Yom Kippur 5782-2021

Our rabbis connect the observance of Yom Kippur with the sin of the Golden Calf.

As you may recall, when G-d appeared at Mt. Sinai the Jewish people in unison roared the historic statement of commitment (Exodus 24:7): נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע , “We will do and we will understand.”

Unfortunately, while Moses was yet on the mountaintop preparing to deliver the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the Jewish people forget their pledge, and fashioned for themselves a Golden Calf before which they sang and danced wantonly, calling out (Exodus 32:8): אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל , “This is your god, O Israel.” On his way down from the mountain, Moses sees what the people have done, and due to great disappointment and anger, casts the tablets to the ground and smashes them. Our rabbis (Talmud Shabbat 87a), maintain that the text implies that G-d even complimented Moses for that act saying: יִישַׁר כֹּחֲךָ שֶׁשִּׁבַּרְתָּ , “Congratulations for breaking the tablets, because they have no value to a nation that worships a Golden Calf.”

According to tradition, the sin of the Golden Calf was recalled once again when the people of Israel sinned when the scouts returned with the evil report about the land of Israel. There, the narrative in the Torah tells of G-d informing Moses of His desire to once-and-for-all “finish off” the Jewish people. Moses, however, pleads successfully before the Al-mighty on the people’s behalf , invoking the special formula of the “13 attributes of G-d’s mercy,” to which G-d responds (Numbers 14:20): סָלַחְתִּי כִּדְבָרֶךָ , “I have forgiven as you have requested.”

Tradition (Midrash Tanchuma, Kee Tee’sah 31), maintains that when G-d had finally yielded to the pleas of Moses and forgiven the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf, He instructed that this day (the tenth of Tishrei) be designated as a “Day of Atonement” for all future generations, and the formula for forgiveness used for the Golden Calf be the formula used through all generations.

Of all the sins of the Jewish people, the sin of the Golden Calf is considered by all to be the most contemptuous in G-d’s eyes, a sin that will always be remembered.

If that’s the case, what was the decisive argument that Moses used to persuade G-d to forgive the people?

Our rabbis in tractate Yoma 86b, state that Moses, in part, blamed G-d for the peoples’ sin, claiming that the Al-mighty had given the Jewish people too much gold and silver, even after the people had said “enough.” This midrash is based on the odd name of a location in the wilderness where the people encamped. The rabbis maintain that the exact place where the Golden Calf was built was called דִי זָהָב —“Dee Zahav,” (Deuteronomy 1:1) which is a play on the Hebrew words דַּי –“dai” enough, and זָהָב —gold, enough gold, that is!

It is quite unusual that in Exodus 20, immediately after the giving of the Ten Commandments is recorded, G-d tells Moses to warn the Jewish people: (Exodus 20:20) לֹא תַעֲשׂוּן אִתִּי, אֱלֹהֵי כֶסֶף וֵאלֹהֵי זָהָב, לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ לָכֶם , “You shall not make with Me, gods of silver and gold, you shall not make for yourself.” It seems as if the Al-mighty knows only too well that He must warn the Jewish people not to be seduced by the gold and silver for which they, like many people, have a great propensity.

Unfortunately, we are well aware of the many Jews who were raised in religious homes who were simply unable to resist the seductive powers of the marketplace, and the desire for gold and silver. They consequently abandoned their observance of Shabbat and Jewish rituals in order to make the extra buck. For them, that was their Golden Calf.