Kee Tisah 5782-2022

Perhaps as a stall tactic, Aaron tells the people to remove the rings of gold that were in the ears of their wives, their sons and their daughters, and to bring them to him. Upon collecting the precious jewels, Aaron binds them in a cloth, ignites them–and the jewels turn into a molten calf. The People of Israel brazenly call out to the calf (Exodus 32:4) אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל , “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

Again, perhaps stalling, Aaron builds an altar and announces plans for a festival on the following day. The next day, the people rise up early, offer sacrifices to the calf, eat and become intoxicated. When Moses descends with the two Tablets from the mountain and sees and hears the people reveling before the calf, he casts the Tablets down and shatters them at the foot of the mountain. He then takes the Golden Calf, burns it in fire, grinds the remains into fine powder, which he then sprinkles into water, and makes the people drink the water. At Moses’ direction, the Levites then attack the leaders of this idolatrous action, killing about 3,000 men.

Moses begs G-d to forgive the people for the grievous sin that they had committed and presents G-d with an ultimatum. Boldly, Moses declares (Exodus 32:32): וְעַתָּה, אִם תִּשָּׂא חַטָּאתָם, וְאִם אַיִן מְחֵנִי נָא מִסִּפְרְךָ אֲשֶׁר כָּתָבְתָּ, “and now, if You G-d will forgive their sin, [good]. But, if not, erase me now from Your book, that You have written!” Rejecting Moses’ threat, the Al-mighty pronounces that only those who are sinful shall be erased. G-d then strikes the people with a plague apparently bent on destroying them. Moses, once again, pleads for G-d’s forgiveness. The Al-mighty then tells Moses to carve out two new stone Tablets like the first ones. At that point, the Al-mighty pronounces His “Thirteen Attributes of Mercy,” and grants forgiveness.

The Midrash relates that Moses was chosen to be the leader of Israel after G-d had watched Moses shepherd Jethro’s flocks in Midian. On a particular occasion, one of the sheep had separated from the flock looking for water. After an arduous search, Moses finds the little lamb at the water hole. Moses lifts up the tired and thirsty animal and says, “Had I known that you were thirsty, I would have brought the water to you.” Looking down from heaven, G-d says, “If this is the way Moses treats the animals, he is certainly qualified to be the shepherd of My people.”

But the people of Israel are far different from gentle lambs. The freed slaves of Egypt are a people who had endured the tortures and beatings of their cruel Egyptian taskmasters. They are a people who for decades had been exposed to the decadence of Egypt–orgies of blood and alcohol. They had been reduced to the 49th level of impurity and had become a “stiff-necked” people.

The gentle former-shepherd Moses now confronts this hardened and frustrated people, who haven’t the slightest idea how to deal with freedom. They demand that their meals be served to them, and on time! They insist on having their meat and their bread. These recently-liberated slaves are not much into prayer or theology, and poor Moses is put to the test again and again.

Worse perhaps, is that Moses is entirely alone. Even Aaron appears to have defected to the other side. And yet, in this period of intense existential loneliness, Moses somehow summons the strength to defend the people “who are bent on evil,” before G-d’s anger. Moses puts his own life on the line for Israel’s sake, and proves persuasive enough to convince even G-d.

The Zohar, when comparing the merits of the various early Jewish leaders, notes that Noah did not intercede with G-d for his contemporaries when he was informed of their impending destruction. Abraham, however, repeatedly pleads on behalf of even the wicked people of Sodom. But, says the Zohar, Moses exceeded even Abraham, for Moses actually refused to budge until G-d had pardoned Israel. There was none who equaled Moses in his people’s defense. He was indeed the “faithful Shepherd.”

The Midrashic interpretations portray Moses’ defense of the Jewish people as even more self-effacing. Stating that Moses did not shatter the Tablets entirely out of anger and frustration, the Midrash Rabbah, Exodus 46:1, suggests that Moses really had a hidden agenda. When Moses breaks the Tablets, the Midrash quotes him as saying to the Al-mighty, “They sinned, and I sinned–after all, I broke the Tablets! If You forgive them, forgive me too. If You do not forgive them, do not forgive me, but rather erase me from the book that You have written.”

Despite all his heroic accomplishments–including the Exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea, Moses’ life had been most difficult. From the moment that he first intervened on behalf of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, the Israelites scorned and berated him, claiming that his intervention had only made life worse for them. Moses’ pre-occupation with the Jewish people was total, almost to the point of breaking, and his lonely personal life is stark evidence of his total commitment to the People. Yet, Moses always rises to the occasion, and convinces G-d to forgive His people. The life of Moses is clearly a paradigm of total selflessness.