader also crashed, seeing his dreams inevitably shattered.

Imagine the disappointment.

Think about what Moses’ must have felt, when he looked into his brother Aaron’s eyes.  The man who was supposed to be his partner and associate, surrendered before the stubbornness of those only interested in easy and immediate answers.  Neither God, nor Moses, nor the Torah.   Any system was valid, provided it allowed them to continue walking.  Worthy followers of Marx (from Groucho’s school), when they saw that certain principles called for too much efforts, they simply chose new principles that would adapt to the needs of the moment.  Imagine Moses and try to think about the sea of emotions that overpowered him, seeing that even his own brother was unworthy of trust.

It is in this context where Moses’ figure becomes great.

Moses is one in a million, because he was able to rearm himself and not give in.  Showing an unequal spiritual strength, he returned to Sinai and prevented God from destroying at a stroke such an ambiguous people.  Faced with a similar situation, most of us would have been tempted to give free rein to the divine wrath.  But not Moses.  Moses interceded on behalf of the people and clamored for their pardon.  Moreover: according to a fascinating Talmudic story, God was absolutely unwilling to absolve the people, to the extent that according to the sages, “Moses grabbed the Almighty like a person seizes a friend by the jacket lapels, and said, ‘Master of the universe, I will not let You go until You forgive and pardon them’" (Berachot 32a).

Regardless of the anthropomorphism, to which we could devote several hours, the Talmud also surprises us with the metaphor it chooses to use.  The negotiations got so taut that Moses not only told God that, in those terms, he would rather prefer to be erased from the record along with the rest of the people (Ex. 32:32), but in addition, when the time came, he forced God to change His mind.  What Aaron was unable to do with the worshippers of immediacy, Moses did with the Lord, blessed be He.

What we never know is whether Moses himself forgave the people.

We know he continued to be their leader for forty years.  We know he tried his best to solve the different problems that kept arising along the way.  We also know that the time came when, after having suffered so many bad experiences, Moses finally got annoyed, beat the fatidic stone, and cursed his luck and that of his people.  And because of this, he was kept out of Israel.

Perhaps the message in our parashah is that when life confronts us with difficult and disappointing situations, we should try to emulate Moses and summon up all our willpower to keep on going.  It is at times like this when the leaders who transcend are manifested, lighting up the world throughout history.

Shabbat Shalom u’Meborah!